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 book

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.

The words ever sailor wants to hear … “honey, I think we need a bigger boat”.

As we drove south from Bayfield, Wisconsin, the memories of the Apostle Islands were still vivid in our minds. Silently we each reflected on our vacation, sailing the islands in our O’day 23, fresh from it’s winter renovation. We had enjoyed the winds and waters of the Caribbean of the North, but things were just a little cramped on board especially when we had guests. I think Mary had bumped her head once too many times, which must have been the root cause for the bigger boat comment. I, of course, took it as an open invitation to start looking.

We talked and planned and looked. With retirement looming we started to think, “is this something we want to do fulltime?” Do we want to cruise? Blue water or coastal, weekends or live aboard? So many questions but as we would learn “too many boats!”

We looked at Ericssons, Pearsons, Hunters, Catalinas and Beneteaus. I wanted traditional with the lines, full keels and lots of teak. Mary knew what she DID NOT want! She didn’t want me to start on another project. We looked at a beautiful Tashiba 36 but we were too slow with the checkbook. We looked at a Gulfstar that looked great until you saw it in person … gross! We had lined up some Tayanas to look at along with some O’days. Mary liked the lines of the O’day 40 and ironically I had saved a website of a 40 that I often admired. Off we went on our next boat trip.

“FINS” sat on stands overlooking the ocean in Marathon, Florida. We could only surmise, as the owner was pretty tight lipped, that the boat had been renovated for cruising, an initial trip or two was taken and the family was not thrilled. A lot had been done to the boat and it appeared to be sound.

A common scenario for O’day 40 owners during that initial visit is for the woman involved to go below and fall in love with the interior. Well it happened again. I’m looking at mechanicals and such and up pops a grinning head from the cabin. “I love it, let’s buy it!” The broker could not suppress the smile.

We made an offer and we received word, over margaritas at the Clevelander on South Beach, that the owner had reluctantly accepted it. After the shock wore off we stared at each other, “Holy $%#@ now what have we done?” We could hardly sleep.