43 Cockpit MY

Take a popular 38-foot motor yacht, add a cockpit and you end up with a more versatile and (usually) better-looking boat. That sums up the Californian 43 Cockpit MY, basically a Californian 38 MY with extra fuel and a 5-foot cockpit extension. While her profile shows a distinctive trawler-style bow, the 43 CMY is built on a conventional modified-V hull with hard aft chines and a shallow full-length keel. The standard cabin layout has the galley to starboard in the salon and a huge forward stateroom, while an optional galley-down floorplan opens up the salon considerably at the expense of a smaller guest stateroom—probably the preferred arrangement. The Californian’s rich walnut woodwork is well finished and a pleasant departure from the ubiquitous teak woodwork found in most 1980s motor yachts. The aft deck is particularly roomy, and there’s space in the cockpit swimming and diving, even some light-tackle fishing. A fiberglass hardtop was standard along with a transom door, bow pulpit, and swim platform. Cat 210hp diesels cruise the Californian 43 CMY at a leisurely 13–14 knots. Larger Cat or GM diesels were optional.