Cal 2-25 mast base

Apr 23, 2020
6
Cal 2-25 Nashville
Hi Folks,

I'm the new owner of a 1982 Cal 2-25.

I am going to be pulling it out of the marina where it is located now (about an hour and a half from where I live) and moving it to another reservoir that is only about 30 minutes from where I live.

I was just looking at the photos of the Cal 34 mast base posted in this thread:

and wondering if the mast base on my Cal 2-25 is going to be the same way?

Many years ago I used to have a Venture 24 with a mast that had a mast hinge plate on it and found it very handy to have.
I was looking into adding a mast hinge plate to the 2-25 if it is possible to do so.

We're in the process of converting a 30' Loadmaster aluminum trailer to haul the sailboat (more on that in another thread). Since there is no crane available at the marina where the boat is docked, we'll have to use an A-frame to unstep the mast when we haul her out. While it is not going to be as easy as it was on the Venture 24, I'm not too worried about that as I have used that method before on other boats.

But I'd really like to add a mast hinge if possible so that it is easier in future pullouts.

We're planning on sailing her on a big lake (it's Tennessee so we're a bit limited here!) and will probably keep her in a slip in a marina for most of the year.

But in the winter months we'll haul her out on the trailer and bring her home.

If I can hinge the mast base, then I can use another method (and specialized piece of equipment) to raise and lower the mast in a safer and more controlled manner.

Anyway I'm just trying to get an idea of what to expect when we pull the mast so I can figure out if the hinged mast plate would work or not.

I appreciate any and all advice on the matter.
 
Nov 22, 2011
1,192
Ericson 26-2 San Pedro, CA
Sorry I can't help you with your query, and I apologize for being a bit off topic, but I'm just curious about what lake you are moving the boat to. (Our youngest son moved to Tennessee, so I was just trying to scope out what kind of sailing might go on there.)

The Cal 2-25 is a really nice boat, by the way. It was on my short list, and is in many ways similar to the Ericson 26-2 I bought (i.e., a small boat with a surprisingly nice interior for its size). Bill Lapworth was a great designer. You should be very happy with how the boat sails.
 
Apr 23, 2020
6
Cal 2-25 Nashville
Hi Alan,

I'm planning on moving it to Nickajack lake and probably keeping it in a slip at Hale's Bar Marina.

Right now it is up on Percy Priest near Nashville.

It's a nice lake (about 14,000 acres if I recall correctly). I think that Nickajack is only about 10,000 acres but it does connect to other lakes via the river and a series of locks.

I like the sailboat community at the Hamilton Creek Sailboat Marina where it is now a lot. I've met a lot of great people there and I wish that it was closer to where I live.

But the hour and a half drive up there (vs 30 minutes to where I want to move it to) means that I get to spend less time sailing than I want to.

BTW if you want to get a close look at the lakes here, one thing I would recommend is the Navionics Boating app.

For $20 a year you get ALL the charts for every lake/river in the USA (and Canada as well as other charts are available).

Both of these lakes (and many others) were created by simply flooding areas and there are old houses, bridges and railways below the water. The app shows the locations of all of this stuff as well as the typical buoys and depth data. It also has sonar and other contour maps, so it is really useful. Since it also has a satellite view it helps to get a perspective on everything as well.

In the past I sailed the Gulf of Mexico and down into the islands a bit so I was used to plenty of space and depth of water for the most part.

When I was considering the move to Nickajack, I knew the lake was long enough and wide enough to be decent sailing, but was really concerned about what was below the surface and what the overall depths were (especially since the Cal 2-25 has a 4.5' draft).

The app gave me a chance to look it over in detail before deciding to move the boat here (there is a free two week trial of it BTW).

I've had the Cal 2-25 out a few times already and I really do love the way it sails.

She's a sweet boat as she is and I plan to add a few things like a roller furler to her since I do single hand a lot.

She came with a good compliment of sails (a 125 genoa, 160 genoa and a spinnaker in addition to the main and jib). She also has a 8 HP Nissan outboard that does a good job getting her in and out of the marina. There is also a Humminbird HDR610 depth indicator/alarm and a Horizon Sl45 speed indicator which comes in handy as well. I especially like that the Humminbird lets me set a depth alarm so I know when I hit 6 feet of water.

It had been almost 38 years since I lived in Florida and spent almost all my time sailing, so I am really loving being back on the water and under sail again!
 
Nov 22, 2011
1,192
Ericson 26-2 San Pedro, CA
Thanks for this info, Charles! Very interesting. I had never considered the possibility of running aground on a submerged house! :oops:

My son is near Memphis, by the way, so a bit of a distance from you.

Hope your move of the boat goes well.

Alan
 
Apr 23, 2020
6
Cal 2-25 Nashville
Thanks for this info, Charles! Very interesting. I had never considered the possibility of running aground on a submerged house! :oops:

My son is near Memphis, by the way, so a bit of a distance from you.

Hope your move of the boat goes well.

Alan
I'll have to admit that it had never occurred to me either!

The guy who introduced me to the app was telling me that he was sailing with a friend and was considering anchoring at a certain place. The friend pulled up the app and told him that they needed to pick a different place as there was a submerged bridge below them (and therefore a good chance of getting the anchor entangled).

When I looked at the bottoms of both lakes I was genuinely surprised at just how many houses, bridges and railroads were down there!

I've never been on the water in the Memphis area so I don't know much about what is there other than the Mississippi river.

If you're ever up in this area give me a shout.

Charles
 
Nov 22, 2011
1,192
Ericson 26-2 San Pedro, CA
I'll have to admit that it had never occurred to me either!

The guy who introduced me to the app was telling me that he was sailing with a friend and was considering anchoring at a certain place. The friend pulled up the app and told him that they needed to pick a different place as there was a submerged bridge below them (and therefore a good chance of getting the anchor entangled).

When I looked at the bottoms of both lakes I was genuinely surprised at just how many houses, bridges and railroads were down there!

I've never been on the water in the Memphis area so I don't know much about what is there other than the Mississippi river.

If you're ever up in this area give me a shout.

Charles
Thanks for this, Charles.

Percy Priest Lake, which you mentioned, looks kind of interesting. I wonder if there is anything interesting about the various "islands" there as far as cruising and anchoring off of them goes.
 
Apr 23, 2020
6
Cal 2-25 Nashville
I'm still new to the lake and have only been out on it a few times.

But I did notice that there are multiple GPS points marked on the Navionics app that indicate an anchorage near some of them.

I'm definitely planning on exploring them a bit while the boat is still up there.

As I mentioned in the earlier post, the people at the Hamilton Sailboat Marina are great (including the guy in charge of the place).

I've also heard that there is a regular group/club that has Wednesday evening races out of there as well.