Overview
Bill Lapworth redrew the Cal 39 almost entirely for 1978, an all-new design distinct from the rare original 1970-71 boat despite sharing a name. Built by Jensen Marine/Cal Boats under Bangor Punta, the Mk II became the most numerous of the several boats to carry the Cal 39 name, and it is the version most likely to turn up on the used market today.
History
The original Cal 39 launched in 1970 just as offshore racing shifted from the CCA rule to the IOR, a timing problem that limited it to only 29 hulls before Lapworth redesigned the boat from scratch. The Mk II ran from 1978 to 1982, followed by a Mk III in 1983 with mostly interior changes on the same hull, and, later still, a completely unrelated Hunt & Associates design that also used the Cal 39 name. The Mk II covered here is the version most commonly meant when the model is discussed today. Wikipedia, quoting a Boats.com report, notes that the 39 launched in 1978 during the hectic period when Cal’s manufacturing shifted to Tampa, Florida, and then up to Fall River, Massachusetts, as the company struggled to re-establish its identity.
Design and Construction
At 17,000 lb displacement with a 41 percent ballast ratio, the Mk II carries a fin keel with a spade rudder, a notable departure from the skeg-hung rudder of the original 1970 boat. Standard draft is 6.67 ft, with a 5.5 ft shoal-draft option also offered. The deck is balsa-cored fiberglass, and the boat came standard with a 50 hp Perkins 4-108 diesel (some delivered with a Pathfinder marinized VW unit instead). Good Old Boat’s reviewer describes a solid fiberglass hull with plywood coring added to the balsa deck in high-stress areas. The hull and deck are joined on an inward-facing flange with through-bolts and an adhesive bond, and leaks have been reported at that joint. Bulkheads are tabbed to the hull and carry the stainless-steel chainplates. The rudder is a fiberglass shell around a stainless-steel armature, filled with foam, and the review warns that leakage into the rudder can saturate the foam. The aluminum mast is stepped on the keel, and the review reports fairly significant water entry through the mast in some boats, so the keel step is worth inspecting.
Under Sail
Good Old Boat’s own review of the Mk II states plainly that owners have made significant offshore passages, pointing to examples of the design currently located in Hawaii and New Zealand as real, if not individually documented, evidence of its ocean-crossing use. No individual named crossing is on file yet. The same review credits the spade rudder with tight control on all points of sail, even with the wind up, and says the Mk II lives up to her sleek dockside appearance. It describes the T-shaped cockpit as relatively short, with a bridge deck that reduces its volume, which makes it suitable for offshore sailing, and finds that stiffness and good seakeeping make her an able passagemaker. On San Francisco Bay the review gives a PHRF rating of 114, or 108 for the tall rig, and calls the boat widely raced and competitive with more recent designs.
Buyers Notes
Because “Cal 39” covers at least three genuinely different hulls built across nearly two decades by two different designers, confirm which specific version (original, Mk II, Mk III, or the later Hunt & Associates design) any listing actually refers to before comparing specifications. Within the Mk II run, confirm whether a given hull has the standard or shoal-draft keel, since the difference is more than a foot.
