The survey of our boat was winding down. Mike, the surveyor, was very complimentary concerning the above average condition of the boat and how well all the systems had been maintained. Then he unleashed the propane “sniffer”!

It chirped several times in the port locker. No chirps at all in the propane locker. It chirped again near the hose in the aft cabin and then it wailed when he stuck it into the bilge in the aft cabin. “You have a leak,” he stated. No #@*%, I thought. He figured it was the hose. I didn’t see how but I had my work cut out for me.

Getting the old hose out was not going to be easy. I abandoned all hope and sat back to reassess my alternatives. Maybe I should go back to square one and recheck the whole system. After pressurizing the lines I soaped the fittings in the locker. Out of about a dozen opportunities three were busily making bubbles. Leaks! Since I never liked how the old system was laid out, I decided to redo everything. Why do it the easy way when you have an opportunity to spend lots of money and make lots of work for yourself?

I removed the existing propane solenoid switch and replaced it with a Xintex S2-A two channel fume detector with built in solenoid control.

Like in “Ghostbusters” when the light is green, the trap, (or in this case the atmosphere) is clean. I installed a sniffer below the oven / range and another one in the aft bilge.

After removing the tanks and all the old propane fittings from the locker I decided to have a look at the propane drain. Propane is heavier than air and will settle and flow much like water. I had been aware that the thru hull that this drain connected to was below the water line but it had never bothered me much. Now seemed like a great time to fix that.

A sixty-two year old overweight man has no business going into boat lockers but that is exactly what I had to do. Out came all the gear. Where does all this stuff come from? Stuff I didn’t recall having. I removed the hose and to my surprise the propane was loose and had not been properly sealed to the locker. My insatiable desire for perfection may have found the cause of the propane leak! I removed the, below the waterline, thru hull and glassed the hole over. I drilled a new hole, above the waterline, and installed a new thru hull.

Now let’s take a second and run through what is entailed in this last simple task. I chose the new location because it was above the waterline but still below the propane locker drain. Propane flows downhill. The new location is through a much thicker section of the boat so the fitting is too short. Off I go to West Marine. I get a longer thru hull and a different one for the propane locker. The long one fits fine. I install the other fitting and it has a shoulder on the flange side. The threads don’t go all the way to the flange. It cannot be tightened! I have to fabricate a spacer so it can be tightened down. Have I mentioned that I have squeezed my rotundness in and out of this locker at least fifty times? I start to assemble the regulator, solenoid, etc. but I’m exhausted. Six hours into this part of the project and I’m going home.

The next day was better. Everything was assembled and pressure tested. No major issues besides opening a gash on my knuckle when the wrench let go. Got to leave some blood on the job. Here’s without the tanks installed. At right is the valve for the propane BBQ.

The completed installation.

In our opinion in the original design …

Positives
• Cabin layout (we especially like the galley and salon).
• Lots of handholds below and places to wedge into while under way.
• Style (absence of a great deal of exterior teak and sleek lines)
• Sailing ability (fairly fast and points high)
• Cockpit layout and size (very spacious)
• Swim platform (we don’t like climbing any more than necessary)
• O’day structure (very solid boat)

Negatives
• Limited room for ground tackle
• Very small holding tank at 13 gallons
• Limited battery bank
• Under insulated ice box

Modifications made prior to our purchase (as far as I can tell)

• Vee berth raised about 3” and a stainless steel holding tank of 16 gallons (why?) was added.
• Four burner Broadwater propane stove and oven added
• Stainless steel water tanks, 2 @ 50 gallons each
• Village Marine watermaker added (we removed it as it can’t be used in fresh water and maintenance was expensive).
• Additional bilge pumps added but wired wrong.
• Standing rigging including chainplates were upgraded and replaced. Swaged fittings replaced with swageless fittings.
• Running rigging all upgraded a size or two. (This was not a good thing).
• Harken 53 2 speed self-tailing primary winches added.
• Additional Lewmar clutches added and all lines led aft
• Upgraded traveler
• Inner stay and running backstays added.
• Boom raised about 6” and main sail recut.
• Full battens and Harken Battcar system added.
• Storm staysail and associated cars
• Asymmetrical spinnaker
• Lewmar Ocean series windlass with modified chain locker and bow roller.
• 35# CQR anchor on 100’ of 3/8” G4 chain.
• Modified enlarged swim platform
• Avon WM 10’ RIB inflatable
• Ampair 100 wind generator
• B&G Network Quad instrument
• Forward looking sonar
• All wet core replaced with solid epoxy (not the prettiest job but it is solid)
• Interior modifications after repairs made (headliner, ash trim and lots of acorn nuts)!
• Corian counter tops and new sinks.
• Every available cubic foot of unused space was filled with either block insulation foam or poured in urethane foam (for flotation???)

