cal 27 Mark III Anniversary Edition

[John6275]

Just purchased a 1984 Cal 27, which based on my research is the 3rd and final edition of the Cal 27. Relatively new to sailing and this is a big jump from our first 18.5 Johnson Weekender. The boat is in pretty good shape but as anything that old, it will need a little work.
Does anyone have a line in any resources for parts , original or aftermarket?
I know the instrument cluster/panel where the switch is located is damaged and looks like crap , for starters.
thanks and looking forward to talking with other Cal owners.

 

[jssailem]

Congratulations @John6275
pictures help on this forum. You may have to create your own items. Cal Jensen boats have been gone for awhile. Here is a link that may help.

http://richardanderson.net/calsailboats/

I like my Cal 35 Cruiser. One of 120 built 1973-1974.

 

[John6275]

thank you for the information and link.
I will try to post pics later. For some reason this app in my phone dosent like to let me.

 

[John6275]

Pics added

 

[John6275]

so, I finally got my boat moved up from Alabama and sitting on craddle at the house until i get a few things done.
I'd like in put on a couple of things.
First , it appears there are two fresh water tanks under seats on saloon. One of the previous owners removed the head , cut lines and I think removed the waste tank. I'm thinking it would have been under the v-birth. looking for pics of the way the plumbing and tank should be...
Secondly, do the through hulls and seacocks look ok to you guys? I think they do but I'm new to this.

 

[cas206]

Hello fellow newbie Cal 27-3 owner. I just purchased one, too. Unfortunately, it's a 1.5 hour drive to boat (+1.5 hour back). I'm currently making plans to cruise her to new home. I'll try and remember to take some pictures of the toilet installation, when I make my weekend visit.

Any idea what the toggle switch does on the engine panel? I was able to start the Yanmar without touching it.

 

[John6275]

that's a very nice looking vote. that should be your glow plug/heater and may be warm enough that it started without it. I'd use it at least some on cold starts. I have a diesel in a humvee and it has it built into switch. if its warm the light goes off quickly but if cold you dont start it without waiting until light goes out.
no light in these.
still learning myself
looking forward the pics

 

[Alan Gomes]

that's a very nice looking vote. that should be your glow plug/heater and may be warm enough that it started without it. I'd use it at least some on cold starts. I have a diesel in a humvee and it has it built into switch. if its warm the light goes off quickly but if cold you dont start it without waiting until light goes out.
no light in these.
still learning myself
looking forward the pics

No! There are no glow plugs on that engine!
The toggle switch (down position) is for testing the alarms (oil pressure, over temp, charge). It also turns on or off the light for the tachometer display (up position).

 

[John6275]

No! There are no glow plugs on that engine!
The toggle switch (down position) is for testing the alarms (oil pressure, over temp, charge). It also turns on or off the light for the tachometer display (up position).

Strange , PO on mine told me to hold before starting. Alarm came on when I turned key to first place.

 

[Alan Gomes]

The PO is wrong.

When you turn the key on you hear the oil pressure buzzer because there is obviously no oil pressure until the engine starts. Once the engine starts the alarm should stop pretty quickly.

The switch on the panel is for testing all the alarm buzzers, as I mentioned above.

Again, there are NO glow plugs on a Yanmar 1GM. Trust me on that.

 

[John6275]

The PO is wrong.

When you turn the key on you hear the oil pressure buzzer because there is obviously no oil pressure until the engine starts. Once the engine starts the alarm should stop pretty quickly.

The switch on the panel is for testing all the alarm buzzers, as I mentioned above.

Again, there are NO glow plugs on a Yanmar 1GM. Trust me on that.

Ok, so please walk me through start sequence. I havent got to do it yet as it is on the hard here for another week while I fix wiring , etc. Thatvway I have it correct. Might help other guy as well.
Thanks

 

[Alan Gomes]

Ok, so please walk me through start sequence. I havent got to do it yet as it is on the hard here for another week while I fix wiring , etc. Thatvway I have it correct. Might help other guy as well.
Thanks

The start sequence is as follows:

• Make certain that the seacock for the cooling water is open.
• Make sure the transmission is in neutral.
• Push the throttle maybe 1/3 open. Depending on the outside temps and the condition of your particular engine, you might want to open the throttle more--say half open. It's even conceivable you might need to open up the throttle more than this. A little experimentation will help you figure this out. I'd start with 1/3 open and see how it goes.
• Make sure the kill switch cable (i.e., the round knob to the left of the engine panel) is pushed all the way in.
• (Although your picture is not totally clear, it appears that the engine panel has a push button switch immediately below the toggle switch. The next steps assume that is so; if not, let me know.)
• Turn the key switch to the right. You should hear the oil pressure buzzer go off.
• Push the start button to the left of the key switch. The engine should crank.
• Let go of the button when the engine starts. The oil pressure buzzer should stop.

(Note: If you start the engine with the throttle up high, once the engine gets up to speed you should be ready to throttle it back down to a reasonable idle speed rather than letting it race too high. If you only have the throttle cracked about 1/3 open, it may be that when it starts it will be idling at a reasonable speed already. Just be prepared to adjust the idle after the engine fires off.)

Shut down the engine as follows:

• Do not shut down the engine immediately but let it idle for around 5 minutes first.
• Next, rev the engine in neutral, bringing it up to high RPM *momentarily* (a second or two) and then drop it back down. Do this maybe 5 times. The Yanmar manual suggests doing this to blow the carbon out of the cylinders.
• Pull out the kill switch cable until the engine stops.
• Push the cable back in so it's ready for its next use.
• Close the seacock for the cooling water.

