Information about my mast

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.

Adding more lead ballast

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.

Mainsail blues (New tally $5619.47)

Since the mainsail on the boat is pretty shot, I went ahead and ordered one from D & R awhile back. Rudy told me it was backordered til the middle of May so I went hunting around else where. Porpoise Sailing in Florida came through and is able to deliver one to me in about a month. That's good enough for me. Hopefully it works since my order with Rudy was cancelled. If I wanted it back, Rudy said it will be another 8 weeks. Toes and fingers are crossed. This does mean that I'm saving a little on the order. Porpoise is selling me this sail for $385 instead of Rudy's $510. I did however opt for a Coastal Cruiser Reinforcement for 10% more. That brings it up to $423.5. Shipping being about the same from either place and I won't know until they place it on the truck, I'm going to assume its about 15 bucks. That means my ongoing tally is going down a tad. Take $510 off of the current total gives me $5180.97 add on $423.5 for the new sail brings it up to $5604.47. Plus another $15 in shipping, my new tally is $5619.47. What this sail will be missing is the O'Day 22 Insignia. I guess I won't miss it that badly.

Running into a couple of problems

Today I test fitted the standing rigging on the boat and it went fairly well. It is right now a 2-person job to rigg the boat until I come up with a better method. One of the things that came up is the headstay and/or backstay. It does not get tight enough to take all the slack out of the stays. i wonder if D&R Marine just cut them too long while making them or if they actually intended on them to be loose. It is functional as it but I would worry about it if I took it out and hoisted sails on it. I don't have that many experiences with rigging a boat so I posted on some messageboards including mine although only 1 other use is on it. Here are the 2 posts if you have anything to contribute:

O'Day Owners Forum Post

My Message Board Post

This may be a smaller issue once the boom, sails and mainsheet are on since the mainsheet will put some tension of the backstay and the jib sail will tension the headstay. If you look at the photo below, you will notice a slight bend to the mast. Thats from the mast being rested horizontally on the cabin top for too long and its own weight has made a temporary bend to be noticeable without the tensions of the stays.

The other problem which I don't know if there is an inexpensive solution to is my mast is in 2 sections joint together using a wooden insert and bolts. Maybe this is the same issue as the rigging. Maybe one of the previous onwners had to cut the mast and rejoint it. That could explain the rigging being too long for its current length. It is not significant but is noticeable. The wooden insert in the mast makes running lines and wires internally impossible. That is a problem I will need to deal with later…

Add this to the list…

For $48, I am upgrading the currently-broken trailer lights on the trailer to submersible LED lights…

New total: $5690.97

Worked on the boat this weekend

After my shopping binge on and offline, I decided to drag the boat to the house to work on it this weekend. The lot does not have a water hose or an AC outlet. Both of which I will need for many of the projects. I risked getting pulled over by trailering the boat home from the lot about 1 mile away using my Toyota Tacoma. It does not have trailer wiring harness installed yet and it is under powered to do any serious trailering. I did make it home however without any incidents. i will post a more indepth story on what I did while it was at home but for now, here is a photo of her next to the sidewalk:

(Notice the upright mast? That's right. I rigged it for a test fit. Worked decent. fore and back stay seems a bit lose and I don't really know if its suppose to be tighter…)

Testing the battery, electrical panel and interior light

So after I brought home my new battery and electrical system parts, I was eager to test and see what works and what doesn't. I didn't even really know how the Perko battery switch wires up since I bought it used from eBay sans instructions. I am only using one battery so that simplfy things a bit. When I am ready to upgrade, I need to make sure I know how to hook the batteries up so they are parallel when the Perko switch in on both of them. That's a future post. Back to this story. So I used some existing wires I stripped out of the boat to test the circuit. I hooked up the battery to the swithc and panel and connected the 22 year old dome light to one of the switches on the panel. It looked something like this:

I timidly switch the perko on battery one and after flipping the toggle on the panel, I saw this:

Halleluja! It worked. And on first try at that. I don't pretend to be an expert on electrical systems and flares and sparks are a common sight when I'm near a project. This however fell into place perfected. I just used a little common sense in figuring out where the wires need to go and without much effort, I have a circuit lighting a 12-volt light bolt. I know this is a simple test but it means I saved about $30 in not having to buy a new panel. I proceeded to test each connection using the light and all seems to be working perfectly. The next job will be to install the system into the boat. Stay tuned.

