Need help identifying Daysailer year

[RenntechE60AMG]

I just recently purchased an O'Day Daysailer 17 for $350 including trailer, 3 sets of sails, mast, keel, and rudder. The boat did need work when I first purchased it 3 weeks ago and I have been working vigorously between 3 jobs to try and restore it to some beauty.

The kid that I bought it from told me it was a 1998 O'Day Daysailer because that is when he purchased it. I had stumbled across and old closed thread on here about looking for a HIN # and a plate on the inside of the hull. My Daysailer doesn't seem to have either of those.

When I purchased the boat, the hull was white and the top deck was a god awful baby blue color that had faded away. The top deck had tiny pits in the fiberglass that I had sanded down and filled with fiberglass filler. I then used Rustoleum Marine Topside Paint with Anti-Slip Additive in white and did and additional coast of white semi gloss as an added layer. The hull I painted with Rustoleum Marine Topside Paint in Navy Blue Semi Gloss 3 coats. (1 coat with a foam roller, then 1 coat with a brush then the last coat with a roller again).

Everybody I talked to at Westmarine told me that as long as I wasn't keeping the boat in salt water all the time, then top side paint for the hull is fine.

So tomorrow I am going to stain my side stripping, finish off staining my 2 seats, stain the cover I made for the aft sink/cooler and start to paint the inside bottom.

I still need help identifying the model year if my Daysailer though. All I have found for a number on the Mainsail is "55" and "6/74". The "6/74" looks like it was written in Mil-Spec Type and the type set is about 1-2" tall and on one of the corners of the main sail

[willyhays]

The HIN is usually molded onto the transom. If it is not there it could mean that the boat was built prior to 1972 (The first year for mandatory HINs). It could also mean the HIN was covered over/filled in at some point, for example, as the result of a repair to the transom. If you do find the HIN, typically, the final two digits represent the model year, the two digits just in front of the model year represent the month and year of production.

The numbers on the sail have no intrinsic relationship to the year of manufacture of the boat itself.

[jeadstx]

If you are staining the seats it is probably an early DS I. I think that by 1960 the seats were molded fiberglass. If the "55" on the sail is the correct class number, it would probably make the boat pre-1960, which means you would not have an HIN number stamped into the stern. The "baby blue" deck color was used on early DS I boats. My 1963 O'Day Rhodes 19 also had that same color deck originally. If the ID tag still exists, it will either be on the wood trim on the aft end of the transom or on the forward flotation tank bulkhead. The "6/74" on the sail may refer to when that particular sail was made.

Pictures would definitely help to identify the approximate year.

John

[GreenLake]

A DS built before about 1971 would indeed not have the modern hull number system. Sail and hull numbers would have been present on a small stamped plate (about 3x4") affixed variously to the middle of the rear coaming (right under the tiller) or the front bulkhead (that is the rear surface of the front flotation tank). It is apparently quite common for those plates to have disappeared over the years.

The numbers on the sail have no intrinsic relationship to the year of manufacture of the boat itself.

However, a small designation like 6/74 in small type on the corner of the sail is quite commonly used for the date of manufacture of the sail by the sail maker. From that, I take it, @RenntechE60AMG can confidently conclude that his sails are from 1974, and I would be comfortable with the further conclusion that they are aftermarket sails, rather than production.

@RenntechE60AMG does not tell us whether the sails have a DS logo on them, or whether the "55" is in 10" high letters. If both were the case, my conclusion would be that the sails likely were bought for hull #55, which would have been built in 1959 (a new set of sails 15 years after manufacture sounds more likely than a new set of sails 2-3 years later).

However, a 1959 DaySailer would presumably have very recognizable features (wooden benches), so perhaps the sails were purchased used for the current boat. Given the absence of the hull number it is still likely that the boat is older than 1971. To date it more conclusively would require looking at some minor design features. These varied over the years and are listed in a spreadsheet maintained by one of the forum users. It can be found in the DS1 Design Changes thread that is pinned at the top of the Day Sailer 1 Only forum.

From the spreadhsheet I see that light blue decks were apparently common in the early '60s. This can be further confirmed by whether the section of the transom not covered by the rubrail is "wide" or "narrow" (it's not the width of the rail, but how far it wraps around the "corners"). If you sort the spreadsheet by putative year it should be possible to spot other design features that would allow to date the boat (bear in mind that not all owners who added data did so correctly -- some entries clearly indicate that the person entering the data misunderstood the way the sheet is organized).

[willyhays]

Some great info here! I’m glad you all have been able to provide much more detailed and helpful guidance. And thank you for clarifying my comment. It would have been helpful had I explained that the numbers have no intrinsic relationship to the year of manufacture of the boat for the simple reason, as you have indicated, that the sails may not have been built for this particular boat. Whatever the date of manufacture it seems unlikely it is 1998. Right?

[GreenLake]

Whatever the date of manufacture it seems unlikely it is 1998. Right?

Right, for several reasons.

A boat built in 1998 has to have the HIN integrated into the hull in some place where it's not possible to remove it. It may even (have to) be present in more than one spot. One spot I have heard mention is the starboard forward side right under the hull-deck joint, where it's a bit out of the way.

Independent of the missing HIN, the condition of the gel coat and the color scheme all argue strongly for a different age of that boat.

If we had a few pictures, showing the transom, the inside of the cuddy, and the blocks for mainsheet, traveler (bridle) and jib sheets we would be able to help out with a much better idea of a likely age.