Californian Yachts for Sale

Jule Marshall and Myrna Elliott started Californian in southern California in 1972, under the Marshall Boat Company, with a simple pitch: a trawler yacht built in the United States at a price that could stand against the boats coming out of Asia. Marshall drew the hulls and superstructures, using a semi displacement bottom and more horsepower than a traditional trawler, and Elliott did the interiors in light mahogany rather than the heavy teak everyone else used. The 42 Long Range Cruiser arrived in 1976 and ran for nine years. Ownership then moved around: Wellcraft Marine bought the company in the early 1980s, Marshall bought it back a few years later, and it went on to Carver. Marshall founded Navigator Yachts at Perris, California in 1988, brought the Californian name back under that roof, and Navigator Yachts and Products builds and sells both brands today.

Most Californians on the market are 1970s and 1980s boats, roughly 34 to 55 feet, and what you are buying is a fast, light, comfortable motor yacht rather than a heavy displacement passagemaker: the semi displacement hull will cruise faster and burn more than a full trawler, so judge the fuel figures on that basis. They suit a couple who want three or four cabins worth of volume and a lot of glass, in coastal cruising, at a price no modern boat of that size approaches. Age is the whole survey: original diesels and generators, tanks, teak decks where fitted, window and deck core leaks, and wiring. There is no factory that built those boats still standing, but the name did not die and did not get sold to a stranger: it went back to the man who started it, and Navigator at Perris still builds Californian models, which is a better position for parts and knowledge than most defunct brands leave a buyer. Do not assume they hold the paperwork for a 1979 hull, though. Ask first.