DaySailer.org Forum

First.... Hi... new guy here.

My name is Jim Palmer, I am in Tacoma WA and I am a recent O’Day owner. I have what appears to be a 59 DS1. There are no markings anywhere, wood plank seats, built in flotation tank in the stern and seats, double transom, keel-stepped mast. I have yet to get the sails from the -previous owner so I do not know the numbers on them.

I have been reading these posts for about 2 months or better and I have a number of questions as you might figure. But for this first post I will keep it simple.

I have stripped the wood seats and combing (sp?) and I am down to an empty hull, here is my first question.

I am interested in painting the interior. I'm going to use Interlux Brightsides on the exterior and deck. I don't want to use such an expensive paint for the inside. Is it possible to use a different type of paint i.e. latex or enamel? I want to go with a neutral gray and would think that good exterior flat house paint heck even primer grey would work well. I know that it will wear faster than a marine grade, but hey...

Oh yeah, are the air tanks in the bow and seats filled with foam on this model DS? Do I need to cut in access panels and remove and replace the foam? I have knocked on the tanks and they sound empty.


Thank you, and I look forward to many correspondences.

jim palmer

Hi, Jim. Welcome:

Did you see this conversation?
http://forum.daysailer.org/forum/viewtopi ... rior+paint

I would not use any sort of latex anywhere on my boat, but that's just me! The only water-based product that would endure the high wear in the cockpit bottom is of the "elastomeric" type. This is an industrial grade product that puts up with a lot of abuse. Secondly, you might check out a product called Zolatone that the previous owner of my boat had applied. It's lasted for years, which would not be the case with standard exterior latex.

www.zolatoneaim.com

I have to agree about the latex.
I read that post and I am still unclear what type of house paint he used.
I also looked into the Zolatone type of paint and it costs twice that of interlux.
Anyway I was thinking that good enamel would probably work fine.
Anyone have any experience using enamel in this manner?

I also have a 1959 boat I acquired about 2 years ago, which needed extensive refinishing. Interior, on the rough fiberglass, I used a light grey, flat exterior, oil base, house paint primer, that I had previously used on the inside of an ODay Sprite. For my money, it works absolutely great. I like the flat finish on the rough interior surface. For a 45 year old boat, probably equal to what it looked like when it left the factory.

For the exterior, "Rustoleum". Equal or better than anything else you can get your hands on to freshen up a 45 year old boat.

I believe that "coaming" is the traditional term used for construction in salt water boats, inland, who knows?

Annother naval tradition is "If its not broken, don't fix it." I don't believe that there is foam in my tanks either, and I don't intend to add any. If the tanks were built structurealy air tight, there would be no need to add foam. I assume that that was construction procedeure at the time. Later models are obviosly built much differently. I suppose I could try to pressure test them some time. Typically, the Avon type rubber boats do well with only air in their tanks, no foam. On the Sprite, which had perfectly sound air tanks, some misguided individual, had prviously bored holes in the tanks to add foam, not much brains there.

p/s The DS129 has simulated deck plank scorings in the fiberglass as well as scored in water line and boot top line. Is this common in the early boats?

Thanks for the information.

I have been taking a guess on the age of my DS as there are no markings and it matches the descriptions in other posts of the 59". I also have the engraved deck and water lines. I do wish there was a definitive way to date my DS but I guess those are the breaks.

My DS1 #568 is a 1960 boat. It also has the simualted deck planks, which has nice retro look, I think. A naval engineer brother hooked me up with some off-market 2-part poly, and a local painting company with a spray booth did a fine job on the deck. Replaced all the old mahoghany and the topsides now look great and ready for another 40 years!

I agree with above "if it ain't broke don't fix it" philosophy. My boat has a rep for speed and I do intend to begin racing in earnest this spring. So when I redo my hull in a couple of months, I'll use auto spraypaint selectivly on the gelcoat in combo with wetsanding.

Make friction fiction.

Racing in earnest this spring? Does this mean I have to take this a little more seriously?


Hey Peter. Hope you are enjoying the Ice Storm.

Personally I am just going to enjoy the cruising aspect of the DS... I tried racing last year on a Laser and that was just a little too intense, (and wet) for my tastes.

Is anyone located here in my area?
Tacoma WA.

Jim, the only DSr that I know of that is closer to you than the few of us here in Oregon is RJ Swenson (this list) who was looking for other DaySailer owners in the Seattle area. See http://forum.daysailer.org/forum/viewtopi ... ht=seattle

Andy, whoa there. By "earnest" I didn't mean "serious"!

Jim,

I have just used a Sherwin-Williams product on the interior of my boat. Waterbased catalyzed epoxy. This is not a home owners product, but most boat people should be able to work with this. It is giving me excellent gloss and I put in some color chips to break up the whiteness of it in my cuddy. I am going to tint it for the seats and not use the chips to give me a little contrast.
-Dave