Early DS1 Manual ("mastjack")

[GreenLake]

I found an early DS1 manual, one that might be older than the one posted on this site (which states it's from 1966).

The manual is entitled: Instructions for Rigging the Day Sailer (and any other rig using a mastjack).

It is undated, but gives the address of the O'Day Corporation as 9 Newbury Street, Boston, Mass 16. (The 1966 manual shows a different address and uses a five digit zip code - which were introduced in 1963 and not required before 1967 (per Wikipedia)).

The address matches that on posters or ads from O'Day during the very early years of the Daysailer (see the nice collection of these on http://oday.home.att.net/om.htm - the addresses are a bit hard to read on the scans, but you can make them out). By 1966 or so they reference the address from the newer manual here on this site.

The manual contains drawings (not photographs) of the rigging items. It shows no diamond stays for the upper mast and shows a flotation tank across the transom. It shows fairleads outside the coamings with cleats that are let into the coamings.

The boat this manual came with, (supposedly hull #1404, year '71 according to state registration papers), has molded in seats and diamond stays, and the jib sheeting seems to have been to a track on the inside of the coamings from the start.

Naturally, I've wondered about the discrepancy between recorded year and the apparent earlier date of the manual. Could be, that the manual wasn't the one that originally came with the boat. Or it could be that original vessel registration was inaccurate.

Based on the fact that this hull is lacking the stringers that are seen in both 1966 and 1974 hullls, which also have higher hull numbers, the recorded year information could indeed be incorrect - there's no builder's plaque on the boat, and I've not been successful in locating any imprint of a HIN.

[algonquin]

Sounds like the manual may be the right one but the boat year is in error on the paperwork. My 63 DS1 (#818) has the seats like you describe, no stringers, and also is VIN tag delete. Brad

[navahoIII]

Brad - Our DS1 is #1001 and I am almost certain that it is a '62. How do you know that yours is '63?

[GreenLake]

Sounds like the manual may be the right one but the boat year is in error on the paperwork. My 63 DS1 (#818) has the seats like you describe, no stringers, and also is VIN tag delete. Brad

The trailer that I acquired with the boat is a 1965 model according to its registration papers - it has a plaque with serial number but no year on the frame. There's no guarantee that the two were acquired at the same time and then kept together, but it's not that unlikely.

[algonquin]

Brad - Our DS1 is #1001 and I am almost certain that it is a '62. How do you know that yours is '63?

Hmmm !! The fellow I bought it from was the second owner and he had a hand receipt from the first owner saying it was a 63. Really don’t have any other information. Does yours have molded seats ? Brad

[navahoIII]

Yes, it has molded seats.

I'm not really sure about the year either (it's '62 or '63) but I thought I saw an old ad for the DS1 from 1962 and the picture showed one under sail with a slightly higher number on it than ours. I cannot swear to it...

[GreenLake]

More details. The original gelcoat colors on my boat are turquoise for the deck and seats and white for the hull. Does that color combo narrow it down?

Further, the jib leads were not lead through the coamings, but used tracks. The coamings show no evidence of ever having had the necessary hole for a through-coaming jib arrangement.

However, curiously, there are two circular areas molded into the gunwhales about a few inches aft of the cuddy, at the place where there were jib fittings for the original DS design. OK, so the deck molds weren't cleaned up when the shift was made. Perhaps. But if I look underneath, I find a pair of bore holes and indentations for washers - even rust stains. If you look straight up the holes you can see that they are plugged with gelcoat.

Was there a time when O'Day changed the jib-sheet configuration? Is it conceivable that they "re-manufactured" some decks that were originally prepared for the former setup? If so, is it possible to date this transition?

Somebody sent me a private message with a link to an article about O'Day celebrating the 1,500th Daysailer in August '63. The only # recorded in paperwork for my boat is #1404 but the plate that was mounted near the transom is missing - only the holes in the woodwork remain to indicate it was located there. If 1404 is not a mistake, then '63 is a reasonable guess.

Anyway, I'd be curious to hear from other owners of early boats about the factory-delivered jib sheet configuration (and color schemes).

[Phill]

Have you seen the partial year/hull # list in the History secton of the forum?

http://forum.daysailer.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1388

Maybe some clues there.

[GreenLake]

Unfortunately, the goal of that list seems to have been to capture name, number, owner and sailing area, but not the year.

But thanks for reminding me (and perhaps others) of this thread and the listing. There are quite a number of boats that were mentioned in the current thread, including private messages, the stringer thread, and other recent postings that are not also posted there.

It would be nice to see more postings with low sail (=class) numbers there - that would really complete the list.

In my case, I'm waiting for further confirmation to resolve the apparent contradiction between the officially registered "hull" number and "year", but I'm slowly leaning towards thinking that #1404 could well be the sail number, and that '71 as a year is either a mistake or a default value that made it into the state database in the absence of documented year of manufacture.