Replacement spreaders, CAL229?

Any help or leads would be appreciated..... My CAL 229 has wood spreaders are are in need of some "serious repair" or better yet replacement. My hope, if possible, is to replace them with aluminum vs wood. Has anyone done this? Vendors? Upsides/ downsides? Many thanks Bob CAL229 #6699 PS; Today was one of those beautiful mid Sept days on Long Island Sound. Took the boat out, 10k wind out of the west, 80F , with less than 1' seas...and the best part (if this wasn't enough), there were far more sailboats on the water than power boats. A little bit of heaven!

Bob, When I broke the rotted end off one of the spreaders on my 3-30 I,too, thought about aluminum replacements. Then it occurred to me that if the first set had lasted 35 years, the next set would outlast me. I found a piece of sitka spruce that the lumber yard milled to the correct thickness, got out my son-in-law's saber saw and belt sander and had at it. My new spreaders are not fine furniture, but from 25 feet below they're awfully pretty. I painted the tops white to eliminate destruction of the varnish by UV, and liked what I wound up with. The most expensive part of the project was the ferry fair to Vashon Island to pick up the wood. Fred Haas 3-30 Nemesis Tacoma On Sep 19, 2010, at 7:02 PM, Bob Virgalla wrote: > > Any help or leads would be appreciated..... > > My CAL 229 has wood spreaders are are in need of some "serious > repair" or better yet replacement. My hope, if possible, is to > replace them with aluminum vs wood. > > Has anyone done this? > Vendors? > Upsides/ downsides? > > Many thanks > > Bob > CAL229 #6699 > > PS; Today was one of those beautiful mid Sept days on Long Island > Sound. Took the boat out, 10k wind out of the west, 80F , with less > than 1' seas...and the best part (if this wasn't enough), there > were far more sailboats on the water than power boats. A little bit > of heaven! > > >

Fred, & Bob, I agree with Fred, just duplicate what you have and go with it. I have aluminum spreaders on my 29, hull 411, built in New Jersey in 1972. They appear to be factory, and I love them. The original owner raced the boat in Detroit, so he may have asked for aluminum as an option. All other 29's around here have wood spreaders. Speaking of spreaders, I will be unstepping my mast next week, time for us to get ready for winter. I'll try to remember to take some pics, but you know how that goes sometimes. Regards, David Dobbs, Cal 29 411 --- On Mon, 9/20/10, Fred Haas <ol… [at] seanet.com> wrote: From: Fred Haas <ol… [at] seanet.com> Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] Replacement spreaders, CAL229? To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Date: Monday, September 20, 2010, 9:45 AM Bob, When I broke the rotted end off one of the spreaders on my 3-30 I,too, thought about aluminum replacements. Then it occurred to me that if the first set had lasted 35 years, the next set would outlast me. I found a piece of sitka spruce that the lumber yard milled to the correct thickness, got out my son-in-law's saber saw and belt sander and had at it. My new spreaders are not fine furniture, but from 25 feet below they're awfully pretty. I painted the tops white to eliminate destruction of the varnish by UV, and liked what I wound up with. The most expensive part of the project was the ferry fair to Vashon Island to pick up the wood. Fred Haas 3-30 Nemesis Tacoma On Sep 19, 2010, at 7:02 PM, Bob Virgalla wrote: Any help or leads would be appreciated..... My CAL 229 has wood spreaders are are in need of some "serious repair" or better yet replacement. My hope, if possible, is to replace them with aluminum vs wood. Has anyone done this? Vendors? Upsides/ downsides? Many thanks Bob CAL229 #6699 PS; Today was one of those beautiful mid Sept days on Long Island Sound. Took the boat out, 10k wind out of the west, 80F , with less than 1' seas...and the best part (if this wasn't enough), there were far more sailboats on the water than power boats. A little bit of heaven!

My wood spreaders were built in 1956. Just keep the paint in good conditions and forget that varnish carp. If you would be happy with aluminum, you will be fine with paint. Repaint every 4 years or so. I just got done painting my mast. Spreaders are easy. Allen On Tue, Sep 21, 2010 at 5:31 PM, david dobbs <tm… [at] yahoo.com> wrote: > > > Fred, & Bob, > I agree with Fred, just duplicate what you have and go with it. I have > aluminum spreaders on my 29, hull 411, built in New Jersey in 1972. They > appear to be factory, and I love them. The original owner raced the boat in > Detroit, so he may have asked for aluminum as an option. All other 29's > around here have wood spreaders. > Speaking of spreaders, I will be unstepping my mast next week, time for us > to get ready for winter. I'll try to remember to take some pics, but you > know how that goes sometimes. > Regards, > David Dobbs, Cal 29 411 > > > --- On *Mon, 9/20/10, Fred Haas <ol… [at] seanet.com>* wrote: > > > From: Fred Haas <ol… [at] seanet.com> > Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] Replacement spreaders, CAL229? > To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com > Date: Monday, September 20, 2010, 9:45 AM > > > Bob, > When I broke the rotted end off one of the spreaders on my 3-30 I,too, > thought about aluminum replacements. Then it occurred to me that if the > first set had lasted 35 years, the next set would outlast me. I found a > piece of sitka spruce that the lumber yard milled to the correct thickness, > got out my son-in-law's saber saw and belt sander and had at it. My new > spreaders are not fine furniture, but from 25 feet below they're awfully > pretty. I painted the tops white to eliminate destruction of the varnish by > UV, and liked what I wound up with. The most expensive part of the project > was the ferry fair to Vashon Island to pick up the wood. > Fred Haas > 3-30 Nemesis > Tacoma > > > > > On Sep 19, 2010, at 7:02 PM, Bob Virgalla wrote: > > > > Any help or leads would be appreciated..... > > My CAL 229 has wood spreaders are are in need of some "serious repair" or > better yet replacement. My hope, if possible, is to replace them with > aluminum vs wood. > > Has anyone done this? > Vendors? > Upsides/ downsides? > > Many thanks > > Bob > CAL229 #6699 > > PS; Today was one of those beautiful mid Sept days on Long Island Sound. > Took the boat out, 10k wind out of the west, 80F , with less than 1' > seas...and the best part (if this wasn't enough), there were far more > sailboats on the water than power boats. A little bit of heaven! > > > > > >

