We are really excited. It is a bigger boat than what we expected to start with but the price was right. The interior is pretty much original. The cushion need replacing in whole, but the other interior portions of the boat appear to be in good condition. All the running rigging will need replacement. It has not been used in three years. Lots of dry rot on the lines. There is a fairly large crack in the cockpit floor. Have some ideas on what to dry it out make it usable. For the price we are not going to make a great investment to repair as we have been told that this is not a serious safety issue. There is a 9.9 outboard as well.
It took a lot of cleaning, about 4hrs, but we got the inside to look pretty good. Once we get it home I will start to tear some things out and replace. not too much just enough to clean it up (get rid of the mold) and make it ours. It has shore power capabilities which is really nice. we could run fans to keep us cool and a shop-vac to help with cleaning. It was really cool to be sitting in the cabin and thinking that this is the first of many steps to get us on our way to liveaboard cruising.
We hope to use this boat for a great sailing education and a lot of enjoyment. We will probably use it mostly on Lake Carlysle in Illinois, but since it is easily trailable (so we are told) we intend to take other places as well. We want to become very comfortable with our abilities at sailing before we decide to take it on the open ocean. Obviously not too far from shore but enough to give a taste of what it will be like.
I am going down on the 23th to spend the weekend working on the trailer to get in shape. The trailer need extensive work: new brakes, tires, lights, wiring, rollers and other items I am sure yet to be seen. But at least it had a trailer.
I have been doing lots of research on the Oday 25 and from what I can find the appear to be dependable boats and easy to sail. They are known to be roomy. So far I can vouch for that. I am desperately looking for a mast raising system I can buy but I think that I may have to make myself one. There are lots of ideas on the Internet.
When we bring it home it will go into dry storage for the winter. i am going to use this time to redo the inside, put new rigging on, replace what needs to be replacing, clean the bottom, paint if needed etc. Sound like a lot of work, but I think it will be a fun project and it will give me something to do over the winter. We want to keep the expenses in control since we know that this is just a starter that we will sell soon enough, but at the same time i need to make it safe, clean and something that we can learn with and experience the type of equipment we might experience on newer boats.
We know nothing about sailing except what i am finding on the Internet, but we intend to learn by trial and error and probably a few lessons. Can't wait to get started both working on it and sailing it. I will keep this blog updated with my project list and progress. Here are a few photos.
