What's the difference between O'Day DS I vs. DSII?

[Spaulding]

If for some reason a boat doesn't have a NIN tag with the hull #, what design features would tell you for sure whether the boat is a DS I versus a DS II?

[Alan]

The differences between an O'Day DS I and DS II jump right out at you.

The DS I has a single hull molding. It has wooden floorboards, for stiffening, and wood trim (also for stiffening) along the coaming. Early models have a shelf forward of the transom, with an outboard motor well on (I think) some really early models. The cuddy opening is the full width of the boat.

The DSII (my boat) is made up of two separate moldings - one for the hull, and one for the cockpit/deck/cuddy top. This creates an enclosed bilge, which the DSI doesn't have.

At a quick glance, to identify which of the two your boat is: Look at the cuddy opening. If it goes full width, it's a DSI. If it's a lot narrower than the boat's beam because it has panels on either side, it's a DSII.




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[GreenLake]

If for some reason a boat doesn't have a NIN tag with the hull #, what design features would tell you for sure whether the boat is a DS I versus a DS II?

I believe pretty much all the DSIIs were built after the new 12 character HIN were required. The exception might be the very early ones, although, from reading various descriptions of hull numbers, it seems that the 12 character HIN was being phased in over some time.

The very fact that you say there isn't a hull number would make it likely that the boat you are looking at is older. Now, if someone offers you a DS without a HIN, but supposedly younger than 73, something fishy might be going on. The HIN were invented to give each boat a permanent, somewhat tamper-proof identity...