32' O'Day Center Cockpit

One of the concerns that I mentioned previously was the placement of the head in most boats in the 28'-30' range.  The proximity of the boat's head and the heads of the occupants of the v-berth is often less than 2 feet.  Not ideal when there's more than one person aboard for the evening.

I stumbled across an ad for a 32' O'Day Center Cockpit that has a head located aft, on the port side of the companionway.  It also has a walk over aft cabin that has a head and a sink.  Privacy for the aft cabin head, however, is nonexistent.  Not much room to build a enclosed head in that small space.

This CC O'Day had a centerboard keel that draws 3' 4" up and 7' 1" down.  Reviewers rave about her ability to sail to windward and how stable she is in rough seas.

                                       

The photos showed it to be in reasonably good condition and it was within my price range.  One drawback was that it was located in Cape May, NJ.

I spoke with the owner, who lives 90 minutes away from the boat, in Philly.  He had a local party interested in the boat and was scheduled to show it on the weekend.  He promised to take pictures of the things that I wanted more info on when he showed the boat.

I started thinking about how I would go about getting the boat from Cape May, NJ to Oriental.  I don't have enough experience or chutzpah to try to take an unfamiliar boat offshore from Cape May to the Outer Banks or even as far south as Norfolk, Va, where I could take the ICW (Intra Coastal Waterway) south.

That left a long voyage, up the Delaware River to the C and D Canal, through to the Chesapeake and then down to Norfolk, before taking the Dismal Swap Canal south to Albemarle Sound.  The whole trip might take two weeks.

Unfortunately, the boat was sold before I even had a chance to see it.  Fortunately, the boat was sold to someone other than me before Super Storm Hurricane Sandy pounded the hell out of the Jersey shore a week later.  

These are pretty rare boats, particularly with the centerboard keel and usually demand more money than I can afford to spend.  I'll keep my eyes peeled for another one.