Looks as though my mainsail won't ship until the end of April, I'm estimating the launch date to be about 5 weeks from this Saturday. I may be able to launch sans the mast and sails just to test out the motor and make sure the hull has no leaks in the next couple of weeks but the first sail is going to be tentatively Saturday, May 6th, 2006. Can't wait….
The interior of the O'Day is in OK condition. One of the major problems is the plywood under the cushions are mildewed and mold-ridden beyond repair. It is amazing what the last owners did with it. Someone definitely went through the trouble of replacing the plywood because it certainly is not stock. What amazes me is they did not use anything to protect the wood from moisture.
Teak is the hardwood of choice when it comes to marine projects. But teak is pretty expensive. I understand if they chose to use another type of wood thats cheaper but at they at least should have covered it with something to repel moisture. Since they fail to do that, condensation and moisture naturally found its way into the cabin and eventually destroyed the plywood. The vinyl layer against the interior of the hull began to peel back and that helped trapping moisture behind and it dripped down to the edges of the plywood bunks.
Here are some photos of what it looked like:
Note the black mold in the corner of the starboard quarter berth against the bulkhead.
The old rotted wood removed and vinyl side covering peeled off. I will probably just paint the interior walls instead of replacing the vinyl.
Port side of the v-berth where the vinyl hull interior collected water to cause more mold and mildew build up.
The same port side v-berth with the old wood removed. The space underneath is full of positive flotation foam. There are also stacks of this stuff under the cockpit sole. I will need to somehow add more if I want to install the additiona lead ballast in the bilge.
My low-cost replacement:
Well, I can't afford teak. So I went shopping at my local hardware/lumber yard. I got some standard structural fir plywood that was more in my price range. After removing the old wood from the cabin and traced the outlines to the new plywood, I cut them out with a saber saw. I also decided to seal it with Thompson's water seal which I bought at the store for about $15. After more of less soaking the new wood in as much of this stuff, the results were pretty satisfactory. I shot a little video clip of some of the wood under my faucet to show the water repelling abilities of this combination:
This is the stuff I bought to seal the wood:
The next step will be to cut storage hatches and mount them inside the boat. I may be able to do that this weekend but looks like the weather may turn on me again.
I also bought a 4 ft x 2 ft piece of birch plywood, apply a similar liberal portion of the sealer and made new companionway hatch boards. I will take some photos of that next time I go to the boat yard to post here. They will give me a good test of how this sealer holds up especially if it rains this weekend.
From an auction on eBay. $77.20 for 100 lbs of lead shot shipped to my door. Not a bad deal. Probably won't install it right away. I will wait until I test sail the boat as is and see if it needs it. I may have more weight aloft with the multiple sectioned mast so more ballast maybe the ticket to keep the boat stable.
Current total: $5696.67
I did some searching online to see about my mast extrusion and I came across a site called RigRite.com. They have the extrusion's specs on their website:
Rig-Rite #5 (3723) Mast Section
Measurements: (OD) 3.75" x 2.25" (95mm x 57mm)
Wall Thickness: .100"
Weight/ft.: 1.3 lbs.
Moments of inertia: Ixx = 1.5", Iyy = .63"
Circumference: 9 5/8"
Alloy: 6063-T6
Sail slides: 1/2" round slugs (A018, A118) or 1/2" boltrope
Standard Mast Lengths: 22'7", 25'4", 30'
Common Mast usage: Bristol Corinthian 19; Cape Dory Typhoon; N&W Fisherman; O'Day 22;
This will help a little in knowing the dimensions of my mast. What I'm going to do with it is still an unknown for now.
I'm considering adding some more lead ballast to the boat. There is a bilge pump out port on the cabin sole with access to the bilge. I just read in the original owners manual that O'Day says it is possible to add your own lead shot into that space as additional ballast. Since my boat is a 1974 that only came with 600 lbs of ballast, I'm considering adding more. Some of the later models came with 700 lbs or even 800 lbs from the factory. this shouldnt be that big of a deal. I found some lead shots on eBay for pretty cheap. All I need to go is pour in the lead shots and then follow with some curing resin to permenantly lock them in place. If anyone has experience with this please feel free to let me know how it went.
50 lbs of Lead shot from ebay: About 40 bucks shipped. I'll probably get 2 of them.
The hole on next to the panel is where I can pour the lead shots and resin thru. This is on the cabin sole.