For Sale: Crusing Sailboat: Cal 2-46 Motorsailer

[AdagioCal246]

For those considering a circumnavigation, please view: Shadowfax sails to Panama on Youtube. Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjPdV9wbCpQ

[freshalaska]

Does this boat have a protected prop? Seems I remember that this Cal doesn't have a skeg under the prop.
I'm interested in a passagemaker motorsailer capable of crossing the Pacific.
What are the moorage fees in your area?
Good luck in your sale.

[AdagioCal246]

Thank you for writing and bringing up this interesting and mis-understood issue. The issues of turning prop collecting a line or damaging the prop by impacting a solid object are essentially the same.

There are essentially 3 approaches to propeller configuration.
1. The oldest is an aperture into which the prop is fitted. This design is supposed (I stress 'supposed') to prevent a line passing beneath the hull from being picked-up by the prop. And, this aperture is supposed to protect the prop from damage by blocking solid objects from the blades. This is not the case. Most recently, a friend, driving his single screw trawler from Neah Bay to Astoria, a boat with an aperture mounted prop, ran over a crab pot marker line that promptly wound tightly around his prop. The USCG came to his aid. How can this happen? We tend to forget the fact that the blades of the prop must project outside of the aperture's sides to produce thrust, and it is this projection that collects lines. (In the post-event discussion, he acknowledged that had he been in deeper water, this would not have happened.)

2. Flat bottomed sailboat hulls (the modern design many with bolt on fin keels) typically having several feet of exposed propshaft exiting aft the keel into a supporting strut and terminating with the prop. This approach certainly presents potential problems. A line can travel along the shaft and thereby be directed to the prop. Of course, a folding prop would permit the line to exit, but if the rudder's leading edge is straight, there is the added potential for the rudder becoming fouled. But, even a folding prop, when turning is exposed to impact damage. Such designs are usually shunned by cruisers or modified to mitigate this potential.

3. The last approach is what the Cal 46 has. The shaft protrudes from the 'deadwood' area of the keel and between the forward end of the prop hub and the deadwood is about 3 inches. We have passed over marker lines many times during our 8 years in the Pacific Northwest, and have yet to collect a line on the prop. Perhaps we have been lucky? ADDITIONALLY, we have a Gori folding prop, so we can quickly drop the engine into neutral if we believe it necessary. While sailing, the blades fold back (the folding prop should not be confused with a feathering prop such as Maxprop, where the blades are still able to stop debris) allowing anything to slide off. For those all but paralyzed with concern about having a line foul the prop, there are line cutters that are installed on the shaft ahead of the prop. Specific to impact concerns, the traditional keel design sheds floating objects away from the prop (at least this has been our experience in the obstacle ridden waters of the Pacific Northwest).

The Cal 46's rudder has a leading edge that is angled back (and also protected by the long keel). Any line that passes beneath the hull and contacts the rudder, is quickly shed due to the angle of the rudder's leading edge. We have never had an impact at the bow follow along to the rudder (or prop).

There is another significant issue that brings with disagreement, and entirely from those who have not sailed long distances on these 2 basic designs: (1)attached / skegged rudder versus (2) protected Cal style spade rudder. The argument goes like this: The skeg protects the rudder from being sheared off when a large object is hit. While this has definite merit in configurations where the distance between a narrow fin keel and the rudder is long, and the rudder is the most modern short cord and deep. The argument loses merit when one examines the traditional keel of the Cal 46 and short distance to the robust, long cord, shallow rudder. Think as one wishes, but there have been NO reports by Cal 46 owner of rudder damage from impacting an object.

Lastly, and here again an issue that is argued by mostly those without offshore experience in both designs, there is considerable load difference on the rudder and steering gear (cables & pulleys or worm gear) between a well designed spade rudder and a skegged rudder. The spade design, such as the Cal 46's, has a few percent of its total surface area placed ahead of the centerline of the rudder post. In effect, as the rudder turn, this leading edge (refered to as balance) is pushed over more by the onflow of the water. This onflow at the balance area, lessens the load on the entire rudder and all steering linkage. it also reduces the power needs for the auto-pilot or wind vane. Most important, when coming off swells at >9 knots, there is no significant or noticeable rudder loading.

On a similar waterline boat that has a skegged rudder, surfing off a large swell develops significantly greater load on the rudder and linkage gear. My first experience with this effect was broad reaching from Nantucket to Point Judith the summer of 1972 or 1973 (it's been a while) in a gale. This is shoal water, and had fully developed seas. My Alberg 35, full keel, aperture prop & all, provided a real physical workout. The rudder's lack of ability to direct the boat was astonishing. Since that event, I learnt to quickly reduce sail to prevent the boat from ever surfing. Now, compare this to a similar sleigh ride on a modern Santa Cruz or J boat that drives as though on rails under these conditions. The Cal 46 is much closer to the moderns than the antiquated Alberg.

All in all, William Lapworth designed a world cruiser of notable performance and strength, and this has been demonstrated in the collective tens of thousands of miles traveled by his Cal 46.

For those who remain unconvinced of the merits of the Cal 46 hull design - non-skegged prop and non-skegged rudder, a good read is entitled "After 50,000 Miles" by Hal Roth. Roth traded in his traditional underbody sailboat for a modified Santa Cruz 50, in which he circumnavigated. His vivid account of this trip is compelling proof of the progress made in both handling and safety by the modern designs.