I was just wondering what happened to the molds to the Javelin, Daysailer and Widgeon. I remember a year or two after O'Day sold the assets, and reading about O'Day Japan. They had produced some smaller O'Day and some small O'day cruisers after some retooling. I was interested in a new Widgeon at the time. Around that time I was walking through a shopping mall in Massachusetts and seen a brand new Widgeon on display in the common area of the mall. I thought Rudy had either made this boat from another Widgeon mold or had an unfinished hull. another mold? Someone had answered that question for me at that time but that was a lifetime ago. Last week I searched and searched for O'day Japan and found an old home page in Japanese for O'day Japan. I translated to English thanks to Mr Google or Mrs AI and appeared the page was dormant. I did not see a Widgeon but a Daysailer on the page. I contacted the company and I got a response from Mr Daiki Takayami O'DayJapan@AOL.Com. He stated that they still manage to run a small boat company and mainly produce the Daysailer and the original Hayama dinghy. They do not export overseas due to lack of resources. They also have all molds for Javelin, Widgeon and Daysailer. Mr Takayami also indicated he had acquired the company from his father whom had worked for O'day U.S. in the 60's. I thanked him and his Dad for his part in introducing untold millions to the sport of sailing while at O'day Fall River. Daysailers were all shiny and new and sporting bottom paint in my day. Today many of those same boats are still sailing and a new shiny one would be outcast if it had paint on the bottom. I think I'd buy I Widgeon if the right bought came along.
O'day Japan
- Thread starter Lanni
- Start date
S&R Marine had all of those molds last I heard. Rudy Nickerson was building the Widgeon for a while, I think last one was sold in about 2004 as costs of having boat built exceeded what Rudy felt comfortable selling the boats for. He has the DSII molds, but really can't build any (DSA won't let him!) Not sure if he does have Javelin molds, I know that BLUE FIN Boats in Rhode Island was building Javelins for a while in early 1990s.
I guess the price of a lot of things these days cause us to really think about what and to what degree our purchases effect the budget. My priorities have certainly been realigned.