Just wondering if the pendent tube has any maintenance concerns? Do these ever leak or corrode thru. Have an Oday 25 swing keel.
I don't think that you will have a problem with it. These O'Day shoal draft sloops are always referred to as keel/centerboard sloops which is very different than the swing keel variety that you would find on the Catalina and Santana sloops. These boats might have a swing keel that weighs 500 lbs, whereas your O'Day has an 1,825 lbs lead keel with a 60 lbs fiberglass centerboard in the keel slot that pivots on a fiber pin.
I've never had a problem with mine and my pipe enters a small pocket in the top aft part of the keel slot at a horizontal angle. There's a small sheave in that pocket where my pendant line rides through.
I think that your pipe goes straight down from the table stanchion on your boat, am I right?
I'm familiar with the 1975 O'Day 25 which has the winch on the table stanchion down below and the pipe right under it. Is your boat a 75 or a 76? I noticed that you had a question mark on that in your Owner Owner's Profile.
One of our YC members owns a 75 O'Day 25. I sailed it up from Cape Cod years ago to our club. The owner really loves this boat. I found it to be a fast sloop. I've heard other club members remark about how fast this boat is on the water. We have one other O'Day 25 and an O'Day 26 in our club which are later model O'Days.
If you look on the upper right corner of the outside transom, the last two numbers in your serial number will be the year that the boat was built. There will be a letter after those numbers which stands for the month that it was built. A=August, B=September and Etc under the old O'Day serial number format prior to 1984.
The later model O'Days had the same pendant line set up as my boat in which the pendant line is led up into the cockpit in front of the companionway. The pendant line pipe on my boat is shaped like an "L" and it has short pieces of rubber hose connected at the top and bottom where it connects on to a through hull connector and the steel pipe leading into that small pocket in the keel slot.
If your boat is set up with the small winch with metal cable, you could change it over to braid line. You're centerboard is fiberglass and it should be the same size and weight as the boards that were installed in the later model O'Day 25s and 26s. I don't think there is a sheave in the keel slot on your boat if it's set up like the 1975 O'Day 25.
I'd be interested in knowing how your centerboard pendant line is set up. I've inquired about the 76 O'Day 25 and never got an answer. At any rate, there is no harm in visually checking the pipe but I woudn't do anything to disturb it. There's an old saying that goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." I've been guilty of disregarding that old saying myself.
