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Review of the Oday 30 by james rohr

Year built 1979  
Location of boat Chesapeake bay, Middle river, md  
The boat is sailed on Bays, sounds, or protected salt water  
How the boat is used Racing  
Normal wind strength less than 10 knots  
Average size of crew 2-4  
Liveaboard? No  
Owner bought the boat in 1991  
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again? In a heartbeat. this is a solidly built boat with lots of teak above and below. I hate the look of a total plastic looking boat. when tuned properly she's a dream to handle, even in 40plus knots true wind. she's forgiving and very predicable under most conditions. one condition as orignally built she was'nt but i'll explain that later. the boat tracks well. this is the centerboard version and with the board down points as well as a J24. since this boat was built to fit into a specific dollar bracket there were certain short cuts made and gear selection i was'nt happy with. but in comparison to other production competators I think it was way ahead. Maybe that's why they went out of bus. they did'nt cut enough corners.  
Gear that's been added Yes. new larger primary winches,Wind instrument,loran,gps,Harken mainsheet/traveler system,complete spinnaker system,bbq,auto pilot,electronic self steering system.  
Structural or complex improvements YES. I guess i should start with the biggest. The 1978/1980 series with centerboard had the mast stepped on a platform that spanned across the centerboard trunk. this platform was a frp with a plywood structural core. there's nothing wrong with this per say until they cut a hole thru the middle to feed wires comming out of the bottom of mast. where they cut hole it wasn't glassed or any thing leaving it exposed to bilge. over time the core rotted.leaving a very soft platform for the mast to be stepped on. This soft base then allows the mast to move up and down depending on conditions. as it moves the cabin roof moves with it as the roof has a colar which bolted to mast. I solved the problem by cutting a retc.wedge out of top of platform, then digging all rotted core matl out. once this completed I then mixed heavy glass saturated w/epoxy in cavity until full. then using structal matting to build back up to required height. this makes a solid platform with no more flex.needless to say mast must be pulled for this repair. some minor shimming may be required to get mast to the exact height needed. Next problem the rudder. The NACA foil shape was a 0010-34. for the none techies this is a low lift low drag shape. great for supersonic airplanes suckes for a rudder on a sailboat. Given the short rudder allowed because of the center board inadequate lift could be developed in hi angle of attack resulting in stall of rudder and subequent loss of control. any rudder angle greater than 15deg and it starts to stall. I completely redesigned and built new rudder, using a NACA foil shape 0016. with this new design and shape the boat is now predictable in even the highest winds. have replaced the orig yanmar engine with another but this time its fresh water cooled. I think the yanmar raw water cooled engine was a poor choice. had adeq. hp but longevity compromised because of rusting from the inside out. I upgraded the primary winches two sizes. I had small people racing with me and they did'nt have the upper body strength to deal with the old ones. but ther old primarys did'nt go to waste they were moved to the cabin head to be used as spinnaker winches and halyard winches. I put all halyards inside mast and added extra main and jib halyards. with all controls leading to the cabin head it makes handling everything a breese especically if it gets nasty and your short handed.  
The boat's best features The boat is comfortable in even the nastiest weather. Its dry in heavy weather and solid. it has lots of stowage space which seems to be where a lot of manf. cut corners big time. Makes them look roomier at the boat shows though. we have sailed this boat hard and long in the nastiest weather you can imagine and she's never given us the remotest feeling that she's unseaworthy. to say the least except what i mentioned above ITS SOLID AND SEAWORTHY and i like that.  
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc. OOPs I just outlined those above.  
Sailing characterisitcs Sails to weather beautifully with some rig adj. the owners manual states to set up the mast with 9" of rake(cb version) wrong! with this setup way to much weather helm. proper setting 2" mast rake gives neutral helm all the way and i do mean all the way to 35+knots true. Downwind with spinnaker she needs to be sailed high and hot to sail to her numbers, sail deep and low and she's really slow. We actually had boat speed one night that consistently hit over 14knots. Need i say that there was'nt a spinnaker up. the wind was behind us blowing 35 gusting to45. we had a full main prevented. 155genoa poled out wing on wing. the genoa was poled with the spinnaker pole that way we could bridle it down to keep it from skying. WHAT A RIDE. and feeling in complete control all the time.  
Motoring characterisitcs She motors well. the Yanmar2qm15 has enough hp to move her through calm water at 6.5 to 7.0 knots. this has been verified with all instruments knot meter,loran and gps. Orig this boat had a two bladed fixed prop 16dia 10 pitch. I changed to a martec eliptec 15/12 which they recommended. quess what wrong prop. it should be a 15/11 which will be taken care of next year. when putting a folding prop on this boat you have to chang to smaller dia because of clearance prob with rudder. even with 15/12 it still motors at 6.5 but thats it, try to get any more and all you get is a lot of black smoke.  
Liveability Boat is very comfy. plenty of room for 4 for a weekend. Have had as many as 2 adults and 6 girl scouts for a weekend. it really gets small then but its not the boats fault. We have packed as many as a full 8 crew on for a major overnight race. problem is where does everone sleep the next day. I think the boat would be to small as a livaboard. but for a couple doing extended cruising i think i would be a comfortable boat.  
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any) [builder]  
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any Bought it as a brokerage boat and had no prob. It had a dead starting battery witch was replaced by the time i picked up the boat.  
Other comments GREAT BOAT  

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