Blowing my budget

So this is official. I didn't think I can make it after buying the new outboard that cost 1300 bucks. I have been trying to cut corners on the spending to make my goal of $5500 but I think I will regret it later. So here is what I did over the weekend…

As of the last purchase which is the parts for the square tubing for the tongue extension I was at $5293.37. The following purchases where made towards the tally since:

1. $27.28 – Straight 2×2 trailer tongue coupler: This is the end of the tongue extension that will connect to the hitch on the car. The other end will either u-bolt to the trailer itself or I will weld/bolt on a 2 inch ball to connect the trailer to the car.

2. $24.04 – Red and Green side navigation lights: Now this is a good deal. I went to West Marine friday to see how much the replacement perko lights were. I had these 2.5 inch diameter side-mounted round lights with holes already drilled on the boat. I didnt want to have to drill new holes. They were $90!!! So this is a steal from eBay.

3. $50.40 – Deep Cycle battery: I looked all around for batteries for a good price and I suddenly remember Costco. I really wanted to get AGM or Gel batteries but that was going to be 3 to 4 times as much as I spent. I have capacity for 2 batteries with my eBay Perko switch so maybe later I will splurge….

4. $92.46 – Miscellaneous electrical parts from Fry's: So this includes a diet coke and a couple of small things I needed but I was too lazy to substract that from the total on the receipt. It is a necessary purchase as I will need lights for this vessel to be legal and I will need wires and switches to enable the battery i bought.

5. $76.75 – 30 ft of high-tensile chain and 2 stainless steel shackles: This completes my heavy duty anchor and rode. This thing all put together is heavy! I mean now I'm thinking I need to spend more money getting an anchor bow roller and chain deck plate just to be able to use this. I am not going to like to have to drag this thing out of anchor without it. I bought a 50 ft piece of yellow nylon line to use as a trip line with an old fender tied to the end. I will really need that in place to be able to be able to unset the anchor this size. I think I will just use the smaller fluke anchor that I already have as a primary and use this on overnight trips as needed. The bow roller will have to wait.

6. $129.99 – Garelick outboard motor mount: I have been looking for a way to fix my current motor mount and also just looking to see if I can find one on eBay. People are really retarded there. It is unbelievable how many people have the I-will-over-pay-just-to-win attitude. It is a buyers market when it comes to things like this. As I was watching some guy pay up to $115 on a used Garelick I went shopping elsewhere. Amazon had the exact same one, brand new for $129.99 shipped and no tax. This will come in handy with the new motor. I really didn't want to half-ass the mount and as I was looking at it today, it just needs to go.

That pretty much brings me up to date with my weekend spending spree. the total is now $5642.97. There is one saving grace so far. The mainsail order from D&R Marine is still on backorder. That is priced at $510 with is figured into this total. I called Porpoise sailing in Florida and they told me that they can have one made for me from Thailand for as little as $375. If we figure the difference of $135, My total would actually be at $5507.97. That is still over my budget and god knows I have a long ways to go before this is all over. I am just going to keep it as is until further notice. I am keeping my toes crossed that nothing else turns up needing major repairs….. Ciao.

2 inch steel square tubing x 2 for tongue extender

To launch my boat without getting the car wet, I need a tongue extension for my trailer. I looked around and it doesnt seem like anyone has one for a reasonable price. That's why I'm making my own. As a start, I'm ording 2 of these 2×2x72 pieces of steel tubing as the main structural pieces of my extension. It only costs me $56.46 with shipping. I will update with more information about the extension as I have the plans and the parts ready. Ongoing tally: $5293.37. It's getting dangerously close to $5500. Maybe I shouldn't count these none-sailing related parts….

