by Guest » Mon May 21, 2001 11:10 am
Keith is correct about O'Day's original hull numbers. I had a 196(9?) O'Day Widgeon before I sold it to buy my 1979 DS II. That Widgeon had both a hull # 22698, and Class# 1791. Class # is the important number for identifying vintage of a Day Sailer (or any other O'Day). If looking at a newer O'Day (1973 or later) the Class # is still included in the Hull I.D. number, using the following format: XDYD####Myym, where D = Day Sailer, #### = Class #, M = model year format, yy = year of manufacture, m = letter for month code in model year format. HIN might also be XDYD####mmyy, where mm = month of manufacture, yy = year of manufacture. Under the model year format, A= August, B = Sept., C = Oct........E = Dec., F = Jan......L = July. for the 1979 model year this meant A = August 1978, B = Sept. 1978.......F = Jan. 1979......L = July 1979 since the model years ran August of previous year to July of the "model" year.
On boats with a Class # greater than 9999, the HIN became: XDY#####Myym-D, since the "D" for Day Sailer would no longer fit after the XDY. O'Day built the DS I from 1958/9 until 1978, the DS II from 1971-1985, and the DS III from 1986 to 1990. The DS I was built by another builder as well as O'Day for a short time around 1973 or so. The present DS, variously called DS IV or DS I, was built from 1991 to 1994 by SUNFISH/LASER, and from 1995 to present by Cape Cod Shipbuilding. Cape Cod does not use the Class # as part of the HIN, it is marked elsewhere on the boat.
Rod Johnson (rjohnson24-at-juno.com)