Hi everyone! In response to the spreaders, I have to agree with Mr. Haas about replacing wood spreaders. A friend of mine got me a excellent book on how to repair old boats. Everyone is probably aware of the book "This Old Boat" by Don Casey, published by McGraw-Hill. In the book (second edition) they have a section on spreaders, different types and how to maintain them as well. I might have to replace mine as well, and I think that wood will win out, because of acid rain and salt in the ocean air, it will corrode the aluminum. Besides,,,, I'm a purist at heart! When I have some "extra" time in the "library", I find interesting articles that pertains to "our" boats. There are times, when I can't even put it down. But it still can't completely replace the wisdom and advice from this great group! I will be forever grateful to my friend for this book, and especially to this group for continued advice. Jim Ives Rochester, NY 1973 Cal 2-29 #575 To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com From: tm… [at] yahoo.com Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2010 17:31:35 -0700 Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] Replacement spreaders, CAL229? Fred, & Bob, I agree with Fred, just duplicate what you have and go with it. I have aluminum spreaders on my 29, hull 411, built in New Jersey in 1972. They appear to be factory, and I love them. The original owner raced the boat in Detroit, so he may have asked for aluminum as an option. All other 29's around here have wood spreaders. Speaking of spreaders, I will be unstepping my mast next week, time for us to get ready for winter. I'll try to remember to take some pics, but you know how that goes sometimes. Regards, David Dobbs, Cal 29 411 --- On Mon, 9/20/10, Fred Haas <ol… [at] seanet.com> wrote: From: Fred Haas <ol… [at] seanet.com> Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] Replacement spreaders, CAL229? To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Date: Monday, September 20, 2010, 9:45 AM Bob, When I broke the rotted end off one of the spreaders on my 3-30 I,too, thought about aluminum replacements. Then it occurred to me that if the first set had lasted 35 years, the next set would outlast me. I found a piece of sitka spruce that the lumber yard milled to the correct thickness, got out my son-in-law's saber saw and belt sander and had at it. My new spreaders are not fine furniture, but from 25 feet below they're awfully pretty. I painted the tops white to eliminate destruction of the varnish by UV, and liked what I wound up with. The most expensive part of the project was the ferry fair to Vashon Island to pick up the wood. Fred Haas 3-30 Nemesis Tacoma On Sep 19, 2010, at 7:02 PM, Bob Virgalla wrote: Any help or leads would be appreciated..... My CAL 229 has wood spreaders are are in need of some "serious repair" or better yet replacement. My hope, if possible, is to replace them with aluminum vs wood. Has anyone done this? Vendors? Upsides/ downsides? Many thanks Bob CAL229 #6699 PS; Today was one of those beautiful mid Sept days on Long Island Sound. Took the boat out, 10k wind out of the west, 80F , with less than 1' seas...and the best part (if this wasn't enough), there were far more sailboats on the water than power boats. A little bit of heaven!

On 9/21/2010 10:47 PM, Allen Edwards wrote: > > My wood spreaders were built in 1956. Just keep the paint in good > conditions and forget that varnish carp. > My other boat has wooden spreaders. I have painted the tops, which you can't see anyway and where the UV exposure is greatest, and kept the bottoms varnished. The great virtue of varnish is that it's transparent, so you can see signs of rot. I recall reading about not painting ladders many years ago. It's because the paint hides defects. You want to see where a ladder is failing. Chris Campbell

Paint shows rot too but it is not as obvious. I have to sand off occasionally down to the wood when I see a small crack in the paint. Sometimes it is just bad paint, sometimes rot. But paint won't stick to rotten wood so it shows signs. But, I wold probably have avoided a lot of the rot I have had if the boat was varnished. On the other hand, I would not have kept the boat as it is just too much damn work to keep a boat varnished. Just the spreaders, maybe. Allen (at Papoose painting for the 6th day this month). On Fri, Sep 24, 2010 at 10:10 AM, Chris Campbell < cl… [at] charterinternet.com> wrote: > > > On 9/21/2010 10:47 PM, Allen Edwards wrote: > > > > My wood spreaders were built in 1956. Just keep the paint in good > conditions and forget that varnish carp. > > My other boat has wooden spreaders. I have painted the tops, which you > can't see anyway and where the UV exposure is greatest, and kept the bottoms > varnished. The great virtue of varnish is that it's transparent, so you can > see signs of rot. > > I recall reading about not painting ladders many years ago. It's because > the paint hides defects. You want to see where a ladder is failing. > > Chris Campbell > > >