Led masthead anchor light

For $24.99 I ordered this anchor light. Low amp draw for my small boat. Updated total: $5236.91

VHF Masthead antenna from eBay

For $29.85 I ordered this antenna for my VHF radio that I have not purchased yet. I already have the Uniden Mystic GPS/VHF Handheld which is one of the best things I’ve ever gotten for boating, but this will allow me to communicate long range or use the handheld on the dinghy while we are on a trip.

Total onging tally update: $5211.92

Bought Perko 2 battery switch on eBay for $28.55

Bought a ‘used’ battery switch for the ‘new’ electrical system. Total so far: $5182.07

The Old Electrical System

I went to the boat today to do some work. One of the things I did was to see what was left of the electrical system. The last owner did not have a battery in the boat so he pretty much told me that it had no electrical system to speak of. When I took over ownership, I noticed that there are a few parts that maybe salvageable to build my new electrical system. So today I went and stripped everything that was still on there including all of the wiring so I can start fresh.this is a picture of what I was able to salvage.

1. Breaker Panel
2. Distribution Panel
3. 12-volt Cabin light
4. Toggle Switch
5. 2-way pull switch
6. Misc. wiring

Looks like I will be reusing the breaker panel and the distribution panel. Everything else is either too old, broken or inexpensive to buy new.

This is how the old parts look on the boat before I stripped them out:

Here they are removed and organized in my house:

Here is a close up view of the front of the electrical breaker panel:

And here is the back of it:

Took the day off and went sailing

Last Thursday I decided to take the day off and go charter a boat for the day. Quite a bit of change of pace from the treachery of boat restoration. I chartered a 32 ft Catalina out of Santa Barbara and went up to coast for the day. Here are some videos we took while sailing:

Close reaching shot from the foredeck

Sailing Wing-On-Wing from the helm in light air

Come around the open water buoy checking out seals

Couple of small projects completed with bigger ones to come

I had about 30 minutes today to go to the boatyard to finish a couple of small projects on the boat. One is simply pumping the water out of the bilge with my newly acquired manual bilge pump. That was pretty uneventful. The pump worked great. It pumps much faster than I expected without much effort. It will come in handy in the future. The second project is a bit more involved. I wanted to strengthen the chainplates before rigging the boat. Especially the port sidestay. This photo will show you the condition it was in prior to the modification:

It was just bolted the the deck and not on the bulkhead whatsoever. I wonder if this was adequate for the previous owners use or if it had come undone since he last sailed this boat. Even the stock chainplate itself seems kind anemic but I’m sure it is strong enough for the job. I wanted to add some more security to it so I started looking for chainplates. What I ended up using is actually metal bracing from Lowes. I know its not marine grade stainless steel but it will be inside the cabin and would not get a lot of moisture and they are significantly cheaper. I got 4 metal strip bracing for about 2 bucks each and 3 inch bolts, washers and nuts for about 15 bucks to secure them. The original holes on the braces were too small so I drilled them out to 3/8 inch to accommodate the bolts. During installation, I had to drill out the original chainplate holes to attach them to the new chainplate extension. You can see from this photo below that it is significantly stronger than below:

I used some silicon sealant in the drilled out holes just in case there was any moisture that may get in to the bulkhead in the future to cause any rot. It is probably a huge overkill but I figured its better to be safe than sorry. Obviously the same treatment was done to the starboard side just be balance out the rig.

Now whats left are the headstay and backstay chainplates. I’m not sure what to do with them. They seem to be ok as they are but the headstay does not have an over the bow stem fitting as larger boats do. It is just bolted to the deck with backing plates. The backstay is the same way. I’m considering a conversion to a split backstay and use the existing backstay chainplate as the mounting point for the mainsheet. We’ll see how these issues get resolve in the weeks to come…

This is the backing plate of the headstay fittings below deck.

This is the backing plate of the backstay (smaller ones on top)