wood spreaders on cat 30 1976

[Fernand Brault]

I own a Cat 30 1976 standard rig and thewood spreaders are rotten, is anyone can give me the exact measurements of the spreaders , lenght, width ,thicknessso i can replace them before sailing the boat from Florida to Canada.I know that Catalina Yachts offer a replacement kit in aluminium but at what price and how easy it is to replace them on spot, are the brackets of the mast fit the new spreaders without modifications?It will be a lot more easy to replace the existing one's with wood spreaders since that I can get them made here in Montreal and install them before i leave in July.Anyone could help me?ThanksFernad

 

[Bob Camarena]

Take them down

Your best bet is to go ahead and take them down and make a pattern yourself. I'd be wary of trusting others' measurements. Plus, you can't be absolutely sure that there haven't been changes from year to year. You can safely and easily remove them with the mast in place. I believe the originals were Sitka Spruce. Check the archives for other threads on wooden spreaders. The Catalina replacements are not direct fits and require removing the mast, changing brackets, etc. If you had more time JSI will make exact fit aluminum replacements using your old wooden ones as a pattern. I believe the cost is in the $250-$300 range.

 

[Larry Olson]

new wooden spreaders

I just replaced the wooden spreaders on my 1978 C30. We left the mast up (the lower shrouds held the mast just fine), took the old ones off, and used them for templates. We built the new ones from oak, used the existing brackets, and finished them with West Systems epoxy. We retuned the mast, of course, but there were no problems except drilling holes in the oak. The total cost was about $30.

 

[Mike Gallagher]

Use sitka spruce

If you do do build new spreaders yourself spend a little extra and use sitka spruce. It can be mail ordered very easily. It is the best wood for the job because of it's strength to weight ratio.