Cal 29 Spreaders

The time has come to replace the spreaders on our Cal 29. I'm debating on sticking with wood or going to aluminum, so thought I'd solicit opinions from this august body before making a final decision. We made the current spreaders about a dozen years ago. Only one is shaky, but we'll replace as a matched pair. Wooden spreaders are easy enough to make, but not sure I want to make any more. I'm interested in the groups thoughts. Thanks!

Keep them painted and they will last a long time. Mine still looked fine and they were probably 50 years old when the mast came down, which did not happen because of the spreaders buy more because of the 62 ton boat that hit me. My advice is to duplicate what was there to avoid the headaches of adapting something that doesn't really want to fit. I am sure I have enough sections of spruce from my mast for you to make some. If you live in the SF Bay area, you can have some. But then again, I am very happy with my aluminum spreaders that came on my aluminum mast. Allen On Wed, Oct 4, 2017 at 3:18 PM, ja… [at] jacaldwellinc.com [Cal_Boats] < Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> wrote: > > > The time has come to replace the spreaders on our Cal 29. I'm debating on > sticking with wood or going to aluminum, so thought I'd solicit opinions > from this august body before making a final decision. > > We made the current spreaders about a dozen years ago. Only one is shaky, > but we'll replace as a matched pair. Wooden spreaders are easy enough to > make, but not sure I want to make any more. > > I'm interested in the groups thoughts. > > Thanks! > > > > >

I went alum years ago. Never been happier. They are stronger and require far less maintenance. I saw that rot in a spreader begins on the top side where it is hard to see, so I wanted a long term solution. I think a pair cost me 400.00 from some place in FL. Jim Englert > On Oct 4, 2017, at 6:18 PM, ja… [at] jacaldwellinc.com [Cal_Boats] <Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> wrote: > > The time has come to replace the spreaders on our Cal 29. I'm debating on sticking with wood or going to aluminum, so thought I'd solicit opinions from this august body before making a final decision. > > We made the current spreaders about a dozen years ago. Only one is shaky, but we'll replace as a matched pair. Wooden spreaders are easy enough to make, but not sure I want to make any more. > > I'm interested in the groups thoughts. > > Thanks! > > > > > >

Jim,It's a good chance that was JSI in Ft. Lauderdale, they did all kinds of custom work.David Dobbs Cal29 411 with Al spreaders On Wednesday, October 4, 2017 8:21 PM, "Jim Englert sa… [at] gmail.com [Cal_Boats]" <Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> wrote: I went alum years ago. Never been happier. They are stronger and require far less maintenance. I saw that rot in a spreader begins on the top side where it is hard to see, so I wanted a long term solution. I think a pair cost me 400.00 from some place in FL. Jim Englert On Oct 4, 2017, at 6:18 PM, ja… [at] jacaldwellinc.com [Cal_Boats] <Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> wrote: The time has come to replace the spreaders on our Cal 29. I'm debating on sticking with wood or going to aluminum, so thought I'd solicit opinions from this august body before making a final decision. We made the current spreaders about a dozen years ago. Only one is shaky, but we'll replace as a matched pair. Wooden spreaders are easy enough to make, but not sure I want to make any more. I'm interested in the groups thoughts. Thanks!

I have a Cal 2-29, I just pulled mine down, sanded them, put on four coats of primer, and painted them with two coats of Interlux Perfection. I am gonna put them back on here soon. Just had to fill some minor cracks after a decade since the last time some major work was done on them. I have stood on them a half dozen times while working up the mast. I say, if you intend to keep the boat longer than a decade and are wiling to invest in changing the brackets and tuning the rig after paying for aluminum ones, then go for it.

My alum ones did not require changing any bracket. They fit the existing mast backets Jim Englert > On Oct 5, 2017, at 4:45 AM, bn… [at] yahoo.com [Cal_Boats] <Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> wrote: > > I have a Cal 2-29, > I just pulled mine down, sanded them, put on four coats of primer, and painted them with two coats of Interlux Perfection. I am gonna put them back on here soon. Just had to fill some minor cracks after a decade since the last time some major work was done on them. I have stood on them a half dozen times while working up the mast. I say, if you intend to keep the boat longer than a decade and are wiling to invest in changing the brackets and tuning the rig after paying for aluminum ones, then go for it. > >

That sounds like the way to go Jim! The closer they are in length to the wood ones the better I would think. Less tuning and shrouds still correct length.

