O'day Mariner

[sully75]

Hello All

Long time no talk. The last time I owned a boat was 2017. I've been in Maine for a year and I have been thinking I'd like to do some sailing. I don't really want something that stays in the water...too expensive and I wouldn't use it enough. I'd like something that's easily towable, that I could take up the coast for a week or two in the summer and sail around the Islands. Something in the camp cruiser range.

I don't have the time, energy or money to build a boat right now. I've been thinking about buying an O'day Mariner 2+2. It seems to have a lot of the sailing qualities of a classy wooden boat without the maintanence or price tag.

I sailed a Pearson Triton 2000 miles by myself (Baltimore to St Andrews and back), but I have limited experience in non-keel boats, particularly in northern waters.

Anyway, if you all had any thoughts about the O'day as a design for said activities, I'd love to hear them. I'm not going to be building a Caledonia yawl anytime soon and my budget is probably like $2500 or less. Thanks for your thoughts!

[Peerie Maa]

Re: O'day Mariner

This review seems to be OK.

https://www.tripsavvy.com/review-of-the-mariner-sailboat-2915581

[David Satter]

Re: O'day Mariner

Sully, I'm a wooden boat nut, But I sail an O'day Mariner. I love it. A good safe boat. I did a lot of work to mine. www.usmariner.org Good luck. And you can pull her right up to a beach. Originally designed by Phil Rhodes as a centerboard plywood sloop called the Hurricane.
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[sully75]

Re: O'day Mariner

Sully, I'm a wooden boat nut, But I sail an O'day Mariner. I love it. A good safe boat. I did a lot of work to mine. www.usmariner.org Good luck. And you can pull her right up to a beach. Originally designed by Phil Rhodes as a centerboard plywood sloop called the Hurricane.
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wow that's a beautiful one. Well done!

[Sandlapper]

Re: O'day Mariner

There are a very few small sailboats that fit a needed pattern for many who want a simple and effective path to pleasure on the water. An O'Day Mariner in either of its forms is one of these. Not the best in any of the uses that it finds itself in but just very good in all.

[rbgarr]

Re: O'day Mariner

I've been thinking about buying an O'day Mariner 2+2... my budget is probably like $2500 or less. Thanks for your thoughts!

Here's one, not mine, but might be worth a look and an offer.

https://maine.craigslist.org/boa/d/north-andover-spindrift-mariner-19/7618341228.html

[Jon R]

Re: O'day Mariner

I only have experience with the fixed keel version that I grew up on in the late '60s. We would occasionally race it with the R 19s, but it was more of a cruiser. Somehow we managed to live on board as a family of 4.. It was a very nice sailing boat and if the retracting keel version sails as well, I would not hesitate.

That said, I opted for a Cape Dory Typhoon, but I am lucky to have a relatively inexpensive mooring close to home..

Jon

[David Satter]

Re: O'day Mariner

The Typhoon is a beautiful boat, I highly recommend a Mariner with a cast iron centerboard 160+ lbs. Raises and lowers smoothly on a winch. Makes for a very steady comfortable sail.

[Etdbob]

Re: O'day Mariner

While I too love wooden boats, we cruise on a fiberglass trailer sailer.
There are piles of good-enough old plastic boats on rusting trailers in back yards all across America, waiting to be rescued by someone who cares. There are some surprisingly good boats out there, and the investment (not to mention the time) needed to fix one up is quite a bit less than building something similar new.

Ours is a San Juan 21, just a tad bigger and heavier than a Mariner. She is still considered quite small for a cruiser but my wife and I hauled it cross country and spent 48 days abord exploring the Florida keys last winter. The San Juan 21 has proven to be an excellent boat, nimble, easy to sail and plenty of room below for camp/cruising. I particularly like the way she can sail well on all points under just mainsail, reefed or not. In fact, the heavy weather sail for this boat is a double reefed main.

A centerboard boat has a great advantage over a keel boat - If you run aground you simply crank the keel up a bit and float right off! We did this up to three times a day down in the shoal Florida waters. While we never beached the boat, many people do.

On the other hand, be durn sure to pin the centerboard in the down position. Otherwise, it can flip up in a sudden, hard knockdown, and then the boat might not right herself.

Light trailerable centerboarders are not at all as seaworthy as true keel boats, and they are not designed or built for blue water cruising, but they work just fine for coastal waters and usually can take more weather that the crew can.

Keep the cabin closed tight when out in strong winds - It's surprising how few casual sailors seem to do this.

Light trailerable boats don't come with storm jibs, because they are typically never out in bad weather. It is something to think about if you are going to seriously cruise in one though. I wish I had one, we shredded a reefed mainsail last winter!

Keep the boat mud-simple. No electrical system! No plumbing!

I suppose setting up a trailer sailer for cruising is different topic though.


They may be plastic boats, but you can work in allot of wood, which somehow seems to make them much more comfortable and just more appropriate for cruising.

Our galley -

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The San Juan 21 MkII is a raised deck design. The lack of washboards means you have to clamber on top of the cabin to go forward, but it provides all kinds of reserve buoyancy to pick her up in a knockdown, and makes for an excellent little cabin. There is three feet of headroom over the aft end of the V berth, and two people can comfortably sit up in there, reading. If I can't sit up and read comfortably in bed, I need a different boat!

In fact, we can sit in there, one leaning back on each side of the hull and facing each other. It's a forward lounge as well as a bed.

In general, I find the V-berths in many small traier sailers to be just about useless. Before you buy, be sure to lie down in the berth and get comfortable. See if it works for you. Can you read? Sit up without bumping yer head? Get into and out of it without difficulty? Are your feet pressed against the forward bulkhead? Will your pillow be forever falling on the floor?

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One important issue to consider is how you intend to use the boat on a regular basis.
The San Juan 21 is generally considered to big for day sailing. It's just too much to rig and un-rig in one day. We pull it out only for overnight trips. If day sailing will be your primary use, you need a rather small and simple boat.

The ever-so-slightly-smaller Mariner might just be OK for daysailing, but I'd prefer a boat without standing rigging myself. I bet you can still spend an hour rigging and packing her up. I know a guy that takes minimum 1-1/2 hours to rig a Bolger Dovekie, so of course YMMV.

For that kind of thing, we have a smaller boat, a 16-foot plywood cat-yawl I built. No standing rigging, and just two halyards, two sheets and two snotters. Takes 15 minutes to get her ready to launch.
Because she is a "birdwatcher" design she has an eight foot cabin, and we have taken three day trips in her, but it isn't very comfortable. For a solo sailor something this small might work well enough for extended camp cruising.

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Once you get a lightweight trailerable boat and set her up as you like it well, the sky is the limit!
Next winter load her up and go someplace interesting!!


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