Cal 31

[WhatTheFoley]

Here is a pic of my boat taken last Sept. up in the San Juan Islands.

I'm 6'2" and can stand up in the cabin without bumping into anything. I say take the plunge you'll love it!

[WhatTheFoley]

Just to answer a few of the other questions that have been asked...

denny98108: I have a Dickson propane heater that is mounted on the port cabin bulkhead (see the pic, sorry it's not bigger/more detailed). It came with the boat, so I don’t know much about costs etc, but it works great. It puts out a great amount of heat! It's mounted on some sort of raised plate (for conducting heat away from the wood I'm sure) and vents out the top of the cabin. Seems like a pretty simple/standard setup to me.

schoonwake: She'll go to weather pretty well. I don't have any wind instruments (other than a windex) so I can't speak to the numbers, but I haven’t had much trouble getting her to point pretty close to the wind. I haven’t noticed too much weather helm when pointing either. I can regularly trim her out and take my hands away from the tiller when heading upwind. The rig/sailplan is pretty easy to work with, and seems pretty easy to balance. I've been thinking about trying to tune the rig a bit more to get more upwind performance, but really haven’t had a need to.

[cal30]

Howzit WTF,
Nice photos! Headroom sounds perfect for me. Thanks for the pics.
Leonard

[schoonwake]

I'm looking for a wheel, pedestal and whatever it takes to convert from a tiller

[jeflaba]

FWIW I think you would be better off selling the boat and buying one with a wheel. Upgrade from tiller to wheel on this boat is not a job for duffers (not saying you are one). And, not cheap - if you could get this done for less than 3 B.O.A.T. units I would be surprised.

I have had my Cal 31 for nearly 20 years. When I bought it I REALLY wanted a wheel but, in the long run, have been glad I didn't. Here are my reasons:

1) I sail alone most of the time. An autopilot is essential and the autopilots for tiller boats are simple, cheap(er), and reliable with no belts to wear out.
2) The feedback is better, I can tell when the rig is out of balance.
3) The tiller folds up out of the way when you don't need it giving me a lot of room in the cockpit
4) Wheels break the KISS rule (keep it simple, stupid). Sure, I have roller furling and an electric windlass but with those the trade offs are greater. However, a failure in the steering, particularly down by the quadrant, would entail a trip into the lazarette which, for me, is no easy task (6'3", 240#).

[airdog07]

where do you sail and what is the farthest have you sail her, I'm looking for cal 31 to use as transatlantic crossing, do you think there are capable blue water sailboat ? thanks al

[schoonwake]

Thanks for the input.
However at my age 75 I definitely want a wheel. I'm in the S.F bay area.
As to the other remarks I wouldn't hesitate to go offshore in my 31.
all the best,
Ed

[Groven]

I recently posted this on another thread before I found the Cal 31 thread. I would appreciate any comparison data other Cal 31 owners are able to provide:

I have a Universal 5416 installed in my 1980 Cal 31 and am evaluating my cooling system for proper performance. I have the performance specs for my particular raw water pump, but would like to conduct an informal survey of Cal31 owners with Universal 5416 (M-20) power for which raw water pump people are using and what amount of total raw water system throughput they are seeing.

My measurements, taken from a bucket on on a line collecting water from the exhaust, are as follows:

Engine: Universal 5416
Raw Water Pump: Moyer Marine MMI 502
Raw Water Throughput at 1,800 engine RPMs: 7.5 quarts per minute
Raw Water Throughput at 2,000 engine RPMs: 8 quarts (2 gallons) per minute

Appended 9/25/09:
After removing, cleaning and reinstalling the heat exchanger and replacing all raw water lines, I am now up to 11-12 quarts (3 gallons) per minute @ 2,000 engine RPM. Given that the 5416 has a camshaft mounted raw water pump, that means the pump speed is half the engine RPM, so total system throughput is close to the rated pump specs of 3.5 gallons per minute @ 1,000 pump RPMs.

[dieselboy]

Originally Posted by WhatTheFoley

Here is a pic of my boat taken last Sept. up in the San Juan Islands.

I'm 6'2" and can stand up in the cabin without bumping into anything. I say take the plunge you'll love it!

How did you boat handle the deep blue water??

[WhatTheFoley]

dieselboy:

Going up to the San Juan’s from Seattle is not really a Blue Water crossing (hell it's not really a crossing at all). Though the water is deep, it's hardly ocean sailing. The seas are generally under 3ft, with no swell and you are never out of sight of land. So I can't speak to the CAL 31’s Blue Water abilities.

I will say that in the snotty 20+knt winds and 4-5ft chop that I have encountered, she has taken it like a champ with no hint that she couldn't take more. I read a while back that somebody (I'm sure many) had circumnavigated in a 31. I'm sure she is up to it.

I would of course advise that you thoroughly check-out/inspect/refit any vessel that you want to take out on a true Blue Water crossing!