On Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:26:06 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

On Jan 16, 4:07 pm, (Richard Casady)
wrote:
On Sun, 13 Jan 2008 08:56:00 -0800, Alan Gomes wrote:
Cal used a mild steel beam that runs athwartships to support the
compression of the mast.

Steel is cheaper than corrosion proof aluminum, which, contrary to
popular belief, is no lighter. ...

The problem isn't that they used mild steel. While not "yachty"
there's no problem with the metal. The problem is that the beam is
installed in such a way that it is impossible to inspect or repair.
Now, 40 years, you can't see how wasted these beams are, but lots of
rust falls off of them so they are suspect. It wouldn't have been any
better if they'd built the beam out of ply, which would have been more
typical. The issue is access and time...

===========

The steel beam on my old Cal-34 was galvanized as I recall and it was
holding up fairly well when I sold it about 10 years ago. The boat, a
1968 model, is still going strong although it is no longer being
raced.

When I rerigged it as a frac in 1987 we built a custom mast step
directly on top of the steel beam and got rid of the wood compression
post under the deck. In addition, the new chain plates had lugs for
tie rods which attached directly to each end of the beam. This
created a very stiff structure which totally offloaded static rigging
loads from the hull and deck.