prepurchase query - oday 34 in maine

[soopad00pa]

Looking at a (new to me) boat - 1983 O'day 34. Intended use - solo liveaboard, east coast and bahamas, and maybe explore the caribbean a bit if all goes well.

The good - 'recent' yanmar 3YM20, hours unknown, but it looks to be well cared for.
-Big self tailing winches.
-New wiring (very neatly done) and lots of new plumbing.
-Did lots of banging and poking and everything seems solid, decks and hull.
-Rigging looks good - no rust or fraying and very little discoloration - but don't know how old it is. Chainplates are shiny and bulkheads are solid.
-It's cheap!

The undecided - deeper keel (5'7", i think). My last boat was 4.5ft and i liked having those extra options, but it didn't go upwind worth a damn.

The bad - no refrigeration, minimal electronics (no wind or depth).
-No cushions.
-The yanmar has a 'small, slow' oil leak near the shaft (per owner, after 2 days of 8h/day motoring, wiped up with a paper towel).
-Really shallow chain locker and no windlass.
-Sails are in good shape but old - a looming expense.
-Older than I'd like, so much elbow grease required...

It'll also need to be trucked to the water (apparently common up here in Maine) but that would seem to complicate a survey, which I'll need if only for insurance purposes. But it's on the hard with the mast off so I can paint and run wire etc easily.

Of course, I have questions, so if you're still with me -

Maine specific - anyone recommend a surveyor near Portland or a wee bit north? A marina that's reasonably priced and won't freak out if I'm doing work in my slip? Also near Portland.

One of the potential issues with this model has been the keel to hull joint - it's cast iron, so there've been those rust and fall off horror stories put out there. Can someone give me a ballpark idea of how much it'd be to yank the keel and assess any problems? Keel bolts look good. Keel looks good (no streaking, seam is pretty tight, no obvious grounding booboos) but that's just me eyeballing things and whacking stuff...

I'm trying to decide between adding a compressor and cold plate or just using a supplemental 12v fridge - anyone have any insight into the install of a cold plate?

While the anchor locker is stupidly shallow, there's room under it in the front of the V berth that I could cut into and glass over and make a real locker - I'd really like a windlass at some point. If anyone has done this, I'd love to hear about it.

And finally, I've read a lot of stuff about the O'day 34 on the forums, but most of it's old - if anyone has any experience with this boat (or the 35, it's improved successor), I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks for any and all insight into this potential dumpster fire! And because everyone likes looking at boats, here's a brief walkthru vid...

https://youtu.be/47mgchfSX4w

[misssherry]

You should also query SailboatOwners forum, lots of Oday owners there. I had a 84 Oday 37 that has similar features to your 34. The iron keel did have a couple of rust spots and some gap on the forward end of the keel, which I consider cosmetic in nature. No blisters and this was a saltwater boat. It sailed surprisingly well. We added a windlass that involved some creative construction. I always had crew on the boat, so there was someone to flatten the pile of chain as it came into the shallow chain locker..

[soopad00pa]

Thanks - I gave it a browse and it looks like some good stuff...

So you added a windlass but didn't deepen the locker and it worked out? Good to know.

Any issues with your iron keel? Did you ever pull the bolts to check em out?