Cal 28 Diesel Engine

[harry sheldon]

Mike, thanks for your response to my inquiry. We love our boat. I am thinking about taking her to the coast of North Carolina for off-shore cruising. I would love to take her up the Chesapeake Bay as well. I am concerned she may be a little bit underpowered for off-shore, as she only pushes about 5 1/2 knotts on inland waters. A reply from you or anyone else will be greatly appreciated.Thanks.

 

[Mike O'Reilly]

Cal 28 Engine Power

Harry,I have never had any problem with the boat being underpowered. We have done a lot of coastal cruising here in southern New England. We have taken her to from the Plymouth Harbor to the Connecticut River. With many trips to Block Island, Marthas Vineyard, Cuttyhunk and Nantucket. I've had her in all kinds of weather (lots of stories there) and many stiff currents with no problems. Once we were caught in some nasty weather and unfavorable currents in Buzzards Bay and sloged along motor sailing. We made decent progress but the Sabre 34 we were with had the same problems.Good Luck

 

[m3sailor]

Cal 28 Engines

One issue of course is that there were two different engine options in the Cal 28. The earlier option was the 13 hp Westerbeke and later the Yanmar 18 hp 2GM20F. I can't speak for the former but the Yanmar has generally been a good performer. I do my sailing on the Chesapeake and have generally not had any problems motoring in wind or current (generally making 5-5.5 kt at 2800-3000 rpm). The one thing that does make progress very slow is motoring into head seas in 20 kt or more. Clearly I try to avoid this but sometimes you can't. In the mid and upper bay the waves are not generally that big but they get very steep and close together in the shallow water. This combination can cause the boat to pitch a lot and not make a lot of headway. If you can take an angle of 30 degrees or so to the waves I have found this helps. I'm curious to hear whether motoring in the generally longer, shallower waves offshore might actually be better.