Oday Owner Reviews

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Review of the Oday 31 by Jim Malloy

Year built 1985  
Location of boat Quincy, MA  
The boat is sailed on Open ocean  
How the boat is used Weekends and longer  
Normal wind strength 10-15 knots  
Average size of crew 2-4  
Liveaboard? No  
Owner bought the boat in Quin  
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again? Yes, the layout is very good, the boat sails well in all directions and can make good headway sailing very close to the wind. Because it was such a well made boat, the only expenses we have had to incur have been to install upgrades to the 15 year old electronics and to redo the teak/holly flooring.  
Gear that's been added we have replaced the 15 year old wind speed/direction, depth sounder and boat speed (all made by Datamarine) with new electronics made by Si-Tex (Sail Pak), replaced the 15 year old Loran with a new Garmin GPS mounted in the cockpit, but hard wired to the boat's electric system and with a data cable that goes to a laptop which has Chartview and Maptech software for real time tracking and planning trips. Other than that, we have added a propane grill, 12 volt blender (for margaritas when at anchor), an inverter hard wired to the boat's electric system to run the laptop and/or tv and vcr (for our kids on longer trips, but no nintendo!). The sails were new in 1999 so they are in great shape, but we are considering the possibility of adding a spinnaker...  
Structural or complex improvements No, none needed, the boat is solid as a rock.  
The boat's best features The solid performance and stability in high winds, a couple of times we have been out in 20-25 knot winds and the boat handled very well and we felt very safe. The kids love the layout as it gives them plenty of room. The boat is comfortable with 7-8 people on board, I don't think I would sail with more than that though...  
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc. The only complaint is the aft "double berth" is a bit narrow and is really only suitable for one person or two kids. The holding tank for the head is in a tough spot to work on. Other than that, its a 15 year old boat and nothing has broken on it and everything looks to be in good shape.  
Sailing characterisitcs High winds and rough seas outside of Boston Harbor and blustery conditions around the harbor islands. The boat has handled very well and sails very comfortably and can be handled by two people. I am very impressed that the boat can sail practically into the wind with the sails trimmed properly, friends that I have sailed with are similarly impressed by the handling of the boat.  
Motoring characterisitcs We motor very little, basically in/out of the slip and up the channel until we hit a wide spot when we can put up the sails (about 1/3 mile), but occassionally we have to kick on the motor in light winds. The Universal M18 has been very reliable and hums along. It might be worth it to invest in additional soundproofing material.  
Liveability Very comfortable with enough room for early risers to move around without waking everybody. Our family of four spends almost every weekend from May through October onboard and we plan an extended trip up the Maine coast this Summer.. so we'll see how a week aboard goes...  
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any) [builder]  
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any We bought the boat from Eastern Yacht Sales in Hingham, MA (Nathan Nager was the broker) and couldn't say enough good things about them. Very high quality, they went above and beyond to help out during the purchase and afterwards covered the repair of some damage caused by the previous owner after the sale was complete (on the last day he owned it). I would certainly encourage anybody in the Boston area that was looking at buying a boat to contact them...  
Other comments I wish there was an easier way to find parts, but other than that, its a great boat, we're very happy and plan on sailing it for the next 10 years...  

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