New Californian Owner-TODAY!

Hi there Californian owners!
Well today is the day. Our offer was accepted on a 1979 34' Californian out of Oceanside, CA named "Layla".

Now the fun begins! The boat survey revealed a few... items... Some of which I plan to do on my own with my son, some will require some professional help eventually. Nothing that totally prevents us from having some fun.

She will eventually need a new prop due to some chunks taken out of the port prop. The prop that needs replacement is labeled as 20LH20. I'm assuming that means 20" x 20deg pitch Left Handed. I found a similar prop online at Deep Blue Yacht Supply to try and get and idea of pricing.
https://www.deepblueyachtsupply.com/20-myt3-3-blade-bronze
You can specify a Cupping, but have no idea about that... any advice?

Any advice on where to buy? Should I go to a local shop?

Warm Regards,
-Dave D

Remove the props and take them to a local shop- best to have them tuned together. While the vessel is pulled, you may want to have the yard check the shafts, cutlass bearing, struts, etc., for damage.

Pau Hana said:

Remove the props and take them to a local shop- best to have them tuned together. While the vessel is pulled, you may want to have the yard check the shafts, cutlass bearing, struts, etc., for damage.

Click to expand...

+1. Take it to a shop that can scan them. Look up Prop Scan and find a local shop. They can get the very precise as to pitch. The prop is likely rebuildable. The 20L20 means that it is a 20” diameter left handed 20” pitch prop. The first number is the diameter and the second number is the pitch. Diameter is straight forward. Pitch is a theoretical number. It is the distance that the propeller would advance through a semi solid media in one revolution. So if there was no slippage (not possible) then the prop would move forward 20” in this case. Boats may have slippage from about 30% to as high as 90% in something like a tug.

Congrats on your new boat. Have fun and enjoy. And BTW, welcome aboard.

Welcome to TF.

We like pictures!!!

Welcome !

Lets see some pics !!!!!!

would love to see what you got

Here are a few pictures to start!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/gxBU9BHS8B7mNXgu6

Very nice boat!

Comodave said:

+1. Take it to a shop that can scan them. Look up Prop Scan and find a local shop. They can get the very precise as to pitch. The prop is likely rebuildable. The 20L20 means that it is a 20” diameter left handed 20” pitch prop. The first number is the diameter and the second number is the pitch. Diameter is straight forward. Pitch is a theoretical number. It is the distance that the propeller would advance through a semi solid media in one revolution. So if there was no slippage (not possible) then the prop would move forward 20” in this case. Boats may have slippage from about 30% to as high as 90% in something like a tug.

Congrats on your new boat. Have fun and enjoy. And BTW, welcome aboard.

Click to expand...

+1 With a past boat we needed to replace a prop due to electrolysis damage. We talked to our prop shop first. As it turned out they had a perfectly fine used prop for us at a fraction of the price of a new one, we sent the old pair and had the new pair tuned for less than the cost of a "new" single prop.

Always have your props checked/tuned in pairs; make sure they are balanced and vibration free.

Cupping is an option they can do with (not sure if all) props that adds a curl on the trailing edge and can change the effective pitch of the prop. Before going to your prop shop to talk about tuning your props, track data on your engine / boat performance. They can help analyze if cupping might be an option. If the boat already works great, cupping might change it for the worse. Be sure to look for an experienced prop shop with quality equipment to do this work for you....(but, as to the comment above about your props being matched/tuned together, don't go buy one that is cupped if your existing props are not.)

And also +1 on checking the rest of the running gear...I would be concerned about how the chunks came up missing from that prop and what other minor flaws might be there, such as a shaft out of true.

NICE!!! No teak on the walkway a good plus...Enjoy. Thanks for sharing.

Pau Hana said:

Remove the props and take them to a local shop- best to have them tuned together. While the vessel is pulled, you may want to have the yard check the shafts, cutlass bearing, struts, etc., for damage.

Click to expand...

About 2 years ago we had our props scanned. One blade on each was way out of true. Ours were 24x24s. We had them tune the props up and change the pitch to 23 1/2” from the 24”. We lost some vibration just from doing that. The shop provided both before and after scans so we could see how much better they are now. It cost $800 for each prop.

4 Blade

I just purchased 4 blade nibrel 22 x 26
1.5" shafts
Twin 225HP JD with 2:1 gears
JD Rated Max RPM 2,600
Clean bottom, calm seas, light wind.
600 rpm 4.5 kts
1,000 rpm 6.8 kts
1,200 rpm 7.9 kts
1,500 rpm 9 kts
2,100 rpm 14.6 kts
2,300 rpm 17.5 kts cruise
WOT 2,700 rpm 23 kts *100 rpm over max

Replace 3 blade 22 x 26