A Few Answers
I hope this will answer some of your questions and concerns. First of all, I think it's important to discern from a trailerable boat and a "dry-sailer". I have a trailerable boat (my O'Day 25). I dont dry-sail it, meaning keep it on my trailer most of the time, and put it in the water when I want to sail. Unlike the power boats you're used to, there's a LOT of work setting up a sailboat of any size once you're ready to sail. I wouldn't recommend trying to dry-sail a boat that big. You'll probably want to move down to the 22' range, and even that is pushing it. Folks that move 30' and larger boats pay a transport company that trucks it out on commercial trucks. They (the trucking company) take care of the permits and such. It's an expensive process, calculated by the mile, with a take down expense at the front end, and set up expense at the other. It's not something that's done "lightly". Most popular boating areas have repair facilities within "reasonable" distances. These repair facilities have hoists that can pull larger boats. Many marinas have them as well. Again, there's usually a hefty fee to pull your boat for repair, in addition to the repair itself. Bottom issues are a little different. Usually, the bottom is taken care of by a mult-phased attack. Typically, the bottom of the boat is painted every 2-4 years with special paint. Often, that's supplemented by hiring someone to clean the boat at the marina. Just to give you a rough idea, I was quoted $600-$700 for a bottom job on my O'Day 25. I chose to paint it myself at less than half the cost. That's a pain in itself though, as it's very toxic paint, and takes some "creativity" to DYI. I pull my boat 1-3 times a year to go other places, and power wash it when I do. However, were I to pay someone, it would be about $60 at my marina to have a diver clean it. Finally, on the topic of "out of production" boats; Steve is right, the O'Day 25 still has PLENTY of support. Any major or minor part can be had, either original equipment or suitable replacements. However that's true of most out of production boats. Boat builders laid up the hulls and decks, basically assembling the boat. They bought the other parts (rails, masts, etc) elsewhere.
I hope this will answer some of your questions and concerns. First of all, I think it's important to discern from a trailerable boat and a "dry-sailer". I have a trailerable boat (my O'Day 25). I dont dry-sail it, meaning keep it on my trailer most of the time, and put it in the water when I want to sail. Unlike the power boats you're used to, there's a LOT of work setting up a sailboat of any size once you're ready to sail. I wouldn't recommend trying to dry-sail a boat that big. You'll probably want to move down to the 22' range, and even that is pushing it. Folks that move 30' and larger boats pay a transport company that trucks it out on commercial trucks. They (the trucking company) take care of the permits and such. It's an expensive process, calculated by the mile, with a take down expense at the front end, and set up expense at the other. It's not something that's done "lightly". Most popular boating areas have repair facilities within "reasonable" distances. These repair facilities have hoists that can pull larger boats. Many marinas have them as well. Again, there's usually a hefty fee to pull your boat for repair, in addition to the repair itself. Bottom issues are a little different. Usually, the bottom is taken care of by a mult-phased attack. Typically, the bottom of the boat is painted every 2-4 years with special paint. Often, that's supplemented by hiring someone to clean the boat at the marina. Just to give you a rough idea, I was quoted $600-$700 for a bottom job on my O'Day 25. I chose to paint it myself at less than half the cost. That's a pain in itself though, as it's very toxic paint, and takes some "creativity" to DYI. I pull my boat 1-3 times a year to go other places, and power wash it when I do. However, were I to pay someone, it would be about $60 at my marina to have a diver clean it. Finally, on the topic of "out of production" boats; Steve is right, the O'Day 25 still has PLENTY of support. Any major or minor part can be had, either original equipment or suitable replacements. However that's true of most out of production boats. Boat builders laid up the hulls and decks, basically assembling the boat. They bought the other parts (rails, masts, etc) elsewhere.
