Lefty wrote:
I was reading a coast guide on the trip ...
this one:

The Cruising Guide to Central and Southern California: Golden Gate to
Ensenada, Mexico, Including the Offshore Islands
by Brian M. Fagan

A good book, I've used it till mine is falling apart - may have to get a
new one. Brian Fagan is also an interesting guy. I enjoyed some
classes I took from him back when I was a student at UCSB in the early '70s.

What do you all think are good old boats for such a plan? I'm thinking
sub-30 feet to keep slips and aux expenses down.

Any number of them. To keep it chea... er, uh, as inexpensive as
possible (which the tenor of your note seems to indicate is a priority),
you'll be looking at boats from the 70's. By definition, these are
going to be rather high milage boats.

That's not inherently bad.

It just means that you're gonna have to look even more carefully at the
condition of the individual boat than you might otherwise. There's
prolly gonna be lots of PO (Previous Owner) upgrades and modifications.
The quality of this work will be all over the map.

Once you find some candidates whose layout works for you and are in
acceptable condition, it would be a big help if you could find a friend
who is knowledgeble about boats in this size range and have him look at
them looking for any problems (basically looking for the same things a
surveyor would). When they pass his check, you can then ask about known
problems that people might be aware of with specific make/models.

Pretty much any of the 27' - 30' production boats from that era will be
great for channel island trips. I'm partial to the Catalinas, probably
because I used to own a C30 and it worked great for my family of 4, but
at this stage, I wouldn't start looking for a specific make/model.
Instead, check out what's on the market in your area and see which ones
seem to work for you.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes - Dan