DS 1 History

[Cliff]

I was not sure that the attached info has not been seen before but the attached is a letter from George O'Day to then past president of the DS Asso. Hans Gottschalk regarding the birth of the Day Sailer. Signed 1/27/70. I find this letter fascinating as it shows a certain amount of tension between O'Day and Fox concerning credit for the design. In fact George upbraids the Day Sailer Assoc to Hans by stating" I have always resented the fact that your class association has directly attributed the Day Sailer to Uffa, when in reality this was not the case." George submits that the "The combined talents of Uffa Fox, myself, and Palmer Scott were the ones that were directly responsible for the boat." Scott " was the man who took the lines of Uffa and my final ideas and put them all into a production boat." George refers to Marscot Plastics as our plant. The early models of the boats from the first in June 1957 to 1960 had some problems including serious "oilcanning which was resolved by George and a man named Bob Eschback.

I have an early boat and wonder what modifications were made to stiffen the hull. I've never sailed a newer model so am not sure what the difference may be.

Anyways this letter gives a detailed description (from George's point of view) regarding the morphosis of the boat. This letter is from the archived quarterlies of the DS Assoc, members only. The archives are from 1967 to 2008. This letter I found in the Spring 1970 issue. There is a lot of great information in these older issues, well worth the $35 membership fee by themselves. (Hello Mary)

Cliff-

I am sorry but the preview says the PDF is not allowed--I have reduced it to 523 KB Is that the problem? --I believe DS owners would enjoy seeing the 27 points listed by George O'Day on his own stationary along with his working with Uffa Fox

[GreenLake]

We used to have a place to put PDFs so that they could be linked from posts. We recently moved servers, so I don't have the same level access, but we can certainly work something out with those that do. To hash out the details, please contact me offline.

[Cliff]

In the O'Day letter, Point #15 is: "There would be a coaming around the cockpit to keep the water out." There is no mention of structural strength. I see many racing DS that have cut their coamings cut down flush with the deck for hiking ease. Obliviously this defeats the intended purpose of the coamings. Might as well remove them altogether.

[GreenLake]

Might as well remove them altogether.

Sorry, Cliff, but I'll have to disagree on that one. Just because the original design came about from a desire to keep water out of the cockpit doesn't mean that the way the design was realized doesn't matter. And one thing that does matter about the way the DS cockpit is designed is the structural support provided by the coamings.

In the judgment of the authors of the DSA bylaws, cutting the coamings flush is permissible, but taking them off, is not. That distinction was motivated by the not reasonable assumption that the full width of the coamings is overkill, or at least not critically required, from the point of providing structural support.

The main support they provide is stiffness against bending in the vertical plane. Even if you cut them in half, you won't be able to bend them much, if at all, which confirms that there is something to that idea.

If you look at modern dinghies designed for hiking, you'll find that none of them have "side decks" that are unsupported, but instead have cockpit moldings that seamlessly connect the deck to the interior of the cockpit, usually just the foot well as few of them have discrete seats separate from the deck. Those connections are what provides equivalent, if not better, support for the deck.

The DS is indeed interesting because it has two seating positions: one that is "inside" the boat, and one on top. You can also see this on the Wayfarer, for example, so it's not unique, but I'm not immediately aware of a more modern design with that feature for this size of boat.

[Cliff]

I agree that the coamings will add some longitudinal stiffness to the boat. And this being so then cutting the coamings so they are significantly narrower along the vertical axis will decrease their maximum bending moment on the vertical axis and their contribution to the overall boat stiffness. However, I do believe that the boat cross section combined with the hull and flotation tanks form such strong box beams on both sides that the coamings only play a very minor role in the overall stiffness, and their loss means little.

I note that my boat has no double floor but that two longitude ribs are constructed along the floor which will supply stiffness. On page 3 of the O'Day letter, he says that the early boats (1957 to mid 1960) "had oilcanned rather seriously in the earlier boats was corrected." I wonder how this was done.

[GreenLake]

You may be looking at the wrong "stiffness". The part where the coamings add strength is foremost as support for the side decks themselves when used as seats. However, the upper part of the hull with the side deck and coaming also forms a bit of an I-beam like structure that resists flexing of the hull above the seats. For that effect, it's not the stiffness of the coamings, but their tensile strength that matters, and even when cut flush to the deck, there should be a noticeable contribution. Whether that latter effect is decisive when sailing the boat (for example when fully healed) I can't answer, but it's not zero. However, I tend to think that support for the side decks is more relevant.

The class rules, as always for such, were written to put a stop to an inevitable race to the bottom where all participants compete in how much they can remove from their boats. Cutting them flush is sufficient to make hiking as easy as on a DSII and anything beyond that is just weight reduction. Allowing a full removal would inevitably force everyone to go the whole way even if it leaves the side decks less supported. I think I've seen some early DS1s that had vertical supports between seat and underside of the side deck, but the bulk of DS1's just have a few corner brackets (whatever the nautical architects call those).

[Cliff]

there should be a noticeable contribution. Whether that latter effect is decisive when sailing the boat (for example when fully healed) "

Yes this is the main thought of O'Day-keep water out!


About the seats--I still have the original long wood seats. They look like Mahogony but that would be very costly--I think it's another wood stained as such. Those original seats were getting really saggy--felt they might fail so I bought some wide ash boards and cut them to shape. I ordered them a scooch thicker hoping this will cure the sagging. I prefer not to add an intermediate support. I still need to install them. Perhaps I'm a bit heavier also.

[Cliff]

Hello GL

Have the tech Gurus figured a way to add the O'Day letter to the DS 1 History?