 

[John6275]

The start sequence is as follows:

• Make certain that the seacock for the cooling water is open.
• Make sure the transmission is in neutral.
• Push the throttle maybe 1/3 open. Depending on the outside temps and the condition of your particular engine, you might want to open the throttle more--say half open. It's even conceivable you might need to open up the throttle more than this. A little experimentation will help you figure this out. I'd start with 1/3 open and see how it goes.
• Make sure the kill switch cable (i.e., the round knob to the left of the engine panel) is pushed all the way in.
• (Although your picture is not totally clear, it appears that the engine panel has a push button switch immediately below the toggle switch. The next steps assume that is so; if not, let me know.)
• Turn the key switch to the right. You should hear the oil pressure buzzer go off.
• Push the start button to the left of the key switch. The engine should crank.
• Let go of the button when the engine starts. The oil pressure buzzer should stop.

(Note: If you start the engine with the throttle up high, once the engine gets up to speed you should be ready to throttle it back down to a reasonable idle speed rather than letting it race too high. If you only have the throttle cracked about 1/3 open, it may be that when it starts it will be idling at a reasonable speed already. Just be prepared to adjust the idle after the engine fires off.)

Shut down the engine as follows:

• Do not shut down the engine immediately but let it idle for around 5 minutes first.
• Next, rev the engine in neutral, bringing it up to high RPM *momentarily* (a second or two) and then drop it back down. Do this maybe 5 times. The Yanmar manual suggests doing this to blow the carbon out of the cylinders.
• Pull out the kill switch cable until the engine stops.
• Push the cable back in so it's ready for its next use.
• Close the seacock for the cooling water.

Awesome! Thank you.

 

[cas206]

I missed the mention of the toggle switch, the first time I read through the attached. On second reading, page 24, step 2, I see that the toggle is used as Alan Gomes said. My setup doesn't seem to have a control which mimics the "Engine Warm-up knob".

 

[Alan Gomes]

I missed the mention of the toggle switch, the first time I read through the attached. On second reading, page 24, step 2, I see that the toggle is used as Alan Gomes said. My setup doesn't seem to have a control which mimics the "Engine Warm-up knob".

Actually, it appears I got that backwards as far as the direction of toggle switch goes: the DOWN position illuminates the tachometer whereas the UP position tests out the alarm buzzers. (I just double checked the diagram in the manual.) The main point is the same, though, and it would be obvious in any case once you tried it. Regardless, there is no glow plug on that engine.

 

[John6275]

much appreciated.
anything else you can share will also be appreciated.

 

[Alan Gomes]

much appreciated.
anything else you can share will also be appreciated.

Sure. Glad to help.

The 1GM is a good little engine and overall quite reliable. A few pieces of advice specific to this engine:

The raw water pump on these is lousy and goes through seals. You'll know the seals are bad when you see water dripping from the bottom of the pump. What makes this failure especially insidious is that your engine probably has mild steel oil lines, one of which is right below this pump and can rust out as a result of the water dripping on it if you don't deal with the leak right away. (I say "probably" because at some point Yanmar switched to a different material less prone to corrosion for these lines.) You can have the seals replaced by a shop (such as Depco Pump) or learn to replace them yourself. (You'll find some YouTube videos on how to do that.)

Also, inspect the exhaust elbow as part of your seasonal maintenace. It can get plugged up. But another aspect of this design is that there is an inner tube that can rot and develop holes in it, and if that happens it will allow cooling water into the cylinder--no bueno. So pull that elbow periodically and give it a good inspection.

 

[John6275]

Sure. Glad to help.

The 1GM is a good little engine and overall quite reliable. A few pieces of advice specific to this engine:

The raw water pump on these is lousy and goes through seals. You'll know the seals are bad when you see water dripping from the bottom of the pump. What makes this failure especially insidious is that your engine probably has mild steel oil lines, one of which is right below this pump and can rust out as a result of the water dripping on it if you don't deal with the leak right away. (I say "probably" because at some point Yanmar switched to a different material less prone to corrosion for these lines.) You can have the seals replaced by a shop (such as Depco Pump) or learn to replace them yourself. (You'll find some YouTube videos on how to do that.)

Also, inspect the exhaust elbow as part of your seasonal maintenace. It can get plugged up. But another aspect of this design is that there is an inner tube that can rot and develop holes in it, and if that happens it will allow cooling water into the cylinder--no bueno. So pull that elbow periodically and give it a good inspection.

Really appreciate all the info and help. I will add those to my long list of things up get done before I splash her.
So, when I get to that point I will have to raise the mast. That seems simple and straight forward. Plan to use a cherry picker for that as this lake area is not set up to be very helpful.
The shrouds are my concern with proper tuning
Do you have any info on that and or suggestions. There are no local riggers here.
Also, I've notice galley sink faucet leaks around base when operating. Nothing in manual. Is it easy to deal with o-ring or easier to replace faucet?
Thanks again.

 

[Sailm8]

I loved our Cal 27 ML III. It never recovered after Hurricane Charley. We ended up giving it away. The brand new mainsail is still at Atlantic sail traders in Sarasota FL on consignment. I still have the owner's manual if you need it. PM me your address if you want me to send it to you.

 

[John6275]

so I'm working on her this weekend.
took halyards down and cleaned them and rerunning them.
my mast head has two roller pulleys front and back but only one each is used for main and jib.
what are the other two pulleys used for?