Removal of wood coamings on DS 1 boats
Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 9:23 pm
Hi folks, in the Summer 2013 DS Quarterly I had an article regarding the wood coamings on the DS 1 and the associated bylaw. Bylaw 3, paragraph 5.8 states "Wooden cockpit coamings may be cut down. Coamings may not be removed if they are intended to to be used as structural support to side decking. Owners of double-hull Rebel, Spindrift, and Precision models may remove the coamings." The intent of the bylaw was to maintain the coamings on the O'day DS 1 boats that came equipped with them, and allow the later version double hull Rebel, Spindrift, and Precision models to remove the decorative coaming, however as it is written, it seems to say the coamings can be removed unless they are part of the structural support. On the early "wood seat" Day Sailers, the wood does not act as a structural support, and on the "flotation tank" models, if someone adds side deck support where the coamings were, can they remove them. The Bylaw is vague, I would like feedback on this bylaw to change it to not allow the DS 1 boats with wood coamings to remove them, or perhaps to allow people to remove the wood since later model (McLaughlin, SLI, Cape Cod) do not have wood. Any thoughts would be welcome. Thanks, Bob Damon, Class Measurer