DaySailer.org Forum

I've seen many postings here regarding the identification of DS1's, but my boat just doesn't seem to match exactly any of the others I've read about. The seller had it in her driveway for fifteen years, but she is very certain it is an O'Day Daylsailer. Here goes:

- There is no manufacturer's ID plate anywhere, nor are any numbers etched onto the hull. I've checked from stem to stern, inboard and outboard. It's just gone. I have sails numbered 1020, but have no way of knowing if they match the hull.

- I've got the wooden coaming, plank seats, and floorboards. However, others describe their floorboards as being in five pieces. Mine are a three-piece setup. One running from the stern forward almost to the centerboard trunk, and two others that fit around the centerboard, one on each side. The centerboard also has a handsome wooden cover on it. (More on the centerboard later.)

- My cuddy is totally empty. No floatation tanks. When the seats are removed, they show a small (maybe 3" deep) storage well. There is only a small drain hole (very small - I'd guess about 1/4 inch) in the forward corners of these seat compartments that runs out into the cockpit. The space below these compartments appears to be hollow with no holes for drainage. There is a drain hole at the forwardmost point under the cuddy, and another that drains to the ground just starboard of the centerboard and covered by the floorboards.

- Everything I've read tells me there should be a handle or something that raises and lowers the centerboard. Mine appears to have only a nylon cord run through a pulley to the board. Apparently, you raise it by pulling on this cord and tie it to a cleat which is screwed to the wooden top of the centerboard trunk. There is a bolt running through the trunk about mid-way down. Is this where the board pivots?

- As an added hint, the mast mounts on top of the cuddy, but that's pretty standard.

It is a handsome craft and everything appears sound. After refinishing the seats and coaming I'll go out and float test her.

Ok, have all of you amatuer slueths got your thinking caps on? Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated. I live in Tecumseh, Michigan (southeastern part) and would be happy to hear from any Daysailer owners in the area. Especially since I haven't a clue as to how to rig her either! I can be emailed at voodooacrobat@yahoo.com.

Fair Winds and Following Seas!

Mark


Mark Huff (voodooacrobat-at-yahoo.com)

Hmmm...

Are you sure it's an O'Day Day Sailer? There were a few knockoffs of the DS that look a lot like the O'Day, and it is possible to confuse one for an O'Day if you don't have any bonafide DS I's to compare it to.

Here's the things that make me suspect it's not an O'Day:

- No handle for the centerboard truck; All DS 1's have this. Perhaps someone "improved" it by replacing the handle with this pulley system.

- No flotation in the cuddy; All DS I's have flotation in a bow tank. If some one removed it, the boat was perhaps damaged badly at some point in time. Hard to see why someone would remove the floatation tanks.

- Deck stepped mast; all older DS 1's were keel stepped. With wooden plank seating, that would seem to indicate an older boat, but of course someone could have cut the mast.
- Wooden cap on the centerboard trunk; Never seen a DSI with this.

Other things to look at:
Doe the boat have thwarts? (wooden planks that run athwartship from the seats to the centerboard truck)

Does the transom have a gentle curve?

If the boat has neither of these, I would be certain that it is NOT a Day Sailer, (meaning Day Sailer Class, originally built by O'Day and subsequently built by Rebel, Spindrift, McLaughlin, Laser/Sunfish, and Cape Cod SB)
Instead it's a daysailer... the generic term.


Bob Hunkins (rhunkins-at-pdq.net)

Thanks for the input. If you're interested, I have posted a few photos on my Sailnet.com personal page. It's listed under Voodooacrobat. It shows the stern, the cockpit, and the centerboard and cuddy.

Mark (voodooacrobat-at-yahoo.com)

I don't think your boat is a O'Day, you can compare it to pictures of my recently purchased boat, which I am sure is a 1969 O'Day DS1. I posted the pictures in this forums picture section. Also guitar is great, I play as well!

