O’Day 28 for coastal cruising?

[GRH]

Hello, just wanted to get some forum input on the O’Day 28 as a potential coastal cruiser. I live about an hour from Annapolis, and I’m looking for my first sailboat. Most of my sailing will be here on the Chesapeake, but I would like to find a boat that would also be well suited for coastal cruising down to the Florida Keys and Bahamas.

Would the O’Day 28 be a good fit? Would I need to modify the standing rigging or make any other mods that are typically done to be better prepared for rough weather? I have a long way to go in terms of experience before I would be leaving the Chesapeake, but I’d like to start with a boat that I can grow into. Any other boat suggestions? Maybe Cal, Catalina or C&C? I want something in the 30 foot range, and I can’t afford to spend more than roughly 20K. Thanks for all helpful replies.

[DDabs]

The Oday 28 is a great hull for exactly what you're proposing, as are your other choices. I think you're on the right track, especially if you're heading down this way to Florida!

Tartan 33 is a nice boat in that range

[GRH]

DDabs, thanks for your take. Appreciate it. I’ll definitely check out the Tartan 33.

[loneshark64]

I have had a 1985 O'Day 28 for two years. It is a great boat for what you have in mind. I am very experienced with Catalinas of this vintage and the O'Day 28 is the better boat in my opinion. They made about 500 of them and went out of business a long time ago though so people tend to prefer Catalinas, and if I was buying a 10 or 20 year old boat I would buy a Catalina (I am thinking about it) but for a 28 footer from the '80s the O'Day is a shockingly good boat. There are many hundreds sill afloat FWIW.

I like the hull construction; it has an encapsulated lead keel, so no bolts to worry about, and an interior fiberglass hull liner that comprises the seats and lockers etc and provides an extra layer of stability and makes the boat pretty strong and stiff. Also it is huge inside, 10.5' beam in the center and I have full headroom at 5'10". It's the biggest interior for an older 28 footer I have seen. Draft is 4.5' so it gets over the rocks and shoals here in Maine very well.

I had it surveyed and the boat was pretty dry. No blistering.

Mine came with a Yanmar 3GM 30 which is oversized for the boat so some modifications were made to enable this. I think the original engines were underpowered and of course they are old, so I would suggest looking for a boat that has had it's engine replaced. Some have gone without the diesel and replaced with an outboard. That does not seem like a great solution for this size boat in my opinion.

Sailing wise, my boat points pretty high and sails well. It is very forgiving, doesn't have much leeway at all or heel much. It does tend to round up. I know another guy that had one and his did too. He got rid of his boat because of this but I just handle it buy letting the main out, adjusting the traveler or reefing over 20 kts. I am quite comfortable sailing the boat up to 20 kts, and quite happy between 10 and 20 apparent. With my typical half assed sail trim I go over 6 knots pretty easily with good wind. On Saturday in about 18kts of wind and about a knot of current in my favor I saw 7.4 kts COG at about 50 degrees off the wind. Downwind my boat is slower, not sure why. I don't have a spinnaker.

My traveler is on the cabintop. Get one like that, not with it mounted in the cockpit, the cockpit is not big enough and you will kill yourself going around it.

What's not to like? There's no real nav station. The ice box is useless (I made it into a garbage hold. Cockpit is a bit small. The cabinets and counters ("joinery" as yachties like to say) is not super high quality. Bottom line, O'Day's model was spend the money on the hull and skimp on some of that other stuff. The fittings are generally OK or have been replaced with better, but the woodwork is mediocre. My attitude was I was buying a boat not a china closet, but some people buy these and spend a lot of time replacing the countertops and cabinets, installing custom italian tile backsplashes and bullsh** like that.

Other than that, I have had to replace a ton of stuff. Head pump, fresh water pump, hoses, wiring, chartplotter, battery monitor, running rigging, VHF, the list goes on. Depends on how well the boat was maintained. But it didn't cost a ton and I have learned a lot. I drill holes in this boat and sand and patch and move stuff around without fear because it's an old boat and so drill away. I do everything in the most cost effective way possible because the resale market for O'Days is pretty fixed.You can buy a decent one for $12K, put $20K into it and in three years you will sell it for $11K.

Also everybody complains about the carpeting on the walls. This was designed to absorb and dissipate moisture, and it does, but after 30+ years of that it tends to look water stained and have mildew. People in the owners group spend a lot of time scraping it out and replacing it with all sorts of things. I just got a carpet cleaner and did it once with anti-mildew stuff and once with oxy carpet soap and it look s brand spanking new.

There is a guy, DR Marine I think, that sells the original fittings and compatible parts, and there is a good owners group. But I have not had any difficulty using standard gear for things I have had to buy.

Good luck!

[thomm225]

You can get a lot of boat for $20K for the Bay and Coastal Cruising.

I paid $2K for my boat (Bristol 27) in 2011 and have slowly made improvements in the off season while sailing it these past 9 years.

I mainly sail the lower Bay (Tangier South on both sides) and it can get quit rough down here where the ocean collides with the bay.

My boat's electrical power is provided entirely by solar ......

[GRH]

Loneshark64... thank you very much for such an informative response. Really appreciate it! Sounds like the O’Day 28 has been a great boat for you in Maine. That’s good to know about the solid build quality of the hull. I would definitely prioritize that over joinery work, etc.

