DaySailer.org Forum

Last year I was given a 1966 Daysailer 1. It had sat on a trailer for 20 plus years and the hull and trailer were in sad shape. After countless hours and about $1500.00, my free boat was back in the water. Since any boat I own is never finished, I am once again working on this wonderful old Daysailer. Last year I replaced the stiffeners, but did not paint the interior. So I removed the thwarts, sanded and sanded and sanded, and painted the interior with Interlux Bilgecoat. We'll see how it holds up. Last year, I had trouble putting the rudder on and off. The metal trim at the top edge was getting in the way, so I moved the gudgeons out about a quarter inch using spacers made from a nylon cutting board. I'm converting the main sheet to mid boom, so I installed a new Harkin swivel. Although the original jib cleats on the centerboard trunk worked well enough, I hack sawed them off and installed up to date cam cleats. When I tried to reinstall the thwarts, I discovered the hull had pulled apart about a 1/4 inch. I later careened the boat over on its' side which pushed the sides together the 1/4 inch I needed to attach the thwarts. The old mast had diamond wires on it which I removed to see if I can get a little mast bend.

After pulling the boat over on its' side, Sally and I removed most of the old paint on the bottom with scrapers and sander. I have to fill in a slight indentation in the bottom where it sat on the trailer. I will also fill any dings and scratches, prime it and paint it using Interlux Brightside. I drysail my boats, so do not need antifouling.

I'll keep you posted.

Do you have a catch that prevents the rudder from coming out of the gudgeons by itself?

I do have a catch, but I don't trust it so I also put a pin in the top pintle. Over the years, I popped a few rudders out of the gougeons, although I've never lost one.

I use a pin thru the top pintle to keep my rudder from popping out of the gudgeons. Haven't had a problem.

John

My DS was set up with a double catch, and as that has worked well over the years, I've never changed it.

One catch is the usual springy leaf that will catch under the gudgeon unless pressed against the rudder head for retrieval. The other is an innocent looking simple 90 degree angle of stainless steel that is screwed right above the top gudgeon on the transom. It's fixed with a single screw (and is a bit loose) so it swings down over the gudgeon, preventing the pintle from coming up. To retrieve, it's simply pushed aside.

As a combination, that setup has served well over the years. I first saw the pin through the pintle setup on John's boat and kind of mentally filed it as a possible upgrade if I ever get indications that my setup isn't sufficient (or for future boats - those leaf-spring catches are expensive, I found ).