When we bought this boat, the big "issue" was the beam. Jim had told us that the beam was one of those projects that brought the completion of the boat to a stand still. Do you take it out? Do you leave it? We did our homework and found that the Cal's are know for being "over built" with this major beam in the mid. We talked to other Cal 40 owners who had already replaced the beams in their boats. We talked to a competitive racer and owner of Northwest Rigging to hear his advise. Everyone had different opinions and ideas, but helped us come up with our conclusion that while the boat is being gutted already we may as well replace the beam as well!
Our only preview was from a hole in the fiberglass stand for the head, and the corners of the beam hidden behind the settees. After deciding the beam was going to be replaced we had to figure out how to actually do it. One owner we talked with told us how he removed the whole pan from the head to the forward stateroom. That seemed like a lot of work to me and after looking it for a long time, we decided to go the other direction and make our cut in the main salon area. |
We ran a strip of blue tape (its a Paxson thing!) to give Jeff a visible line to follow, and Jeff began grinding the fiberglass pan. Once the section of the pan was removed we were able to see how bad, but also how good the beam was. Don't worry we are still replacing it, but there was still a lot of steel left.
The one scary finding through the removal of the beam, was that our mast step was DONE! We had not even thought about replacing it as it looked to be in good condition, but as soon as jeff unbolted the first few bolts the whole thing crumbled. The pictures below are before we even moved it, it only crumbled more once we went to throw it away.
Jeff and I just began reading The Cruise of the Snark by Jack London, on a referral from Andy Schwenk, and well right now, two chapters in, I feel a lot like they did! There are countless projects still left, we want to go, funds are budgeted as we do not use debt, but wow look at her bow! Is there anything better than the lines of a Cal? She is going to be an amazing B-O-A-T.
If you have not read this book, love adventure, love sailing, are in the middle of any kind of project, its a must read! Enjoy!
If you have not read this book, love adventure, love sailing, are in the middle of any kind of project, its a must read! Enjoy!