Dirtdiggaler
Newbie
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2022
- Messages
- 4
- Vessel Name
- Alyssa Ann
- Vessel Make
- 1976 Californian 42 LRC
Thank you for adding me to the forum. My wife and I just just bought a 1976 42' Californian LRC. We looked for the right boat for us for a few weeks. We wanted something in the Portland Oregon area to use for work and live on while we are in Portland away from our home in Bend. My wife is managing her father's bar in Portland and I started a marine salvage company with a couple friends in the Portland area.
My wife and I commute back-and-forth from Bend Oregon to Portland every couple weeks. While we were in Bend I looked on craigslist, Facebook marketplace, and scoured the Internet for a boat that fit our needs. We've owned a Bayliner Victoria for a good 15 years and really enjoyed boating the Oregon coast and the high Cascade Lakes. The Bayliner was not big enough to live on for a couple weeks especially with our 135 pound Rottweiler named Sasja.
The First boat we looked at in Portland was a 1986 37' Albin Palm beach trawler with twin engines. I have had twin inboard outboard's on my Bayliner and that was something important to me for safety and for handling and this boat had twin Volvo diesels. The Albin was a nice boat it just had zero accessories for living at anchor. No generator, Heater, House batteries inverter exedra.
We left that boat with the owner wanting me to really make some sort of offer and I wouldn't do it. I told him I would have to go and figure out how much it was gonna cost to add all of the accessories I needed. The other thing I didn't like was I could not see out of the back of the boat from the lower helm. The second boat that I looked at online was the 42 Californian LRC. I had emailed the owner of the Californian and he had not answered me so the evening after we looked at the Albin I re-emailed saying I was really interested in the boat and I was a serious buyer because he had not answered me. The owner emailed back instantly and said that he had messed up and texted the wrong phone number. I asked him if I could look at the boat ASAP because we were in Portland. He replied yes and gave us the address and the slip number and the code to the gate at the marina. When we first saw the bow I knew it was what we wanted and needed. He told us a retired Navy captain owned the boat and refit it for their Alaskan trip. Shortly after the guy got done with all of the work and money that he put into the boat his wife got sick and they could not go on their trip. When I went in the engine room I was amazed. If you were eating lunch down there you would have no problem putting your sandwich down anywhere on anything in the engine room. The engines look like they are from tractors in the Museum. The bilge has been re-painted with navy gray of course, he rewired everything as needed in the boat, he replaced every belt and hose and installed new sea cocks with new large sea strainers. He installed six golf cart batteries with a large inverter charger, there's totes with every replacement fuel filter oil filter and impellers you would need. It has a 75KW diesel generator and new water heater that also heats the water with a heat exchanger from the engine antifreeze. The plastic potable waterlines had all been replaced and the copper lines for the plumbing had also been replaced. The previous owner told me he would sit down there and have a beer and just look around at all of the work that had been done and how nice it was. I could see where the guy that I bought it from had supported the salon floor with 4 x 4 treated posts down to the stringers and had done a quality job. He said when you walked around on the floor it sagged a little bit so he did that to make it solid. While I was down there I felt the engines and they were cold. It was about 38° outside and the boat had no heat on. I asked him to start the engines one at a time and they both fired right up. Earlier that day we ran our crane and one of our tow boats and we had to use starting fluid to get 2 671 Detroit's and a 855 Cummins started so I was impressed. I listened and felt the engines as they purred. Once I was satisfied there was no ticks or knocks I went outside to the transom and looked for excessive smoke and saw none. When I was satisfied with the propulsion and electrical, plumbing in the engine room I looked at the distribution panel underneath the steering wheel and was surprised to see that it had a 30 amp shore power and a 50 amp shore power with a selector switch. I'm not sure if that's something that comes from the factory or something the captain added? I went through and tried the switches to see if everything worked. I was glad to see it had a wash down pump. For heat there's a engine water heater in the salon along with 2, 220V electric wall fan heaters one in the salon and one in the master and a Alaskan diesel heater. I asked him what a Clorinator was and he told me it was for the over board pump for the new waste tank. looking around the salon you could see he remolded the galley with a new ceiling, tile counter tops and replaced the large AC/DC refer and propane Stove. He installed new hard wood floors in the salon and in the master. I sat at the lower helm and could see 360 all around outside. Being in Portland you need to be able to operate the boat from the lower helm in the winter because it rains cats and dogs. I could see that all of the lights in the boat have been replaced with LED lamps and in the salon they switch from White to red for night driving.
I turned on the Garmin screen and was very happy to find a combo radar, GPS chart plotter, fish finder thad had another screen on the fly bridge. The new marine radio also had a 2nd mike on the fly bridge. On the top of the mast is a direct TV satellite antenna along with the radar and anchor light. The mast has a winch and support so you can lower it while in the boat house. I can go on and on about all of the new accessories and new cushions but i don't want to bore anyone.
While I was outside I noticed the brand new 10 foot bullfrog dinghy with a 20 horse Honda. I was surprised how nice those little boats are. The davit on the back is pretty cool you plug in a winch controller pull a pin and the boat drops down in the water.
The Navy captain had spent a lot of time painting the anti-skid on the deck, sundeck, flybridge floor with gray paint. He also painted all of the bright work either gray or black. I am going to spend some time and strip the paint off of the Teak and paint the floors white just because of its my preference. The seller told me that he had the 4, 125 gallon fuel tanks professionally cleaned so when he went out in the ocean he didn't have to worry about sloshing fuel stirring up sediment and plugging up the filters.