I like my wood spreaders rebuilt from clear spruce from Aircraft Spruce plus ten coats of varnish with up protectant. > On Oct 4, 2017, at 10:07 PM, david dobbs tm… [at] yahoo.com [Cal_Boats] <Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> wrote: > > Jim, > It's a good chance that was JSI in Ft. Lauderdale, they did all kinds of custom work. > David Dobbs Cal29 411 with Al spreaders > > > > On Wednesday, October 4, 2017 8:21 PM, "Jim Englert sa… [at] gmail.com [Cal_Boats]" <Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> wrote: > > > > I went alum years ago. Never been happier. > > They are stronger and require far less maintenance. > > I saw that rot in a spreader begins on the top side where it is hard to see, so I wanted a long term solution. > > I think a pair cost me 400.00 from some place in FL. > > Jim Englert > > >> On Oct 4, 2017, at 6:18 PM, ja… [at] jacaldwellinc.com [Cal_Boats] <Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> wrote: >> >> >> The time has come to replace the spreaders on our Cal 29. I'm debating on sticking with wood or going to aluminum, so thought I'd solicit opinions from this august body before making a final decision. >> >> We made the current spreaders about a dozen years ago. Only one is shaky, but we'll replace as a matched pair. Wooden spreaders are easy enough to make, but not sure I want to make any more. >> >> I'm interested in the groups thoughts. >> >> Thanks! >> >> >> > > > >

Thanks to everyone for their thoughtful input. We notice that the spreaders - more on port - would move forward and backward when pulling the rigging in either direction. Until the rigger went up yesterday our assumption was that it was time for new spreaders. As it turns out the spruce spreaders we made and installed about a dozen years ago are still as sturdy as they were the day we put them up; but could use a little paint... What the rigger found was the rear mounting holes in the brackets have become a little elongated, so the spreaders have been pivoting on the front pins adding to the slop in the back pins. It looks like we'll be able to increase the pin size enough to tighten them up.

On 10/5/2017 4:45 AM, bn… [at] yahoo.com [Cal_Boats] wrote: > > > I have a Cal 2-29, > I just pulled mine down, sanded them, put on four coats of > primer, and painted them with two coats of Interlux Perfection. I am > gonna put them back on here soon. Just had to fill some minor cracks > after a decade since the last time some major work was done on them. I > have stood on them a half dozen times while working up the mast. I > say, if you intend to keep the boat longer than a decade and are > wiling to invest in changing the brackets and tuning the rig after > paying for aluminum ones, then go for it. I'm late to this discussion (on vacation, then hauled a boat, then back to work & catching up). But my other boat, from 1961, has her original wood spreaders. When we bought her at 7 years old, one spreader base had been repaired. It was probably from a stepping/unstepping accident. It was poorly done but looked good enough. About 8 years ago it started to look wobbly so I poked under the fiberglass wrap and found mostly powder and good luck holding my mast in column. I scarphed in a new piece of spruce at the bottom and used epoxy. No problem since. But my point is that it's best to varnish the spreader bottoms because (a) they look cool and (b) more important, you can see if there's evidence of rot. Paint the tops white, where the sun shines and you can't see the varnish anyway. That lasts longer than varnish when exposed to UV. But varnish the bottom. It's the same reason why you don't paint wooden ladders. Chris Campbell >

On 10/6/2017 10:47 AM, ja… [at] jacaldwellinc.com [Cal_Boats] wrote: > > > Thanks to everyone for their thoughtful input. We notice that the > spreaders - more on port - would move forward and backward when > pulling the rigging in either direction. Until the rigger went up > yesterday our assumption was that it was time for new spreaders. > > As it turns out the spruce spreaders we made and installed about a > dozen years ago are still as sturdy as they were the day we put them > up; but could use a little paint... > > What the rigger found was the rear mounting holes in the brackets have > become a little elongated, so the spreaders have been pivoting on the > front pins adding to the slop in the back pins. It looks like we'll be > able to increase the pin size enough to tighten them up. Another late reply. I end up pulling on my standing rigging a lot because it's a useful handhold. I bet we all do that. Maybe it's a good thing for the spreaders to have some fore & aft pivot capability. Chris Campbell > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >