New to the board, and my first question...

Hi All!

I've recently acquired a 1981 Califirnian 38 Sedan. Love it. She has twin Cummins Diamond 315s in her with about 1200 hours each on them.

Our boat was a previous live aboard. We are currently redoing a fair amount of the interior, as we had old carpet and foam.

We are playing the find the smell game...its a grand funk of holding tank odor and must. We've got the vacuously system which works great - does anyone know if there is a vent filter on these? I can't seem to locate one. Any ideas if there is one on these boats or any other culprits before I start replacing hoses?

Thanks all!

Congratulations on your new boat Cessna! There shoud be a vent somewhere on teh holding tank that usually runs overboard. Find your tank and start following the hoses.
Remember that black water hoses will need to be changed every 5-10 years of so to manage odor.

Thanks - that was my thought too. Time to start that project soon!

38' Californian Sedan. Looking forward to seeing some pics when you get around to it. Welcome aboard Cessnaflyr!!

Rub your hand or paper towel along the hoses, then smell it. If it doesn't smell bad, don't waste your $$ on the hoses.

Howard

I'll post some clear ones tomorrow! Thank you!

Question for you all, I am having accessibility issues to swap the hoses out as the tank seems to be molded in. Is there something I am missing as the hoses seem to run under the engine room bulkhead?

Welcome aboard, CF. West Sac? You're just down the street from me. I live in Antelope and keep my boat in Vallejo with a couple other members here. Where's your marina?

I replaced my hoses on my 34 and it really wasn't that bad a job. I replaced the head at the same time so it was pretty much out with the old and in with the new. The only thing that remained was the tank. My tank is original 1977 and still going strong.

You've had it pumped out since the "acquisition"?

Yep. All pumped out. She lived a hard life but was well used as a live aboard. We are renovating the interior with all new foam and mattresses, and we pulled out all of the carpet today. We are looking into some plank style vinyl in the main salon and galley. One of my good friends did it in his Silverton and it looks great, and its bulletproof.

The good news is that she's set for Bluewater. Twin cummins, Mase 3500 gen, inverter, and watermaker. She's got great bones, just needs a little love.

Greetings,
Welcome aboard.

Just a footnote that plain old white vinegar does a good job cleaning and de-stinking, it was the standard for cleaning when sail was king and might work better now and then than modern stuff. And plain old vinegar poured over a thick layer of baking soda will foam up with enough force to loosen accumulated crud in tight corners and unsavory crevices.

Of course your boat will smell like a tossed salad for awhile.

Thanks Writerly! I am definitely going to do that. I am just having a hell of a time to locate all of the access to the holding tank. It seems like its under the shower pan and a bitch to get to the other end of the hoses.

Pics

Here's the pics of the boat. She is definitely a work in progress.

Nice looking boat; have fun with her.

Wow!! Look at that. . . .

a 38' Californian Sedan. I have only seen one and this is numero dos. I have no idea how many total were made, but it couldn't be too many. . .Do you mind if I archive your pictures?

Looks like it was repowered with Cummins . .nice, but which engines do you have?

She looks great, Nate! Hope to see it sometime soon.

Cessnaflyr said:

Here's the pics of the boat. She is definitely a work in progress.View attachment 38162

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Great looking boat welcome

Sure - save the photos I can get more, or you can pull them down off of my website if you want bigger ones. They are Cummins 6BTAs with ZF transmissions. We just dropped new foam and cushions in the V Berth - looking pretty nice up there now.

Cessnaflyr said:

Sure - save the photos I can get more, or you can pull them down off of my website if you want bigger ones. They are Cummins 6BTAs with ZF transmissions. We just dropped new foam and cushions in the V Berth - looking pretty nice up there now.

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Sweet !! Were there any owners manuals or data with the boat? Like I said I've only seen two of these and have no idea how many 38' sedans were built. Most were 38' and 42' aft cabin LRC's, but it's a got to be a pretty low number? Two cabins forward or one? Do you have any performance numbers for the 6bt's in this hull?
Sorry for all the questions, but a rare opportunity to talk to an owner of one of these models!!

Reply

Sure thing. I have the owners manuals. Each main is 315hp - I ran her up river at 2200 rpm at about 15.5 kt. She scoots nicely.

The pics are at Nate Eckler Photography | Boat

Help yourself! We have two cabins forward. Getting close into putting some plank flooring down.

Replaced all of the blackwater hoses last year with better quality hoses. The boat ceased to smell immediately. You will enjoy making that great improvement. Welcome.

Cessnaflyr said:

Sure thing. I have the owners manuals. View attachment 38320

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If you get a chance to scan the owners manual, we can add it to the resource sticky note which is the first post under the "Californian" tab. Flywright and others have been instrumental in gathers copies of resource documents, before they're lost.

The original manufactures documentation was not maintained by the various builders and over the years has been lost. So what we know about these boats is limited to what we owners have been able to gather and share among ourselves.

I'm pretty sure we don't have the 38' Californian manual and if it's specific to the sedan that's good too!! It would be a great addition to the resource file. But no pressure, when you get a chance, scan all pages and open a new thread under the Californian tag and load each page. Then notify Al (Flywright) or me and we'll see that they get moved into the Californian sticky tab.

If you look inside of the sticky tab, you can see some of the resources that Flywright and Capn Craig have already provided as a guide.

What a beauty. I like how they reinforced the salon floor with two posts. All the 38's and 42's eventually develop sagging engine room floors and have to be propped up. That's the price you pay for having two extra large removable floor panels I guess!