Oday Owner Reviews

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Review of the Oday 27 by Danny Saathoff

Year built 1976  
Location of boat Bayfield, WI  
The boat is sailed on The Great Lakes  
How the boat is used Weekends and longer  
Normal wind strength 10-15 knots  
Average size of crew 5-6  
Liveaboard? No  
Owner bought the boat in 2003  
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again? Yes. After spending a week camping out and sailing in our Cal 20, we decided to poke around for a larger boat. A week later we made an offer and have been in love with her ever since.  
Gear that's been added Not much. New stove, CD player and radio, new VHF, GPS. The boat was loaded when we bought her.  
Structural or complex improvements Yes, I ripped out the vanity in the head. I didn't feel a boat of this size required two sinks so I built a stack of drawers in place of the sink. Huge improvement in reducing duffel bags for our family of four. I also had to re-bed the strut and replace the cutless bearing. The job was much easier than I had feared. I replaced the folding 2 blade prop with a 3 blade fixed. I don't race and can afford a bit of drag for a little piece of mind that the blades are open and not rattling the strut loose again.  
The boat's best features She's larger than our 20 footer! For our family of four she stows our gear well and is quite comfortable. We spend much of our summers aboard and only go stir crazy on limited occasion.  
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc. I've been chasing leaks and plan to re-bed anything and everything topside this spring. I think that for a boat of almost 30 years, she's allowed to leak a bit. The stanchions are a bit weak but no major complaints.  
Sailing characterisitcs She's a tough little boat, we sailed across Lake Superior in 5-6 foot swells and she handled them much better than the crew.  
Motoring characterisitcs Changing to the 3 blade prop made a huge difference. The folding prop that came with the boat was getting sticky and on occasion would only half open putting tremendous stress on the strut (see above). She motors well, especially when you remember to change the plugs on occasion.  
Liveability See best features above.  
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any) [builder]  
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any  
Other comments  

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