Brandon Evans (Lehighvalley2-at-yahoo.com)

I think what you have is an O'Day daysailer, but not a Day Sailer. This boat looks to be an O'Day Osprey, if you check the O'Day Owners Unofficial Web-Site, http://home.att.net/~oday/index.htm you should find a link to an old O'Day sales brochure, approximate vintage- 1967-8. In there are pics of the OSPREY, length: 15' 8", Beam: 5' 11". The Osprey had fiberglass seats though, at least the boat pictured did.
This boat might also be a FALCON, built either by McVay Fiberglass, or Beetle Boats (American Boatbuilding was later company name), length: 15' 9", Beam: 5' 3". The Falcon had wooden seats, that ran from the stern (under aft deck) to about the mid-point of the cb trunk, flotation was under the seats. However, the Falcon had the same type of lever-operated CB as the DS I, and no wooden cap on the CB trunk. However, modifications by previous owners could have changed that.
If the sails have an emblem, the Falcon had a bird on the sail, the Osprey had a sort-of "S" with the bottom being a closed circle, think of an "8" with part of the top missing to form a hook.

Rod Johnson, "SUNBIRD" (rjohnson24-at-juno.com)

One more "clue", both the Osprey and the Falcon have the mast stepped on the deck, just forward of the cuddy. If the mast on your boat is stepped on top of the cuddy........I'm still confused? I'll look again at the photos, maybe have my Dad look at them....he owned a Beetle Falcon from 1959-1969.

Rod Johnson, "SUNBIRD" (rjohnson24-at-juno.com)

It might also help if you could post a pic of your boat, taken from the side, as well as more from the bow, but the more I look at the pics that you have posted, the more I think this is a Falcon. BTW, the boat looks GREAT!

Rod Johnson, "SUNBIRD" (rjohnson24-at-juno.com)

Rod,

Thanks for all of your input. I really appreciate the efforts of you and all of the other sailors out there!! I'm having a problem figuring out exactly how to post photos here. I'll think of something. As an update, I was wrong about not having a flotation tank at the bow. There is one. (Although I've read that newer DS's have two under the cuddy.) I guess I didn't know what I was looking for. Also, some other reading suggests that the oldest Daysailers did have a cable to raise/lower the centerboard instead of a lever.

I hope to upload some photos to my band's homepage later this week. In the meantime, I'll look for pictures of the Falcon.

Thanks again,

Mark


Mark (voodooacrobat-at-yahoo.com)

I found the photo page for this site and was able to upload load three. One is really crappy! Another is a good shot of the centerboard trunk. I have others, but they all exceed 75000 bytes.

Mark (voodooacrobat-at-yahoo.com)

Mark, I am 99.9999999999999999% certain that this is a McVay Fiberglass Yachts. built Falcon. I showed the first photos from your SAILNET site to my Dad, and he recognized the seating design right away. The older Falcons had a lever-operated centerboard, but perhaps McVay modified the design to a line-control. I'm sure that McVay is long out of business, but here is the info that I have, just in case it may help! McVAY Fiberglass Yachts, P.O. Box 122, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada
Specs: LOA: 15' 9" LWL: 14' 3" Draft: 2' 10" Sail Area: 137 sqft. I got this info from a 1966 YACHTING Magazine.

Rod Johnson, "SUNBIRD" (rjohnson24-at-juno.com)

Ron,

You were right!! I am the proud owner of a 16' Falcon!! I finished the woodwork, polished the hull and cuddy, checked all of the rigging, and took her for her Maiden Voyage on Sunday. (Well, maybe not her Maiden Voyage, but it was my Maiden Voyage on her. And her first trip in over fifteen years!) She is smooth and responsive. I'm going to be very happy with this boat for a long time!

I managed to find two photos of Falcon 16's on the web and mine fits the configurations I saw. Also, had I bothered to pull the sails completely out of their bags, I would have seen the Falcon emblem stitched on the mailsail!

Thanks for all of your help, Ron. I really do appreciate it a lot. (Of course, now I'm no longer qualified to visit O'Day Owner's Discussion Boards. I'll get over it.) I had never even heard of a Falcon until you responded! Thanks again for setting me straight. If you're interested, I have a profile with photos of her at www.sailnet.com. My personal page is listed under Voodooacrobat.

Fair Winds and Following Seas,

Mark Huff



Mark (voodooacrobat-at-yahoo.com)