New Owner with Question

[Top Hat]

Hi Everyone!
I've been on this site a lot since we bought a 1982 O'day DaySailer two weeks ago. Tons of info here, so thanks in advance for your help.

The boat is in quite good shape and we have been out three times so far with no issues. I've made a few upgrades so far (e.g. Jiffy reefing) and will no doubt make some more so that we can survive next year's Texas 200. (Might as well do it now...I'm not going to live forever).

I have found most every answer to my questions on the site here except one. On a particularly windy sail that offered up some light chop, I noticed a few spurts of water coming from one of the centerboard lines into the cuddy. I know that there have been some issues with the diameter of the hole coming from the bilge not being close enough in size to the diameter of the line, but I'm not sure how the water would make it into the cuddy--through the outer and inner hulls--and not into the bulge. Was it a lucky shot?

After our sail, on the trailer, I removed the transom plug while the stern was pointed downhill and no water came out of the bilge.

Any suggestions as to what may have caused this?

Thanks!

[TIM WEBB]

Hi Top Hat!

Welcome to the best source of info on any one type of boat that most of us have ever seen ...

If you have a DS2, which I'm pretty sure you do, then you got a lucky shot indeed! If you have water squirting into the cuddy from the CB uphaul opening, but your bilge is staying dry, you have hit the jackpot: it means that your particular boat doesn't have this problem:

http://www.bobhunkins.com/mt-archives/DS2CBTLK_100.pdf

Consider yourself lucky! My '79 DS2 *does* have the problem, and I'm still working on a fix ...

You can just squirt some silicone into the opening, around the CB UH cable, to seal it off, if you don't need to go the whole route described above.

If you are planning on doing the TX 200, I would definitely PM user jeadstx. He has sailed that event I believe 3 times now in his DS2, and would be a wealth of info. He's certainly been a big help to me, especially when I was preparing for the FL 120 earlier this year. AND, the DS Assn just awarded him the Cruiser of the Year!

[Top Hat]

Sweet! Thanks for the info on the boat and the lead on the Texas 200. I hope we get there! It sounds like madness. The good kind.

[ChrisB]

Top Hat,

I also have a DS II and had the same problem. My solution to the water in the cuddy problem was solved by gluing sucessively smaller rubber hoses into the hole at the front of the CB trunk. The hoses were slit up the side so they could be snapped around the stainless steel cable attached to the board. This has all but eliminated the water intrusion into the cuddy. Having said that, I have now swapped the cuddy "leak" for the bilge "leak". I also sailed this year's FL 120 and after an extremely choppy morning sail, I opened the access ports to the bilge and discovered the bilge to be completely flooded so I now have a new problem to address.

[Top Hat]

How about removing the cb and applying silicone to the inner uphaul hole? Is that a doable operation or does that open up a whole new can of worms?

[ChrisB]

Whatever approach is taken will ultimately be temporary because every time the CB is retracted the cable acts like a saw cutting through whatever material is used to close up the hole. This is why the bilge repair referenced by Tim below employs a brass pipe nipple. I would expect even that would be cut through eventually. I've only dropped the board on my boat once (to repair the cable attachment) and the hole is near the top of a narrow opening and I would expect it would be very difficult to accurately get silicone in there.

[jeadstx]

Top Hat

I have sailed the Texas 200 3 times (halfway in 2010 and all the way in 2011 & 2012). The DS2 does very well. I have water squirt out of the front of the centerboard trunk as well and into the cuddy cabin. It runs thru the drain holes in the cuddy cabin bulkhead where I occasionally bail it out. My bilge stays dry which is the most important thing. It's annoying, but not bad. I'm working on ways to reduce the amount of water coming thru there.

Where are you at and where do you sail? I sail Canyon Lake and live in Dripping Springs, Texas. I'd be happy to show you what I've done to my boat to prepare it for the Tx200.

I've written two articles about my experience on the Tx200. The 2011 article was in the Day Sailer Quarterly last year and the current one will be in an upcoming issue of the DS Quarterly. The articles are also posted on the Texas 200 main site at http://www.texas200.com/ . Just go to the 2011 and 2012 sections. Many photos and videos there as well. The 2011 article towards the end details many of the things I did to the boat. The 2012 article has additions I made after the 2011 event. Don't let my capsize in the 2012 event scare you, shouldn't have happened, but did. Winds were stronger in 2011 and the DS stayed upright. The DS is an excellent boat for the Tx200 in my opinion. Also on the Tx200 site you will find downloadable maps of the 2012 route that you can study. I created those maps and use them for navigation with my GPS.

John

[Top Hat]

ChrisB: Yeah it sounds futile. I can live with it the way it is.

Jeadstx: I was going to soon hit you up in a PM about some info on the race. I'll read your articles first...they'll probably answer most everything I need to know. I'm in Denver, where you can only sail for about six minutes in any direction before having to tack. Texas is the closest real water so I started researching that and I stumbled across the T200 and here we are.
I did some spring chartering down in Corpus about five years ago. On our last day it was really blowing so I kinda know what what we are getting into, but the DS is considerably smaller so we'll have to work harder, but that's my kind of vacation anyway!

[jeadstx]

The DS might be small, but it is one of the larger boats on the Tx200. They range from about 12' to about 25'. It's not a race, but rather camp cruising. You start when you want to in the morning and sail to the next camp. The winds are usually 15 to 20 knots. Put at least two sets of reef points in the main. It is an enjoyable event with many good sailors in both production and home built boats.

You carry all your supplies and camping equipment with you. The southern half of the route has very few places to re-supply if you should need it. The first leg from Port Isabel to Port Mansfield is mainly along the King Ranch coastline. There is nothing along that stretch. The north half has a few opportunities for re-supply if needed.

If you are not aware of it, the main discussion for the event lately has been on facebook under "Texas 200 Sailing Club".

John