I Really Did It!

[jsatzinger]

Well, I have a 1982 Californian 34 under contract in the Pacific Northwest. It's finally time to give up sailing like my Dad did. In 1978 he bought a new Californian 34 with twin Perkins turbos in Southern California and kept her in Ventura. I think she was the first one with a factory radar arch. She had red trim and he named her Redbird after a ship in WWII. I spent lots of time with him on the boat and did some skippering of her around the Channel Islands and Catalina with friends. Great boat.

So after looking at power boats and trawlers for several years, I concluded that the good old Californian was the perfect boat for my wife and me. Yeah, they are all fairly old, but great bones. We plan to name ours Bluebird.

Tuesday was the preliminary sea trial with the broker. I asked for this to see how she ran before investing in the mechanical survey and hull survey. I've always felt rushed during sea trials with a surveyor. Highly recommend.

She has twin Cat 3208NAs. There was a fair amount of smoke on startup, which I wasn't used to with my little Yanmar, but both engines fired up right away. After warmup no smoke at all and none underway. She topped out at 2700 rpm at 16.4 kts, into a current of about .75 kt. The bottom is a bit dirty. It felt really good to be back on board a Californian 34.

I have the engine survey with sea trial next week and then the marine survey with sea trial. Any suggestions about things to look for would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for letting me lurk on your site!

John

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Nice. Welcome to TF. Remember we like pictures. Good luck on your surveys.

 

[GFC]

Ditto to what Tom (ASD) said above. Welcome.

 

[FlyWright]

Hope the survey and purchase go well for you, John! (BTW, I like your taste in boats!!)

IMO, two of the 34 LRC's Achilles heels are

1. fuel tank corrosion issues, often related to the sling of salt water from the shaft logs onto the fwd inboard tank sides

2. sagging aft deck near the aft corners of the salon and aft door.

My tanks were replaced and dripless shaft logs installed by the pervious owner. I installed supporting jack rods to resolve SOME of the sagging deck issues.

About 12 years ago, I had a phone conversation with Gil Marshall while his Dad, Jule Marshall, listened in on the speakerphone. He worked at his Dad's boat yard as a 15 year old and served as the bilge rat on my hull #1 running all the cables, wires and plumbing. He mentioned that his favorite version of the 34 LRC was like yours with the 3208s due to its speed and efficiency. He mentioned 20+ Kts so you might pick up a little speed with a clean bottom.

Fellow TFer CHC has a 'late model' Wellcraft version of the 34 LRC with Detroit 250s. He showed me 23 Kts on the Chesapeake a few years ago. It's an entirely different boat at 20 kts compared to my 7.5 kt cruise with my twin 85HP Perkins 4.236s.

Any 39 year old boat is going to also have its own peccadilloes too watch for. Old wiring, plumbing, accessories like water pumps and water heaters, etc.

They're great boats with solid bones if well cared for and they pack a lot into a relatively small package with 2 staterooms, FB, dry head and large cockpit with good water access. I hope yours turns out to be as great for you and your family as your Dad's was for you and your family.

Welcome aboard and keep us posted with pics after the sale!!

 

[SeaRow]

Well, I have a 1982 Californian 34 under contract in the Pacific Northwest. It's finally time to give up sailing like my Dad did. In 1978 he bought a new Californian 34 with twin Perkins turbos in Southern California and kept her in Ventura. I think she was the first one with a factory radar arch. She had red trim and he named her Redbird after a ship in WWII. I spent lots of time with him on the boat and did some skippering of her around the Channel Islands and Catalina with friends. Great boat.

So after looking at power boats and trawlers for several years, I concluded that the good old Californian was the perfect boat for my wife and me. Yeah, they are all fairly old, but great bones. We plan to name ours Bluebird.

Tuesday was the preliminary sea trial with the broker. I asked for this to see how she ran before investing in the mechanical survey and hull survey. I've always felt rushed during sea trials with a surveyor. Highly recommend.

She has twin Cat 3208NAs. There was a fair amount of smoke on startup, which I wasn't used to with my little Yanmar, but both engines fired up right away. After warmup no smoke at all and none underway. She topped out at 2700 rpm at 16.4 kts, into a current of about .75 kt. The bottom is a bit dirty. It felt really good to be back on board a Californian 34.

I have the engine survey with sea trial next week and then the marine survey with sea trial. Any suggestions about things to look for would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for letting me lurk on your site!

John

Welcome and Congrats. As previously mentioned fuel tanks will be something to look at. I spent a year searching for a Californian and noticed.. Guessing more than half had already been changed out. But that isn't a gage you can bank on, in other words it all depends on boat history.

I personally spent lots of money finding a good mechanic, in my case I paid the extra dollar(s) and went right for a caterpillar mechanic because most imoto me was finding a Californian 34 that was already re-powered or wasn't going to nees to be re-powered as that would have been out of my budget. How many hours claimed on the motors? How is the blow by?

I amin Santa Barbara and this forum was a great help to me.. So I want to lay it forward.. PM me if you want to talk on the phone.

Cheers John / MV Bluebird

 

[Art]

Welcome!

 

[SeaRow]

I see the boat.. From what I see.. I like.. Pull that trigger.. Jump in and enjoy. Where is home port going to be?

 

[Comodave]

Welcome and congrats on your new boat. Photos as soon as it is yours...

 

[jsatzinger]

Thanks everyone for the welcome and advice. There is some rust on both trans, but there are now PYI dripless shaft seals in place. Hopefully any water problem is fixed and the rust can be removed and touched up. Engine survey pending.

Two newer tanks have been added, one rear starboard where there is a new filler and one larger in the center. All four tanks are connected at their bottoms for gravity leveling, with a reported total of 390 gals. My research shows keeping these tanks half full is not a problem with some additives used.The original tanks looked OK to me, but all will be checked.

I'm puzzled that there is only one engine hour gauge. Plus it doesn't work, so we'll never know the true engine hours. I'll try to find out when it stopped working. It's now just over 3000. But one hour meter?

Otherwise, there are new gauges for everything but the alt gauges (couldn't tell if the alt gauges worked). All new digital tachs, too. Previous owner(s) updated many things, but not electronics, which I enjoy selecting and installing. Anyone need an old Loran unit? How about a mechanical spinning light type depth sounder unit?

Thanks again,
John

 

[MacPhid]

Hour Meter

I don't think it's unusual to have one hour meter in a twin engine boat if it didn't come originally with hour meters. Owner added one meter torecord hours run. Most twins run both engines so one meter records hours roughly for both. I would be surprised if the difference over 3000 hours is more than 1% or 30 hours between engines. Twin engine boats rarely run on one engine only and if that were a normal practice most owners would install dual meters.

James

 

[CMantra]

Welcome aboard! I just recently took possession of my own a few weeks ago! I hope you’re ready for an adventure!