Oday Owner Reviews

Serving sailors online since 1997

Review of the Oday Mariner by Tom Rees

Year built	1978
Location of boat	Jerusalem, NY
The boat is sailed on	Lakes
How the boat is used	Day sailing
Normal wind strength	10-15 knots
Average size of crew	2-4
Liveaboard?	No
Owner bought the boat in	2005
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again?	Absolutely. It is a blast to sail, seems to be virtually untippable, and it's responsive. On top of all these great features, it's a small boat, good for a little lake but there's still a lot of room to move around.
Gear that's been added	All I added was a couple of coats of much needed varnish. The previous owner added a roller furling unit for the jib, a motor mount, a swim ladder, some new harken cam-matic cleats (they're amazing) and some other bizarre seemingly useless cleats. He also bought a detachable running light so I have the power to sail at night!
Structural or complex improvements	nope, none necessary.
The boat's best features	Virtually untippable nature of the boat, the roomy cockpit and the responsiveness of the boat as a whole.
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc.	The cabin wall carpeting. It's moldy because it's carpet on a boat. Don't know if that's O'day's fault or the fault of negligence. The rudder also doesn't like to stay down sometimes, but that's easily rectified by tightening the bolt holding it down or tying the cable fast to the provided cleat.
Sailing characterisitcs	Capable of sailing comfortably in all kinds of wind, at least all kinds of wind on a small lake. It is easy and fun to sail in any wind, and comfortable. It also only drafts 10" with the centerboard up, so one can beach and unbeach it easily.
Motoring characterisitcs	I'm not a wuss, motors are for emergencies or getting it back into the hoist. It's easy to handle with the motor given I've only got a four horse.
Liveability	comfy to sail, seems like it'd be alright to sleep in if I wasn't afraid of the carpet in the cabin. Really easy to get back on if you decide to take a swim. Nice boat.
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any)	[builder]
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any	The broker didn't really seem to care to much if he sold it, then after I went to pick it up 400 miles away he seemed even less interested in helping me to get underway because he already had my money. I still feel like I got a good deal however.
Other comments	It's just a fantastic little boat, and from what I hear, it's a fantastic brand.

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