O'Day 40 Shoal Draft - Help!

[essej4269]

We are exceptionally close to putting a survey contingent offer in on a 1988 O'day 40 shoal draft. Its as close to turn key a boat at 30k you will find, water maker needs a new membrane, and the windgen needs a bearing, its otherwise cruise equiped and ready to go, has solar, 56hp yanmar only 750 hours, good sales, roller furling on the job, great interior, deck seems excellent, etc etc.

My questions:

1) The O'day 39/40 is unquestionably a coastal cruiser only, any possible plans of circumnavigation or ocean crossings are pretty much out of the question. Soo, I ask the member familiar with the boat and its design, do you feel it is acceptable vessel for the east coast, icw, Bahamas and Caribbean? Presuming of course cautious sailors with no time constraints will to take the routes that weather and safety present?

2) Keel: This is the shoal draft version spade hung rudder. The rudder appears from the diagrams I've seen to hang nearly as low as the keel. Being we will be based out of the keys, and heading to the bahamas in a year or so, I'm concerned that setup will react poorly to a grounding. Is there any modifications that we could have done while the boat is layed up to reinforce or mitigate this potential problem?

3) Any random thoughts or insights into this boat that you think I should know?

Thank you for all assistance!

PS. For those of you who always take the time to advise all the people who "someday" plan to sell the house and sail off into the sunset, when you know 99% of the time they will never actually make the jump, we started with the idea 3 months ago, and with huge amounts of research, a good realtor and some luck, we are actually heading off in two weeks barring a poor survey! Terrifying and exciting!

[Island Time O25]

Having sailed club chartered late 80s O'Day 39s for about 5 seasons (literally the last two made before the company went bankrupt purchased unfinished by our sailing club owner in 1989) I feel that with some beefing up and updates in all the usual places it will do fine not only as near shore cruiser but also an offshore one. O'Day was building decent quality boats to begin with and IMO their 30ft and up models are on par with Pearsons and the like. I agree that the spade rudder may be the weak spot in an otherwise solid boat.

I remember us beating to windward in decent sized seas in Buzzards Bay and also in downeast Maine and the boat was plowing ahead like a Mack truck. BTW I believe the original hull design for late 80s model was by Jeanneau and they're decent racers as well. Their only flaw is a bit of tenderness which at the time I didn't realize and have attributed to my lack of sea time experience. But hey, you can't have it all for $30K.

Back in the early 2000s when with my sailing buddy we were looking for a boat in 40ft range O'day 39 was on the top of our short list, primarily for its quality/price ratio as it was one of the few 40ft 15yr old boats one could haggle down to $40-50K at the time. If she's in good shape you will not find a better priced boat in that size range. If you pass on it let me know as I know a few people who will seriously consider it at this price.

[essej4269]

Thanks for that input!

If you would take the time to elaborate a little bit on why you feel it would be okay for offshore work I would appreciate it, is the keel internally ballasted to your knowledge, and also, I understand the entire hull is balsa cored, from my inexperienced meaderings around the forums, this type of construction has a bad rep overall, thoughts?

[Island Time O25]

Originally Posted by essej4269

Thanks for that input!

If you would take the time to elaborate a little bit on why you feel it would be okay for offshore work I would appreciate it, is the keel internally ballasted to your knowledge, and also, I understand the entire hull is balsa cored, from my inexperienced meaderings around the forums, this type of construction has a bad rep overall, thoughts?

I was speaking more from the point of view of usage and less of engineering. I believe the keel was external. I am not sure if the hull was the balsa below the waterline. From what I know of typical O'day construction methods (owning a O'day 25 currently) they mostly built solid below the waterline. I may be wrong about their later years just before they closed the shop. Check on O'day forum they have tons of brand specific info and specs. Oday Owner Forums - SailboatOwners.com

I just checked on sailboatdata and I think I figured out what's going on. I sailed on O'Day 39 which was built in New Bedford MA and is Jeanneau design. The O'day 40 entry shows it to be a Ray Hunt Assoc. design (and they did most of the O'day models down to 25ft) and may have been built somewhere else or was just a change in company ownership, I'm not sure. Although they both share similar hulls they do look somewhat different. The one we sailed had a 6.5' draft which I guess was the standard version. In 5 years of saling we did do a few soft groundings, mostly in sand or mud without any ill effects.

[sailorboy1]

I will do fine for coastal cruising. But I have to say those have really dropped in price the past few years as I made an offer for $70k just 7 years ago.

[Tingum]

Hey, you get what you pay for! For 30k you can go cruising! As far as the Bahamas go , just be careful, it is mostly sand , which is foregiving. Yes the rudders is vunerable, know so and be careful. Once you get past the Turks and Caicos you will be in deep water. Enjoy your new boat and have a safe trip!

[bcboomer]

The O'Day 40 is the same hull and deck as the 39 but with a redesigned interior and added sugar scoop. I think it is a great interior for a couple going cruising, but I may be a little prejudiced.
They're cored above and below the waterline so you'll want a good survey. I had a couple of core samples taken from inside the hull where wet core was suspect. In mine the only damp core was about 6-12 inches below the hull portlights. I dug that out and replaced it with new balsa, properly sealed the perimeter and installed New Found Metal portlights throughout. I can't imagine why they didn't remove the core in this area as they did in all the other hull penetrations.
I just looked at the listing.
Check this boat very carefully. What appears to be the same boat was sold on Ebay or some other auction site last year with some significant damage. I don't have time right now to look it up but if you contact me offline I'll find the old listings. It might not be the same boat or the damage may have been properly fixed but you want to be sure.

[GermanAmerican]

Did you ever bought the boat? what happened?

[FSMike]

Detective work seems to indicate that the op bought a 1987 Endeavor 37 B plan.

[Delancey]

If I have it correctly the boat started out in life as a racing design by Philippe Briand before it was produced by Jeanneau as the Sun Fizz. At one point Jeanneau was owned by a company in the States called Bangor Punta LLC which also owned O'Day hence the O'Day 39 and later the 40 both built in Massachusetts.

In my opinion they're highly undervalued and so a lot of boat for the money. I think they're victims of O'Day's success as a company having mass produced many thousands of affordable boats. The 39 was before it's time with twin aft cabins but they are a bit small to be considered double berths. The 40 was mostly a redesign of the interior and includes a larger galley and a single aft cabin instead of the twin doubles.

Both the Jeaneaus and the O'Days have made it all over the place and crossed many oceans so I am not sure where the suggestion that they are not capable comes from but in my opinion there is no such thing as a blue water boat and only two kinds of people, ones who know what they're doing and ones that should stay at home.

Can't speak to the 40's except that they are cored below the waterline unlike the 39's which are solid. Both versions seem to come with this sort of ridiculous mast pulpit which is too low to be useful for anything other than a tripping hazard. Most who know better through-bolt the bulkheads which came from the factory with just screws attaching them to the headliner and pan.

Nice boat. Great cockpit. I believe the original design was a ketch rig. I have seen a couple tricked out racing versions of the Sun Fizz with transom extensions and tillers. Here's a picture of one from last summer in the Azores.

[GermanAmerican]

I just bought one and sailed her from the US east cost to the UK. She is a fast one and my family is enjoying her. I agree a lot a bot for the money. I know they are better passage cruisers, but thats what I have and I'm enjoying her so far.

[DivingOtter]

Watched a documentary on a guy who circumnavigated on a 20 ft open cockpit and another one who illegally sailed a 27 footer from Norway to Antarctica. In my opinion if you feel able, that boat is definitely up to to it. Hell, my boat is 24 ft, water ballast and swing centerboard and sail her coastally.