Design and Construction
The hull carries a raked stem and a slightly reverse transom, with a transom-hung rudder on a tiller. She displaces 1,400 pounds empty and carries 300 pounds of ballast, of which 52 pounds is the centerboard itself; the stub-keel-and-centerboard arrangement gives a working draft of 4.33 feet with the board down and just 1.00 foot with it retracted, a combination that favors shallow gunkholing yet keeps a useful keel profile under sail. The fiberglass structure is straightforward for its era, and the boat's 7.75-foot beam on a 16.67-foot waterline gives her the compact footprint of a trailerable weekender rather than a pocket cruiser with pretensions.
Rig and Handling
Her high-aspect-ratio rig and centerboard, combined with low wetted surface and light weight, should make her fast in light air assuming a small crew anchor. The fractional sloop plane carries a total sail area of 178.68 square feet — a 101.68-square-foot mainsail and a 77-square-foot jib — on a mast with a 22-foot foretriangle and a 24.5-foot mainsail luff. Period test sailors noted an awkward mainsheet lead with no traveler to keep the boom in close in a breeze, and a rudder whose bottom sits lower than the keel with the board up, asking for trouble in shoal waters. The same reviewers flagged a relatively short cockpit and a lack of buoyancy aft, insufficient to support much crew weight.
Performance Envelope
A PHRF average handicap of 218 and a hull speed of 5.5 knots place her squarely among modest-performance racer-cruisers. Reviewers observed that her relatively light ballast of 300 pounds — compared with up to 400 for her competitors — installed high in the boat would cause her to be too tender to be fast in all conditions. The tender, high-mounted ballast and short-coupled hull read as a boat optimized for gentle-air club racing with minimal crew rather than heavy-weather passage work.
Accommodations
Below, the O'Day 19 sleeps two on a double V-berth in the bow, under a cabin headroom of 46 inches. The galley sits on the port side just forward of the companionway ladder and is equipped with an ice box; the head is placed at the companionway on the starboard side. These are minimal cruising amenities, consistent with a 19-foot hull, but they make the boat genuinely campable for an overnight pair. A small 3 to 5 hp outboard is the normal fit for docking and maneuvering.
Known Issues
The high-mounted 300-pound ballast makes her tender; the aft end lacks buoyancy to support crew weight; the mainsheet lead is awkward without a traveler; and the rudder draft below the retracted board invites grounding in shoal water. These traits define the boat's safe operating envelope.
The Verdict
The O'Day 19 is a tidy, light-air racer-cruiser that punches above her length in calm conditions with a small crew, yet demands respect for her tenderness and limited aft buoyancy. She is a straightforward fiberglass trailerable with real overnight capability in a very small package.
Pros
- Fast in light air with a small crew thanks to low wetted surface and light weight
- Centerboard retracts to 1-foot draft for shoal exploration
- True double-berth accommodations with galley and head in a 19-foot hull
Cons
- Tender due to high-mounted, light 300-pound ballast
- Awkward mainsheet lead with no traveler
- Rudder extends below keel with board up, vulnerable in shoal water
- Short cockpit and insufficient aft buoyancy for crew weight
