Production ran from 1958 to 1965, though sources differ on the total: Wikipedia records 184 boats, while SAIL Magazine cited 187 built down the beach in Costa Mesa. The Cal 24 then went out of production. Observers writing in SAIL Magazine noted that owners loved the boats so much that they remained relatively rare on the used market.
Design and Construction
Lapworth drew the Cal 24 as an American trailerable sailboat with a spooned, raked stem and a raised-counter, angled transom. The hull is predominantly fiberglass with wood trim. Testers praised its graceful lines, springy sheer, and relatively low freeboard, which keeps windage to a minimum.
Below the waterline, the boat has a fixed, stub, modified long keel with a cutaway forefoot and retractable centerboard. A keel-mounted rudder is controlled by a tiller. The board is central to the Cal 24’s dual-purpose design: extended, it gives the boat a draft of 4.50 feet; retracted, draft falls to 2.50 feet, allowing the boat to be loaded onto a trailer for ground transport.
The Cal 24 measures 24.39 feet overall, with a 20.05-foot waterline and an 8.00-foot beam. It displaces 3,000 pounds and carries 1,000 pounds of ballast.
Rig, Performance, and Handling
The Cal 24 carries a fractional sloop rig with a Bermuda sailplan. The foretriangle measures 25.50 feet high with an 8.50-foot base, while the mainsail has a 26.50-foot luff and an 11.50-foot foot. Total sail area is roughly 261 square feet, divided between a 152-square-foot mainsail and a 108-square-foot jib.
As a racing keelboat, the Cal 24 posted an average PHRF handicap of 228 and a hull speed of 6.0 knots. Those figures are consistent with a light-displacement MORC design intended to be sailed hard.
Period testers criticized the narrow 8-foot beam and found that the boat had the lowest Space Index among its competitors. That same compactness, however, makes the Cal 24 easy to trailer and store.
Accommodations
The Cal 24 sleeps four. A double V-berth fills the bow cabin, while two straight settee quarter berths occupy the main cabin. The head is tucked beneath the bow berth. Just aft of the bow cabin, a galley to port provides a stove and sink. Cabin headroom is 54 inches.
One owner described lying in the V-berth and passing a mirror through the hatch to watch for ships during weekend passages—a detail that captures the interior’s intimate scale. Low headroom and a tight beam are the trade-offs for trailerability and a hull that handles well behind a modest tow vehicle.
Known Issues
Age and build quality both deserve consideration. The Cal 24 was offered as a kit for amateur construction, and period reviews warned that not all kit-built boats were finished to an acceptable standard.
Owners have also reported specific failures on surviving examples. A 1963 boat named Foolish Lee came with a delaminated cabintop and a centerboard rusted solid in its trunk. Another owner found that the old wood-trimmed windows leaked as the paint wore and the gelcoat faded.
The centerboard trunk warrants particular attention. A rusted board can seize, defeating the retracting mechanism that makes the Cal 24’s shallow trailering draft possible.
Refits and Ownership
Long-term owners have shown that a Cal 24 can respond well to careful renewal. One restored example received mahogany veneer on the bulkheads, a small pressure-water sink, and an updated electrical panel. Its leaking wood-trimmed windows were replaced with stainless steel frames drawn from CAD patterns.
On a 1963 hull, the nearly 60-year-old toerail was rebuilt from fine-grain pine sandwiched between layers of African mahogany. Each layer was set in epoxy under 75 clamps. The original gelcoat was hand-primed and finished with one-part Brightside applied with a 2-inch watercolor brush. At one point, the mast was also unstepped for a year so corrosion could be addressed.
These are boats whose owners invest considerable work by hand, which explains both their scarcity and their durability.
The Verdict
The Cal 24 is a genuine Lapworth MORC design that punches above its 24-foot length as a pocket cruiser. Its seaworthy reputation is backed by owners who circumnavigated Catalina Island with an infant aboard. The retractable centerboard also provides an unusual combination of 4.50-foot sailing draft and 2.50-foot trailering draft.
The costs are an exceptionally narrow beam, with the lowest Space Index among its rivals; the variable finish quality of kit-built boats noted by period testers; and the usual fiberglass-and-wood decay of a sixty-year-old design.
Pros
- Trailerable with the centerboard retracted and draft reduced to 2.50 feet
- Seaworthy pocket cruiser capable of extended coastal cruising
- Early fiberglass Lapworth design with strong owner loyalty
- Fractional sloop rig with 261 square feet of sail and a 6.0-knot hull speed
Cons
- 8-foot beam produces the lowest Space Index among competitors
- Finish quality varied among kit-built boats, according to period reviews
- Wood-trimmed windows can leak, and cabintops may delaminate
- Centerboard can rust solid in its trunk
