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Cal 29

It seems to be a pretty common thing to need to replace “The Dreaded Beam” on a Cal boat. As I understand it, not all Cal models have the beam, but the Cal 29 does.

It can be quite the daunting job to try to figure out how to replace the beam and quite expensive to have someone else do it for you.
Since I have done this job once (no – it was not fun) and I took lots of pictures while I did it, I thought I would share the process that I went through to replace the beam.

This is not meant to be an authoritative absolute on replacing the beam – just a walk through of how I did it on our 1974 Cal 2-29. There are undoubtedly many ways of replacing the beam – this is just one way. Your mileage may vary.

I suppose that I should put this disclaimer in here also:
“It is up to the reader to determine if the procedures here are useful. The reader is responsible for all safety of themselves and others around them if they decide to attempt this procedure. The use of power tools can be dangerous – use the appropriate safety gear.
I accept no responsibility for the appropriateness of the procedures here, nor the safety of anyone attempting these procedures, etc, etc, etc.

Mainly – Just be careful, use common sense and be safe!


You can often get a rough idea of the condition of the mild steel beam in a cal 29 by looking at the tab that the bottom of the main bulkhead is bolted to. You can access this tab on the settee locker on the port side of the compression post.
I doubt that too many of them are in this condition, but if you see rust on them, go for the bore scope and check it out fully.
Using a die grinder with a good carbide bit (and full safety equipment) carefully cut through the liner – being careful not to cut into the hull below the liner. It will necessitate removing the locker immediately aft of the bulkhead on the port side.
Continuing cutting this line fully across the entire hull liner from one edge to the other edge. Notice the capped through hull that used to be for the head intake.
Note: On the starboard side of the liner, the cabinet front will be in the way. You can either completely remove the cabinetry or you can carefully cut through the front of the cabinet and remove the piece that hides the ice box. (This is a good time to add that extra ice box insulation or refrigeration unit!).


Cut along the top aft edge of the raised portion of the liner following the corner all the way from port to starboard so that you in effect have cut the full section free of the liner. 		Picture 2:
Using a couple of light prybars, remove the free section of fiberglass from the liner to expose the old beam. Save the section as you will fiberglass this back in place!
Here you can see the extent of the deterioration of the mild steel beam. It is very difficult to know the full extent of the damage without an examination with a bore scope.
This beam is virtually non-existent!


You now should have the beam fully exposed and can begin working it completely free to remove it.
You may find that it is bonded to the fiberglass on the top rail. If so, use some thin pry bars, chisels or (as I did in my case) flat screwdrivers to pry the fiberglass away from the beam.
You can see here that the beam is now fully free.
Once fully free, you can easily remove the remnants of the beam. In my case I just swept most of it up and vacuumed the last bits!


If you are adventurous – and good with a welder – you can make your own stainless beam. But this might be best left to a professional fab shop anyway.
Once you have the beam made, you can easily slip it in place and bolt it back top the bulkhead. The worst is over!
You can see here the fit of the beam. It should fit reasonably well in place of the old beam that came out. Once you are satisfied with the fit and have the beam bolted back in place, you are ready to finish the job. Take the section of the liner that you initially cut out and put it back in place. It should fit well since it came from this same place.
I ground all of the edges down quite a lot and used epoxy and strips of glass cloth of varying widths to fill in the ground down areas and build it back up again. I used several layers to add the strength back that was lost from cutting.
Now – That wasn’t too bad was it? (Ya – right!)

Please feel free to contact me with any questions on the beam replacement.

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Background music by:
Mason Daring