52' Californian

Generally speaking the Sea Ranger is a Taiwan boat that is under powered and has a rolly ride. The Californian is USA built with adequate horsepower and a decent ride. In either case your focus should be on condition of fuel tanks, running gear, mechanical and electrical systems. Beware of deferred maintenance. The hulls are solid glass, unless damaged there should be no inherent issues except blisters. House and decks are another story. Carefully check the decks for soft spots and the house for dry rot in the wood core especially around windows. All things being equal I would go with the Californian.

Covington/Detroit powered many a Californian. The Detroit stuff is still available but the after market Covington parts are not.
There are work a rounds to this. Have your engine surveyor keep an extra eye towards this during the pre-purchase routines.
Examples are; some of the sea water tubes were steel vs copper, to / from the heat ex-changer and in the closed cooling tubes and lines.

Convington 671TIBs are in the Californian we maintain.
The factory blocks were ordered and sent to Convington for their final marinizing / packaging. Then sent to the ships plant.
The better DD shops can still use the factory DD serial number from the block, tell you when it was mfg'd, what was ordered (w/wo exhaust manifold), rotation, starter & blower config and who it was delivered-sold to.

The ship we manage has no lower station. U shape dinette stb of the galley in it's place..
Same bridge . Alloy arch.
No cockpit. Large after master, 3 heads. Mid cabin stb before master with head port across hall way.
Laundry machines in second closet in this mid cabin.
Full size fridge where your laundry machine is. Near same galley after that.
Same skinny ass side doors.
20KW Kohler ahead of the stb main (under the U dinette). 4 split A/C units.
3 fuel tanks, one under the aft master bed with the potable water tank. #2&3 in the ER, out side of the mains. Not sure of tankage.
Those are not 3208s in the pictures.

Ours may be on the market soon in Jax FL.

LOL... It really is ridiculous. I never understood how that didn't figure that out at some point considering they built a TON of them ranging in length from 45' to 55' ...basically the same boat just stretched, with and without a cockpit.

Most were built using the Californian/Wellcraft/Carver hull. A few were built on the old trawler hull as is this one in HI. Regardless of that skinny side deck access they sold the bejeezus out of them and even though they're getting older they remain popular on the brokerage market.

There are a few of them out here in our area. Sadly, not been on any of them to compare.

I never cared for that layout with steps everywhere...especially from the aft deck to the saloon. I understand that you don't have much choice around 40' but once you get to 50' why not get a flush deck? Chris, hatteras etc. having the side decks, saloon, lower helm and aft deck on one level is such a better layout. And a knee saver