new member, Californian 34LRC

Moved up from a 27' Sea Sport Pilot to a 1979 34' Californian a few months ago. We have been slowly cleaning her up and getting rid of the cigarette smell the previous owner left behind. So far we really like the boat. I needed something bigger but that still had good sea keeping ability. If you are not familiar with the Sea Sport Pilot it is an ocean going tank. My wife having had a bad experience in a previous boat wanted to make sure we got something that she would still feel safe in and not just a floating condo. The Californian really fits the bill. The boat has the two stateroom layout with twin Perkins 185 hp diesels. The engines run great and thankfully do not have the dreaded mani coolers. A well respected diesel mechanic looked at them and said that they still have a lot of hours left in them. It is hard to beat the simplicity of these old engines. The fuel tanks were replaced by a previous owner. We did have to take care of a few issues. The previous owner lest a line in the water and wrapped it around the one shaft and bent it. One engine had a leaky head gasket. According to the mechanic the head was not torqued down properly. We also did the exterior and salon varnish.
We use our boat for cuising to Catalina, Ensenada and up and down the coast. During the summer we do a lot of fishing and our favorite trip is to fish our way to Ensenada and stay at the Coral for a few days. Although we have not done much serious fishing yet I think that the boat will be perfect for California stand up style fishing. The walk around deck is great.
The crew is my wife and my two boys, 12 and 14 years old.

Welcome Sweetmarie! I hope you love your 34 LRC as much as we love ours. There are times when I wish I had your engines though...our has 2 speeds: slow and stop.

The 34 Californian LRC has a versatile layout on a stable hull with a good reputation for being reliable and stout. If you ever find yourself cruising into Northern CA, come look us up on the CA Delta and SF Bay. We have a great time cruising and fishing our local waters.

If you're looking for info on your new boat, there's a wealth of information on Californians here on the Californian Builder's Forum.

What engines do you have in your boat? We do love the boat and find little that we want to change. In a perfect world I would have made the port staterooman upper and lower and the front v berth a double. I was just in your neck of the woods a couple of weeks ago. I will take you up on your offer next time we are up that way.

Welcome to the group. Our Californian 34 is located on the other coast in the Chesapeake. Great boats; love using ours; love working on it.

I went to your blog. You guys are lucky you have so many places for cruising. What cabin layout do you have?

Sweet marie said:

What engines do you have in your boat? We do love the boat and find little that we want to change. In a perfect world I would have made the port staterooman upper and lower and the front v berth a double. I was just in your neck of the woods a couple of weeks ago. I will take you up on your offer next time we are up that way.

Click to expand...

We have twin Perkins 4.236 85 HP. Reliable and efficient, but noisy and slow.

Al, you have almost the only boat I (with 80 HP pushing 28,000 pounds) can keep up with, but I have the feeling you aren't trying. Surely you can exceed my 7.3-knot maximum speed.

Yes, Mark, you're right. I'm not pedaling fast at my cruise of 7.5 Kts/2000 RPM. Max is 10-10.5 Kts at 2800 RPM.

If I shut down one engine, we'd have a pretty tight race.

FlyWright said:

Yes, Mark, you're right. I'm not pedaling fast at my cruise of 7.5 Kts/2000 RPM. Max is 10-10.5 Kts at 2800 RPM.

If I shut down one engine, we'd have a pretty tight race.

Click to expand...

Let's do that!
...
My sense is you want to save fuel so there are funds for the IPA.

Hell no...I'm counting on drinking your IPA! Bring it on, Cootie!!

FlyWright said:

Hell no...I'm counting on drinking your IPA! Bring it on, Cootie!!

Click to expand...

I already told you my girl friend's cousin's son drank the last IPA on board the Coot last weekend!