The O'Day 30 is an American

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminolo ...

that was designed by C.R. Hunt & Associates as a cruiser and first built in 1977.Sherwood, Richard M.: ''A Field Guide to Sailboats of North America, Second Edition'', pages 214-215. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994. The O'Day 30 design was developed into the O'Day 31 in 1985 with the addition of an extended stern.

Production

The design was built by O'Day Corp. in the

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. The company built 356 examples of the design between 1977 and 1984, when production ended.

Design

The O'Day 30 is a recreational

keelboat A keelboat is a riverine cargo-capable working boat, or a small- to mid-sized recreational sailing yacht. The boats in the first category have shallow structural keels, and are nearly flat-bottomed and often used leeboards if forced in open w ...

, built predominantly of

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...

, with

teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters ( pan ...

wood trim. It has a

masthead sloop A masthead rig on a sailing vessel consists of a forestay and backstay both attached at the top of the mast. The Bermuda rig can be split into two groups: the masthead rig and the fractional rig. The masthead rig has larger and more headsails, ...

rig, a

raked stem The stem is the most forward part of a boat or ship's bow and is an extension of the keel itself. It is often found on wooden boats or ships, but not exclusively. Description The stem is the curved edge stretching from the keel below, up to ...

, a slightly

reverse transom A transom is the vertical reinforcement which strengthens the stern of a boat. This flat termination of the stern is typically above the waterline. The term was used as far back as Middle English in the 1300s, having come from Latin ''transvers ...

, an internally mounted spade-type

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adve ...

controlled by a wheel and a fixed fin

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

or optionally, a stub keel and centerboard. It displaces and carries of ballast. The keel-equipped version of the boat has a draft of , while the centerboard-equipped version has a draft of with the centerboard extended and with it retracted. The boat is fitted with a Universal

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

of . The fuel tank holds and the fresh water tank has a capacity of . The boat's galley is located on the port side of the cabin, extending under the companionway ladder. On the port side is a stainless steel sink and a two-burner alcohol stove. There is hot and cold water, manually-pumped. The head has a privacy door and a hanging locker with a louvered door and is located forward, just aft of the bow "V"-berth. Additional sleeping space is provided by the dinette settee, which has a drop-down octagonal table, another port side straight settee and a quarter berth under the cockpit on the starboard side. Ventilation is provided by four opening ports in the cabin, while there are six other fixed cabin ports. The boat has two

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winches, two mast-mounted winches for the halyards and twio more optional winches for the spinnaker. There is an optional

boom vang A boom vang (US) or kicking strap (UK) (often shortened to "vang" or "kicker") is a line or piston system on a sailboat used to exert downward force on the boom and thus control the shape of the sail. The Collins English Dictionary defines it ...

and

mainsheet traveler A traveller is a part of the rigging of a boat or ship that provides a moving attachment point for a rope, sail or yard to a fixed part of the vessel. It may take the form of anything from a simple ring on a metal bar or a spar to, especially in a ...

, which is mounted on the

bridge deck A deck is the surface of a bridge. A structural element of its superstructure, it may be constructed of concrete, steel, open grating, or wood. Sometimes the deck is covered by a railroad bed and track, asphalt concrete, or other form of ...

. There is an

anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek ἄ� ...

locker in the bow. The keel-equipped version has a

PHRF Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF) is a handicapping system used for yacht racing in North America. It allows dissimilar classes of sailboats to be raced against each other. The aim is to cancel out the inherent advantages and disadvantages ...

racing average handicap of 178, while the centerboard-equipped version has a PHRF of 177.

Operational history

A review in ''Practical Sailor'' described the design, "All things considered, the O'Day 30 is a boat that performs well under sail. She’s not really a racer, but she will stay up with almost any boat of her size and type, and is easy to handle, to boot." The review conclude4d, "With her good performance and big interior, the O'Day 30 makes a reasonable coastal cruising boat. This is a low-maintenance boat, with little exterior wood. Along with low maintenance, you get pretty plain-Jane appearance. The boat still looks modern. If she appeared in a boat show today, she wouldn’t look dated."

References

{{O'Day Corp. Keelboats 1970s sailboat type designs Sailing yachts Sailboat type designs by C. Raymond Hunt Associates Sailboat types built by O'Day Corp.

Production

Design

Operational history

See also

References