ID Hull number

[GreenLake]

For uploading photos, check the "website info" section of the forum frist - there are a number of posts there on the issue. See whether that any of them are helpful.

I do think there must be a mistake. The typo could be his (or the factory's). When I see two photos, I'll know what to believe.

In the early days, O'Day built a hull a day. Between '58 and '63 they had reached #1500. Probably used one mold, laminated, let it sit overnight, popped it out the next morning, laminated the next one. Just speculating.

Now, if that's the production method, then to do 1200 boats a year you need four moulds...

Look at the unofficial hull number list, in later years, the sail #'s do go up by about that much per year in the early '70s. The whole decade, from '69 to '79 accounts for 7000 boats (assuming no gaps in sail numbers). That's an average of 700, so a peak of 900 or even 1200 per year is not unimaginable.

When hull and sail numbers were handed out in the traditional method, they were not strictly related (as I learned from earlier, much earlier, posts in this forum). And the theory advanced, that people on the factory floor would just grab the next bag of sails and recorded the actual number on the plaque has the sound of plausibility.

If the DSII was built in a different plant, that would explain why hull number counting started over. But O'Day was also bought out at some point (owned by Bangor Punta for a while) so I'm not sure that the reason for the reset isn't one of change of legal entity.

One thing that seems to have been the case is that sometimes ranges of sail numbers were per-assigned to a model line or builder - to make sure, I presume, of no accidental dual assignment.

Therefore, my understanding is that it's not possible to use either sail (=class) number or hull number to establish a precise age relation across model lines.

[Pierce56]

I have posted a picture of my Hull ID Plate in the picture gallery for Pierce56

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[GreenLake]

I've fixed it for you.

Now we need the photo from Redtailseven.

[Cavofficer6]

All:

I've attached a pic of my hull plate, and a left rear quarter view of my boat in the garage. It is (as you can see) a DSII, and the hull no is 3035 and the class no is 5700. From what I can understand now, it's unlikely I'll ever know my boats' "birth date" with any sense of surety, but I guess that's not too important.

Is it true though, that the class number and the original sail number would have been the same? The original sails on this boat are gone, so the mainsail only has "DS" on it.
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[redtailseven]

This is my hull plate:
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This is embarrassing, now that I have it on screen, I see that I misread it. I hope you will forgive me for taking up so much time with this mistake. I learned a lot from it (especially that I need my reading glasses more than I realized).

[GreenLake]

You know, I rather have this cleared up. And, like all good mysteries, it was entertaining while it lasted.

[redtailseven]

That's what I was hoping. I enjoyed trying to puzzle it out. Even though my number was wrong, I feel like I know a little more about how things might have been done. Now, to the shop to get this old mystery back in the water where she belongs.

[GreenLake]

Is it true though, that the class number and the original sail number would have been the same? The original sails on this boat are gone, so the mainsail only has "DS" on it.

If you wanted to race in a DSA sanctioned event, you'd add a sail number, and that number should be 5700. If that's what you are planning, you could do worse than contacting the DSA secretary who can make sure that nobody else has claimed that number (sometimes, older boats have no placques and then the DSA registers a number for them).

Even if you don't plan to race, you should consider joining the DSA - if nothing else, they've set up this lovely site for you to get feedback, help and information.

[SUNBIRD]

HULL# on EVERY O'DAY built prior to the USCG required 12-digit HIN would refer to how many TOTAL boats O'DAY had built (ALL Models)
CLASS# refers to how many of that CLASS (in this case, Day Sailer).
O'Day used the same Class# sequence on hte DS II as the DS I, theoretically, if a DS I and a DS II were completed the same day, they could have consecutive Class#s. Someone mentioned that Class Numbers may have been issued in batches, that makes sense, since I have often found boats where the difference in Hull#s does not match the difference in Class#s. It is also apparent that the person stamping the numbers into those plates didn't always use enough force to stamp/engrave the numbers......sometimes the first or last digit will be less obvious than the rest, leading to the appearance of a class# higher than the hull#.

The O'DAY Hull# sequence that started back when Marscot Plastics was building the boats for George O'Day continued through until the 12-digit HIN was required starting in 1972 (November). There were a few "blocks" of Class#s that were set aside for other builders of the DS I, although O'Day listed the DS I in their brochures until about 1977, a few boats were built (or finished off) by Cam-Am sailcraft in hte early 1970s. Later, after O'DAY "sold" the molds to the DSA, the 11000-11999 Class# block was set aside for Rebel/Spindrift. I'm not sure if they used that entire block of numbers? The DSA History page has a good run-down of these set aside class# blocks (so, check there, I may be slightly off?)

As far as I know (and have seen) O'Day used Class# 1 for the first DS and continued to number each DS consecutively until they built the last DS III in 1989 (even though the DS III is not class-legal, O'DAY still numbered them to log production).

O'Day often numbered boats built to an updated design consecutively with the original design. (O'DAY 30 class#s continue with the 31, and the 34 numbers continue with the 35 as do the 39 to the 40. All of those were really just a "tweaked" update to the earlier boat) The DS I to DS II is actually the one exception, since they continued to built the DS I for a while after introducing the DS II.