Design and Construction
The 240 has a solid-fiberglass hull, an 8.25-foot beam, and a wing keel. She displaces 3,600 pounds, including 1,200 pounds of lead ballast. The resulting 33 percent ballast ratio, paired with a length-to-beam ratio of 2.98, gives her a proportionately wide, low-slung shape for the era.
The wing keel is the defining feature. Depending on load, draft ranges from just 2.66 to 2.96 feet, allowing the boat into shallow marinas that swallow deeper-finned contemporaries. Wetted surface is about 172 square feet, while an immersion rate of 597 pounds per inch indicates how little she settles under the weight of crew and gear.
Rig and Handling
The 240 is a masthead sloop with a notably powerful rig. Using the ISO reference sail, her sail-area-to-displacement ratio is 17.0; with a 135 percent genoa, it rises to 20.1. YachtDatabase notes that she carries more rig than 100 percent of comparable sailboats, calling her significantly overrigged.
The running-rigging schedule is thorough for a boat of this size. The mainsail, jib, and spinnaker halyards are each 64.5 feet long and 5/16 inch in diameter. The sheets are 3/8 inch, as is the 61.4-foot mainsheet.
Combined with a displacement-length ratio of 178—placing the hull among light racers—that generous sail plan suggests a boat intended to feel lively rather than docile.
Performance Profile
The theoretical hull speed is 6.1 knots. Her Motion Comfort Ratio is 15.2, modest for offshore smoothness but typical of a light coastal racer. A capsize screening value of 2.15 means she wouldn’t qualify for ocean races under that metric.
Taken together, the light displacement, broad beam, and tall, overdriven rig point toward a daysailer and short-course racer rather than a voyager.
Accommodations
Published information doesn’t include an interior arrangement, berth count, or tankage figures for this model. What can be established is the basic geometry: at 24.58 feet overall, with an 8.25-foot beam and a wing keel that takes up little interior depth, the platform is compact by nature. The cabin layout is best confirmed aboard a specific example rather than inferred from missing data.
Known Issues
The wing keel’s shallow draft may encourage sailors to venture into unfamiliar shoals, where grounding remains a user risk rather than a manufacturing fault.
The powerful rig also puts greater loads on the chainplates and deck hardware than a conservatively rigged 24-footer would experience. However, no related failures appear in service histories.
Verdict
The O’Day 240 is a purpose-built light racer with a shallow-draft wing keel and an unusually powerful rig for her length. She trades offshore credentials for easier dock access and sparkle to windward. Her late-1980s Hunt & Associates pedigree also places her near the end of the O’Day Corp. era, before the brand’s molds scattered.
For a sailor seeking a trailerable, marina-friendly daysailer with racing potential, the O’Day 240 is a coherent design.
Pros
- Wing keel keeps draft under three feet, opening access to shallow marinas
- Overrigged masthead-sloop sail plan reaches a 20.1 sail-area-to-displacement ratio with the genoa
- Light 3,600-pound displacement and 33 percent ballast ratio support responsive handling
Cons
- Capsize screening value of 2.15 excludes eligibility for ocean races under that metric
- Modest Motion Comfort Ratio of 15.2 limits offshore smoothness
- Published data doesn’t provide cabin-accommodation details