I asked the seller was about a survey and he had had one with sea trial in 2016 and everything was fine for him and his insurance company. after making him a solid offer we are the proud new owners of a 1976 42' Californian LRC.
My wife and I commute back-and-forth from Bend Oregon to Portland every couple weeks. While we were in Bend I looked on craigslist, Facebook marketplace, and scoured the Internet for a boat that fit our needs. We've owned a Bayliner Victoria for a good 15 years and really enjoyed boating the Oregon coast and the high Cascade Lakes. The Bayliner was not big enough to live on for a couple weeks especially with our 135 pound Rottweiler named Sasja.
The First boat we looked at in Portland was a 1986 37' Albin Palm beach trawler with twin engines. I have had twin inboard outboard's on my Bayliner and that was something important to me for safety and for handling and this boat had twin Volvo diesels. The Albin was a nice boat it just had zero accessories for living at anchor. No generator, Heater, House batteries inverter exedra.
We left that boat with the owner wanting me to really make some sort of offer and I wouldn't do it. I told him I would have to go and figure out how much it was gonna cost to add all of the accessories I needed. The other thing I didn't like was I could not see out of the back of the boat from the lower helm. The second boat that I looked at online was the 42 Californian LRC. I had emailed the owner of the Californian and he had not answered me so the evening after we looked at the Albin I re-emailed saying I was really interested in the boat and I was a serious buyer because he had not answered me. The owner emailed back instantly and said that he had messed up and texted the wrong phone number. I asked him if I could look at the boat ASAP because we were in Portland. He replied yes and gave us the address and the slip number and the code to the gate at the marina. When we first saw the bow I knew it was what we wanted and needed. He told us a retired Navy captain owned the boat and refit it for their Alaskan trip. Shortly after the guy got done with all of the work and money that he put into the boat his wife got sick and they could not go on their trip. When I went in the engine room I was amazed. If you were eating lunch down there you would have no problem putting your sandwich down anywhere on anything in the engine room. The engines look like they are from tractors in the Museum. The bilge has been re-painted with navy gray of course, he rewired everything as needed in the boat, he replaced every belt and hose and installed new sea cocks with new large sea strainers. He installed six golf cart batteries with a large inverter charger, there's totes with every replacement fuel filter oil filter and impellers you would need. It has a 75KW diesel generator and new water heater that also heats the water with a heat exchanger from the engine antifreeze. The plastic potable waterlines had all been replaced and the copper lines for the plumbing had also been replaced. The previous owner told me he would sit down there and have a beer and just look around at all of the work that had been done and how nice it was. I could see where the guy that I bought it from had supported the salon floor with 4 x 4 treated posts down to the stringers and had done a quality job. He said when you walked around on the floor it sagged a little bit so he did that to make it solid. While I was down there I felt the engines and they were cold. It was about 38° outside and the boat had no heat on. I asked him to start the engines one at a time and they both fired right up. Earlier that day we ran our crane and one of our tow boats and we had to use starting fluid to get 2 671 Detroit's and a 855 Cummins started so I was impressed. I listened and felt the engines as they purred. Once I was satisfied there was no ticks or knocks I went outside to the transom and looked for excessive smoke and saw none. When I was satisfied with the propulsion and electrical, plumbing in the engine room I looked at the distribution panel underneath the steering wheel and was surprised to see that it had a 30 amp shore power and a 50 amp shore power with a selector switch. I'm not sure if that's something that comes from the factory or something the captain added? I went through and tried the switches to see if everything worked. I was glad to see it had a wash down pump. For heat there's a engine water heater in the salon along with 2, 220V electric wall fan heaters one in the salon and one in the master and a Alaskan diesel heater. I asked him what a Clorinator was and he told me it was for the over board pump for the new waste tank. looking around the salon you could see he remolded the galley with a new ceiling, tile counter tops and replaced the large AC/DC refer and propane Stove. He installed new hard wood floors in the salon and in the master. I sat at the lower helm and could see 360 all around outside. Being in Portland you need to be able to operate the boat from the lower helm in the winter because it rains cats and dogs. I could see that all of the lights in the boat have been replaced with LED lamps and in the salon they switch from White to red for night driving.
I turned on the Garmin screen and was very happy to find a combo radar, GPS chart plotter, fish finder thad had another screen on the fly bridge. The new marine radio also had a 2nd mike on the fly bridge. On the top of the mast is a direct TV satellite antenna along with the radar and anchor light. The mast has a winch and support so you can lower it while in the boat house. I can go on and on about all of the new accessories and new cushions but i don't want to bore anyone.
While I was outside I noticed the brand new 10 foot bullfrog dinghy with a 20 horse Honda. I was surprised how nice those little boats are. The davit on the back is pretty cool you plug in a winch controller pull a pin and the boat drops down in the water.
The Navy captain had spent a lot of time painting the anti-skid on the deck, sundeck, flybridge floor with gray paint. He also painted all of the bright work either gray or black. I am going to spend some time and strip the paint off of the Teak and paint the floors white just because of its my preference. The seller told me that he had the 4, 125 gallon fuel tanks professionally cleaned so when he went out in the ocean he didn't have to worry about sloshing fuel stirring up sediment and plugging up the filters.
I asked the seller was about a survey and he had had one with sea trial in 2016 and everything was fine for him and his insurance company. after making him a solid offer we are the proud new owners of a 1976 42' Californian LRC.
