"lifting" the cabin

My 1978 Californian cabin has been "sinking" over the years in relation to the deck space. The most is about 1/2 to 3/4 an inch on the starboard side.

Its different enough that the deck drains are just a hair higher then the cabin corners. I was considering cribbing off the main stringers and jacking up either end of the cabin so that the water flows to the outside of the deck better. And then bracing the horizontal cabin support with a 2 inch steel tube and use 2 inch steel as well off the stringers for the vertical supports.

My concern is the fiber glass flooring. Well, all the fiberglass for that matter... it hasn't cracked noticeably over the years from the sinking, but I am concerned that lifting it may cause problems...

Anyone try this and have words of wisdom for me?

I put two 2x4 posts under my aft cockpit deck to get more crown. Took the heavy setee out of the cockpit and realized the setee was to some extent holding up the deck. I raised the deck about 5/8ths inch. Been fine for quite a few years.

I agree w you about getting the inbd edge of your deck back up.

So as long as I do it SLOWLY the fiberglass decking on the side "should" be ok....??

Automotive bottle jacks are real handy for things like this. You can gently add pressure to get the lift you want, a little at a time. Then when happy with new position, shim it and build up your structure.

Cool, thanks, i just asked the machine shop to cut me some pieces and leave it outside their fence, as I cant be there before they close...

I didn't raise my side deck but braced it as it seemed to be overly noisy when I used it.
I used screw jacks I made of 1" threaded rod, nuts, pipe and flat plate. Nice thing about screw jacks is there is no leak down. I could leave the jacks in place for days and then crank a bit of lift again. Then I glassed plywood braces into place permanently. No more noise.
The hydraulic bottle jacks are faster and easier but will leak down if you need to leave things to settle over some time.

Good point!! That's kinda where we were going in out thought process.

Tonight we screwed the 8.5 foot cross bracing onto the underside of the supporting wood horizontal floor support.

Tomorrow after work I'll put on the cribbing and start the jacking process. I leave to watch my last kids last regional championship ANYTHING !! So I want to be done on Wednesday evening after work. So I can put the boat back in the waterway be Sunday???

If it looks like I need to leave the jacks in place I suppose I can do that and still put it in the water.

Pics may help with diagnosis


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Well I lifted it about an inch in the front and an inch and a half in the back of the cabin. I put 2x2 tube steel for supports and its a HUGE improvement.

I'm gonna have them put it back in while I am out of town for my LAST kids LAST state tournament. I'll take if for a sea trial run when I get back.

Damn! Did I mention I'm getting old???

C lectric said:

I didn't raise my side deck but braced it as it seemed to be overly noisy when I used it.
I used screw jacks I made of 1" threaded rod, nuts, pipe and flat plate. Nice thing about screw jacks is there is no leak down. I could leave the jacks in place for days and then crank a bit of lift again. Then I glassed plywood braces into place permanently. No more noise.
The hydraulic bottle jacks are faster and easier but will leak down if you need to leave things to settle over some time.

Click to expand...

I have a similar induced vibration noise. Did you brace to the stringers?

Yes. Braced against the lower stringers that run the middle of the bottom of the boat. The same ones the engine mounts are on for the inside engine mounts.

No noticeable vibration noticed from them. In fact it's less as the floor is much more stiff.

Is that what you were asking?

superdiver said:

Yes. Braced against the lower stringers that run the middle of the bottom of the boat. The same ones the engine mounts are on for the inside engine mounts.

No noticeable vibration noticed from them. In fact it's less as the floor is much more stiff.

Is that what you were asking?

Click to expand...

Yep, thats what I was wondering. I actually think a lot of my noise is generated by the salon floor acting like a drum head because ther is littlr support. I like your jackscrew idea because its so easy to try...

One of my employees husband came by to help me and brought a portable hydraulic jack. The cylinder was about a foot tall and the pump was attached to it by a 3-4 foot hydraulic line. Made placing and moving the jack very easy cuz it was so light, not to mention you could be a "reasonable" safe distance away from the jack and it slipping..

The stiffness of the floor is WAY better now.. before there were places that you cold feel the movement up and down of the floor in a chop. AND the water flows away form the cabin now, before it would not completely clear off the deck.

Just happened upon this thread. I'm aso planning to do this on my 34 Californian. This was discussed in the Californian section here.

This post show's Duvie's screw jack support struts. His previous post describes the components.

FlyWright said:

Just happened upon this thread. I'm aso planning to do this on my 34 Californian. This was discussed in the Californian section here.

This post show's Duvie's screw jack support struts. His previous post describes the components.

Click to expand...

Great, those pics and description give great detail. I also saw a Youtube video on some new trawler (Nordhavn I think, I watched quite a few) and saw that their floor support struts in the engine room, rested on the stringers and were on top of engine mounts (not "the" engine mounts, soft ones I assume) so as not to transfer vibration to the salon floor. Smart idea, I might try that as well.

Chuckling because we had a 34 Californian years ago. Cant remember the year, but don't think it was a Marshall, something tells me it was a Wellcraft. I used to be able to guess the year of other Californians just by looking at how wonky the bow looked if you looked at it just right as the 34 mold was not forgiving if they pulled them out too quickly. I think the Marshalls were about the best. In any case, they are all severely over built, not at all surprised the weight causes a bit of settling. I did this on my Penn Yan years ago, actually not hard, just take your time to avoid stress cracks.

No stress cracks do far. That's what I was concerned about as we. So I lifted it slowly.

I have noticed that the water is directed the way I hoped better as time goes on. I believe the upward pressure is still lifting it a bit.

Tomorrow I make a 3-4 hour run to get to an island where selling good fireworks is legal. I'll let u know how it performs as I am sure we will see at least small swells. Maybe large ones.