I was surprised to hear that you would potentially put 20k into any given O’Day 28, only to sell it for a thousand bucks less than what you paid for it:

“You can buy a decent one for $12K, put $20K into it and in three years you will sell it for $11K.”

Is this typical of how expensive it is to fix all the failing items on these old boats, or was the $20k a typo? Thanks again.

[GRH]

Thomm225... that’s pretty cool that you bought your Bristol 27 for just 2k and made so many great improvements, particularly a solar electrical system. Great pics. Thanks.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by GRH

Thomm225... that’s pretty cool that you bought your Bristol 27 for just 2k and made so many great improvements, particularly a solar electrical system. Great pics. Thanks.

My solar electrical "system" is one 65 watt panel permanently laying (tied down) on the aft Lazerette.

I have 50 watt I tie on the stern railing when sailing, and two 20 watt panels I bring out when I need extra power.

Then I have two 90 ah so called deep cycle 12 volt batteries in parallel which the panels charge through a couple controllers. One $16 PWN and a Victron 75/15 MPPT. These are laying in the lazerette in a tangle of wires which I plan to mount soon.......it's been this way for 8 years while I figure out how I want to mount them.

If you get a small boat in decent shape, it doesn't cost that much to fix one up. I've spent maybe $12K including the purchase price fixing mine up over the past 9 years.

I still need to replace the rigging and get a good check on the thruhull/seacock metal next time I pull the boat ......and maybe a composting head before I cruise long distance

Here's a list of some good Coastal and offshore boats mostly full keel though. (and some good advice)

https://atomvoyages.com/planning/goo...oats-list.html

[GRH]

Sounds like setting up a solar system onboard is fairly simple. That site Atom Voyages is fantastic. Thanks for the link. What a wealth of knowledge and experience there.

[loneshark64]

Originally Posted by GRH

I was surprised to hear that you would potentially put 20k into any given O’Day 28, only to sell it for a thousand bucks less than what you paid for it:

“You can buy a decent one for $12K, put $20K into it and in three years you will sell it for $11K.”

Is this typical of how expensive it is to fix all the failing items on these old boats, or was the $20k a typo? Thanks again.

No I don't think it is required, it was probably an overstatement but my point is that you can and will put a lot of money into a boat and you don't get it back. You can look on the listings for O'Days or similar boats, they sell within a range. There are literally no O'Day 28s sold for over $20K and almost none in the high teens, but some owners put a lot of money into them, replacing engines, painting, new sails and rigs, etc and are surprised they don't sell the boat for more. You have to buy smart, and then be realistic about how much it makes sense to spend improving it. The guy I bought my boat from had a hard time with this, he wanted $20K minimum for the boat because he had spent a lot on it. He had it for sale for two years and was spending money at the marina the whole time but ultimately had to come down to reality to sell it.

The big items for me have been radar ($3500) which you don't need but in Maine I wanted it. Chartplotter ($700) again you could do for less but this mattered to me. VHF ($250), head ($250), Bimini ($250), rigging ($300) and an endless list of $100 items. I didn't have to buy a motor or sails and the standing rigging mast boom hatches bottom etc were all good. I spent $15K for the boat and I doubt I could get $15K for it now. I would probably take the radar off it and sell it without that.

The other big expense was the electrical, winch and engine repair and maintenance I have had the yard do, which is expensive, and winter storage. I probably spent $5K a year the first two years on storage and stuff I had the yard do. I am doing a lot of that myself now, for instance bottom paint and engine stuff. None of this is specific to O'Day vs another 1980's boat.

Don't underestimate the costs of owning a sailboat.

[GRH]

Okay, thanks for breaking down all those costs. Those pricier items, like radar, would definitely be nice to have after I gain more experience, but I agree that I need to keep it simple (and less expensive) for now.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by GRH

Sounds like setting up a solar system onboard is fairly simple. That site Atom Voyages is fantastic. Thanks for the link. What a wealth of knowledge and experience there.

Yes, on a small boat it's quite simple and you can find wiring diagrams online if you get confused.

It's not much more than hooking up jumper cables to start your car except thru a controller which has the diagram of which wires go where on the case

The atom voyages website is great and covers the entire spectrum not just info from a poster here and there, but it's mostly about full keel boats.

Another site is this one:

https://www.mahina.com/cruise.html

[GRH]

Great! Thanks very much.

[Seanmcclain]

Loneshark64, is there any chance you recall what products you used on the carpet? I have a 1981 O'Day 28 and I plan to clean my carpet this winter.

Originally Posted by loneshark64

. I just got a carpet cleaner and did it once with anti-mildew stuff and once with oxy carpet soap and it look s brand spanking new.

[loneshark64]

Originally Posted by Seanmcclain

Loneshark64, is there any chance you recall what products you used on the carpet? I have a 1981 O'Day 28 and I plan to clean my carpet this winter.

Hi I sprayed it with Better Boat Mildew Stain Remover Cleaner

Then I used a Bissell carpet cleaner, just a portable one we use around the house. I put the Bissell Professional Spot and Stain Oxy solution in it. It came out very much improved.