Modifications we have made (2003 through summer of 2007)
Interior

• Removed all flotation foam
• Added Oceanaire Skyscreens to all hatches (this reduced acorn nut overload)
• Refinished teak and holly sole.
• Rebuilt electrical panel so it folds out and locks
• Refinished interior teak.
• Rebuilt port aft cabin storage to accommodate installation of refrigeration compressor and inverter/charger
• Built custom drawer dividers, cutting board and knife rack.
• Installed Handcrafted Mattress Co. 5″ latex custom mattress to vee berth, with custom fitted sheets.
• Added GPS equipped EPIRB, stocked medical kit and ditch bag.

Plumbing

• Removed holding tank and replaced with a 45-gallon tank from Ronco Tanks.
• Replaced all head and tank plumbing.
• Added head raw water filter and vented loop.
• Added new lockable wye valve.
• Replumbed hand pump at galley sink to pump raw water including filtration.
• Raw water washdown pump.
• Rewired Rule 5000 and 3700 to be switch activated and are connected and fused at the battery bank.
• Smaller, automatic bilge pump added.

Electrical

• Old radar and other instruments removed.
• All unused wiring removed.
• Panel redesigned and rewired to accommodate different needs.
• Switches added for bilge pumps, nav light configurations and other “switchable” conditions.
• Fuse panels added for additional protection.
• New 120 VAC panel added for inverter loads.
• Freedom 2000 inverter charger added
• Xantrex Link 2000
• Battery combiner
• Ram mic added to VHF
• Additional batteries added. The original space for 2 Group 27’s was left for start bank. Four 6-volt heavy-duty batteries were added for house bank. Two in boxes in each cockpit locker. They are rated at 250 amp hours for each pair for a total of 500 amps.
• Additional battery switches and fuses added.
• Lights and fans added as needed.
• Exterior switch panel for wash down pump, deck freshwater shower, transom light, etc.

Instrumentation

• B&G H1000 displays (2) mounted in port cockpit bulkhead
• New transducers for wind, speed and depth.
• NMEA 0183 capability
• Garmin 3206 chart plotter radar display
• Garmin GPS
• Garmin GMR18 radar
• Simrad below deck linear hydraulic drive autopilot with Edson rudder arm.

Refrigeration

• Rebuilt entire box with FRP panels and a minimum of 4” of polyurethane foam (approx. r value of 25 or so).
• Added EZ-Kold holding plate system that was custom sized and built for my box dimensions.
• Digital thermometer.

Ground Tackle

• Chain locker divided into two compartments.
• 200’ of 5/8” megabraid added to primary rode.
• CQR retired to extra anchor status and placed in cockpit locker.
• Primary anchor replaced with Delta Fast Set, 44 pound.
• Secondary 33 pound Bruce type claw anchor added with 100’ of 3/8” G4 chain attached to 200’ of 5/8″ megabraid.
• Fortress FX 37 stern anchor stored aft and has 50’ of 3/8” G4 chain and 200’ of 5/8″ megabraid.
• 100’ warp lines made up to supplement existing dock and spring lines.

Rigging

• Replaced reef lines, main and genoa halyards, main sheet and traveller lines.  Halyards are Sta Set X, all others are Sta Set.
• Added Garhauer blocks for spinnaker. 

s/v Marylee is a 1987 O’day 40. It has the athwartships aft cabin option. Many modifications had been made prior to purchase and many more were made after we purchased her.
This is a photo from 2006 while sitting in her slip at Gas Light Pointe in Racine, Wisconsin.