Check the beam!
We bought a 74 Cal 3-30 about a year ago and found a Cal owner group out of Canada that really helped. A fellow named Alan Storey had a post about the steel beam in the bilge area that would corrode and make the mast drop and other wonderful things. It was speced out to have stainless steel there, but the boat yard substituted mild steel with galvy coating. Well they don't last 34 years, or even 20. The good part is Alan is a sculpter who works in SS! He builds new SS beams for Cal boats from all over. We just recieved ours this week. It can be replaced with the boat in the water. You should have a peek in the bilge torwards the stern, use a light and reach way back in there, feel some crumbly crap? That was the beam, don't sail it with a rotted beam! Ours cost $750 and the price of SS is going higher. It's still a worthy investment, what else can you do? Alan can send step by step pics to help the job. Just search for BC Cal owners group, it's on MSN. Good luck and keep in touch. We got a bunch of sails with ours. A lot of them have had their booms lowered for more sail area. The original rigging should be updated every 10-12 years Alan sez. He has had his boat for 10 years. Later, TC email: tcglass@coupeville.net
