Re: [Cal_Boats] Newbie Questions

Thanks for the link. The only manual we received was a pamphlet on the engine. Not a lot of information. I'm thinking that the guy we bought the boat from wasn't the most knowledgeable. He proved that to us when he told us that he hauled the boat from Lake Pepin to his house (hilly country) without ever tying the boat down. Talk about luck! No, we don't have a roller furler on the boat yet. This was one of the things that we wanted to get this year but due to budgets already being pushed to the limit, its going to have to wait until next year. ---- tr… [at] sbcglobal.net wrote: ============= Hi Chris and Erin, I owned a Cal 25-2 up until a month ago. First, if you did not get a manual with the boat, try this link for a manual. Click on "links," and it should display the link to the manual. http://www.systemsfirst.com/Cal25/ As far as the mast step goes, there is a metal casting bolted to the cabin top of the deck. It is a flat casting with an oval lip about 1/2" high. This guides and positions the mast on the step. The mast just sits on this place and is not bolted to the plate in any way. You should be able to see the edge of the metal plate between the mast bottom and the cabin top. The flap above the counter is just as you described. Most people put a trash bag on the other side. I took the door off and left the opening for ventilation below the cockpit. I'll have to defer to others regarding the electrical recommendations. My boat had an outboard motor, and the previous owner had made a battery box for three massive batteries which he located below the companionway steps--where an inboard would be installed. This worked out very well for me. My boat had a proper 110 volt installation with battery charger and a couple of 110 volt outlets. From your description, it sounds like you'll have a lot of power requirements. For rig tension, Loos makes a gauge that measures rig tension on the rigging. I think the instructions have some guidelines as well. I used this on my rig. Do you have a roller furler on this boat? These boats sail very well. Regards, Travis ----- Original Message ----- From: Chris & Erin Dawley To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, April 01, 2007 7:19 PM Subject: [Cal_Boats] Newbie Questions Went to West Marine yesterday and still feel so lost on what all we need. We have a Cal 25 MKII. I think that it's just that overwhelming feeling that is not helping us to make good decisions. So, yes, we are that couple that is having a heated argument in the middle of the store because dh didn't research enough before we travel 1-1/2 hours to go shopping for what we need to get the boat ready. So here goes... I hope you all don't mind answering some of these probably stupid questions that maybe we should already know... We are trying to figure out the whole shorepower thing. We are keeping the boat at a dock and have shorepower at the dock but the boat is not configured for this. We will have the starting battery and the house battery but how long do these work for? Our plan is to spend every weekend on the boat - Friday evening through late Sunday afternoon). How do you have your boats configured to ensure you have power all weekend? We need to buy a charger yet and a power invertor so that we can plug a fan in and other little things. We will have our two kids with us. Basically, we need to charge the batteries, use a fan, a toaster oven or microwave (not sure which yet), and run lights at night. I'm sure I missed something. Is there a guide for what the tensions should be for the standing rigging? We have nothing to go by. Is there any information on how the mast step is attached to the deck? Is attached directly or is there a piece of wood or something else between the step and the deck itself? The guy who owned the boat before us said there was a piece of wood in there but we can not find any evidence of this. What is the flap for that is above the counter in the "kitchen". Is this a garbage shoot? It has a bungy on the other side of it that holds it taught. Grounding the mast, our boat is in fresh water and we are reading Sailboat Electrics Simplified and it talks about making sure your mast is grounded. Is this something that we worry about? Thanks in advance for any help you can give us. Erin Dawley 1982 Cal 25 MKII Tomah, Wisconsin