O’Day fabrication methods

[Rol1964]

Looking at a 1978 O”Day 27. Unable to find any historical fabrication info. Were these boats hand laid or chopper gun ......? Etc.
The keel is encapsulated, not a bolt on.
I’m trying to get as much info as I can before I go back for a second look.
Thanks for your suggestions.

[Rol1964]

Looks like these boats were hand laid fibre glass hulls.
I had to bail out the bilge...about 10 gallons of rain water had found it's way in while this boat has been on the hard for the past 4 seasons.
Present owners didn't do much to cover the deck and keep the elements out.

[psk125]

Think about how long that water has been there and what it might have done over four Canadian winters. Ice in the bilge can cause major structural problems as well as delamination of tabbing and furniture. This boat needs to be scrutinized carefully if you think it might be worth pursuing.

[CarlF]

O’Day 27

[roverhi]

Doubt if any sailboats would have been an all chopper gun layup. Chop just doesn't have the strength of cloth/roving. The old style layups were normally roving and matt or chopper gun. Chopper gun layup with roving/cloth was used by a number of pretty good boat manufacturers like Cheoy Lee and Morgan. The problem with the chopper gun is it tended to be resin rich and required a somewhat skilled operator to get the proper thickness of chop. A lot of other manufacturers used chopper gun layups alone, without cloth/roving, for non structural parts like liners and interior parts.

[nightowle]

I had an O'Day 27 until only a couple of years ago. It was a great boat and now being enjoyed by a new owner - I still see it on the water. They are well built, comfortable, sail well, handle challenging conditions well and are easy to work on. Mine had a few small blisters when I bought it which I took care of. The hull is solid layup and pretty thick. You should find out what caused the water intrusion. I developed a couple of small leaks around cleats, but nothing that would fill the small bilge. I also had some softening of the deck toward the bow. I just left it alone considering the age of the boat. I thought the encapsulated keel was very strong.
Good luck

[Freedom45]

I worked at Jensen Marine in SoCal in the mid to late 70’s. Makers of O’day, Cal and Ranger boats.

All of the hulls and decks were hand lay ups. Only the interior pans were chopper gun....to the best of my recollection.

I don’t know if O’days were built anywhere else.

[Rol1964]

Infiltration of water appears to be related to companionway boards fabricated from acrylic or some other plastic sheeting.
So if the cabin accumulates several gallons of water over time, is it safe to assume that a quantity of the standing water in the bilge will migrate down into the keel area? I’m definitely new to this sailing “addiction” and I’m trying to ramp up my knowledge base so I really appreciate all your suggestions. And I will enlist qualified help when the time comes. Cheers