O'Day Mariner Sailboat Restoration

[tpenfield]

Update:

Today, I brought the sailboat into the garage to 'lift' the top portion (deck and cockpit) off of the hull. This will give me good access to the hull and related structure to essentially rebuild the boat.

I tried to lift the 'cap' with straps and a chain hoist, but the straps were deforming the cap and damaging the fiberglass. So, I lifted the cap from the main bulkhead.


This was close to the balance point of the cap, but there was about a 50 lbs imbalance that needed support at the stern.

I slowly 'inched' the trailer and hull out from under the boat. At each movement of the boat, I supported the rear of the cap on the transom of the hull, since I had only a single lifting point.



After a countless number of small moves of the trailer, it was finally at the point where the cockpit sole was ready to clear the transom. At this point the cap and the hull would be free of each other.


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Here is the hull (and trailer) pulled out from under the cap.


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Here is the cap supported by the chain hoist and a couple of stabilizing lines
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here is a picture of the hull. I can now remove/replace the old/wet foam that is in the aft berth chambers and do some other restoration work on the hull. I will also do some work on the cap



I will work the cap in the garage, but probably will have to work on the hull outside . . . somewhere.

 

[tpenfield]

A few more pics . . .


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I plan on replacing all of the hardware backing plates, since the original ones are wood and deteriorating . . . probably will get some new cleats as well.


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I think that I can use the mast (which is 25 feet long) to make a 'tent' out of the tarp to keep the weather out of the hull while I work on it.

 

[zool]

Way to get er done Ted, I too havnt seen too many decapped sail boats. I assume its the deep bulkhead that prevents you from working on the hull under the hanging cap? Or is it the garage door?...

 

[tpenfield]

Way to get er done Ted, I too havnt seen too many decapped sail boats. I assume its the deep bulkhead that prevents you from working on the hull under the hanging cap? Or is it the garage door?...

I think that I will want to lower the cap down to working height to get at the topsides and for painting.

If I have both the hull (on the trailer) and the cap in the garage at once, there may not be enough 'headroom' to effectively work on the hull, and the deck would be too high to do much of anything. So, the boat halves will either have to take turns in the garage or I work the hull outside, while the cap stays inside.

The garage has decent height to the girder and the cap comes within about 6" of the garage door, which is at about 8' 6" up. The garage was built when I added onto the house in 2001, but after 16 years, I seemed to have filled it with lots of 'stuff', so I don't have as much space as I would like.

 

[zool]

I was facing similar with the CM, so i decided to raise the cap to the ceiling, then do the inner hull work with the cap hanging above, and any underside cap work from under the cap, then lower the cap and reattach, then do the top work while reattached.....so far its been working, but this relies on me hoisting the entire boat back up to do the hull bottom ...the whole boat is about 450 lbs dry so it may be doable, we'll see lol :lol:

 

[tpenfield]

A quick look at some of the 'cap' details . . .

Here are some pictures of the backing plates and other details of the deck/cockpit assembly (aka 'cap').

this is typical of the backing plates for the cleats and other fixtures. 41 year old plywood which is pretty much deteriorated.



There is no backing plate at the bow for the forestay tang (mount), so that will be on the enhancement list. You can see the bow cleat backing plates in this picture. My plan is to go with a starboard type of material for the new backing plates.


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Along the way of owning this boat, I came to find that these 'wood blocks'/'mounting plates' with no apparent purpose actually were to hold a side shelf in the cabin . . . one shelf on each side. The shelves had obviously fallen down from deterioration of the mounting plates. I will probably build new shelves so that there is a place to store small items in the cabin.



Sailboats of the 1970's-80's vintage tended to have the cockpit sole sloped forward in order to conform to the shape of the hull. This was less than ideal for drainage because the suppers had to be plumbed through the mid-cabin section of the boat. Sailboat designs of the late 1980's-90's reversed the slope allowing any water in the cockpit to be drained out thru-hull scuppers at the transom.



Here is one of the scuppers at the front of the cockpit sole . . . as you can see it is pretty small and susceptible to clogging at the drain or within the plumbing .

I managed to break the one on the port side during the 'disassembly' of the boat halves. So, I'll get new ones, since these are old and brittle.



I'm going to see if I can get some better scuppers with screen to avoid getting debris clogs.

Plan for the day is to lower the cap to working height and start taking the hardware off, etc.

 

[alldodge]

Coming along nicely

 

[kcassells]

Well what I see is some GREAT stickt-to-it-ness-ness! Bet you're gonna have some fun now.

 

[johnmerritt]

Hey Ted, just read through your entire post. What a journey ! I just bought a 1977 Mariner in similar condition to yours and am embarking on my own restoration. I REALLY appreciate all the effort you went to to document the process. The pictures were very helpful in understanding how the boat was put together. My boat was very water damaged. The cockpit drains clogged and the cockpit water level rose over the seat opening and the interior filled with a lot of water. I've got her bailed out and now sitting in my pole barn till spring. Thanks again for all of your posts. John.

 

[tpenfield]

:welcome:

Thanks for your kind words on my project. If the cabin got a significant amount of water in it, then water may have gotten into the foam-filled chambers, which comprise the v-berth and aft berths. You can probably drain them using some of the methods that I did to pull water out of the chambers.

There is a Mariner Class Association, which you can join. ( usmariner.org ). The website has quite a bit of info about the Mariners, their maintenance and restoration. I am newly appointed to the executive board there, tell them I sent you

I wish I had a pole barn or something similar, as for now, I have moved the boat (pieces) out of the garage to outside in my yard, covered for winter.

 

[johnt_mn]

Hey, just wondering if you were able to complete this project? I've got a 1972 Mariner that I've spent a lot of time on as well. I really appreciate all the detailed info and pictures you've posted.

 

[tpenfield]

I have not. . . but recently quit my job and taking the summer off. I have plans on finishing the boat. Essentially re-building it.

There is a Mariner Class Association, if you were not already aware. So, you could look there as well for any guidance.

 

[flashback]

Hey mate, I have a 27ft O'Day that needs a full resto and I would like someone to take it on. She's floating and still has sails but sadly I've gotten old and don't have the means or energy to bring her back..
Great sailing boat and we had fun with the Catalina 27s..