My question is, what maintenance/preventative maintenance if any needs to be done to these. As far as I know they have never been touched since new. No leaks whatsoever.

I’m not happy with my current inlet hose for sea water to the raw water pump. You can see from the (badly sketched) picture below what I’m dealing with.



Carver put the seacock just slightly to port from center and the pump is a little further to starboard from center. It used a molded hose (which I can’t identify) from the seacock to position “X” where the was a bronze coupler and from there to the water pump was a corrugated rubber hose that made the 180 degree bend. It kinked easily although I never seemed to have any overheating. The molded hose had seen better days as well, so I decided to replace them.

I got two hoses that fit from an auto-parts store but they are radiator hoses, probably upper ones as there is no coiled wire inside to prevent collapsing. I doubt they would collapse under normal use, but when I flushed the system with fresh water from my garden hose, it couldn’t keep up above an idle and I saw the seacock hose collapse. I also used a PCV coupler as the bronze one wouldn’t fit. I’m not sure why that was as everything seemed to be 1, ¼” hose. I don’t trust the PVC as it may degrade due to temperature extremes when the boat is stored for the winter.

Looking at the sketch, points “A” to “B” is in the horizontal plane and from “C” to “D” is in the vertical plane. “X” is where the coupler is.

Is there suction hose available that is flexible to make all these bends? Is there a 1, ¼” 180 barbed bronze U-tube to make the 180 degree bend? Should I replace the straight barbed fitting on the seacock with a 90 degree barbed fitting? Basically, I am open to any suggestions that doesn’t involve moving the seacock.

Any thoughts? Thank-you.

I thought I was smart and bought a Sea Flush funnel (seaflush.com) and now I see that there are no sea strainers on the raw water line coming into the boat. That makes this fancy funnel thingie all but useless for winterizing the engines. (should work ok for the AC and generator I hope)

So I have been scratching my head about winterizing for a week now and have to get on it because my pull out date is fast approaching.

The 1988 Santego has closed cooling, so the system works like this (I think The raw water comes in and goes straight to the Walter V-Drive and from there it goes to the transmission cooler on the way to the water circulator, where it goes through the engine heat exchangers and then out the exhaust.

I have read through the Walter info and the engine manual and there are suggestions to pull and drain everything. I was thinking rather than go through all that, can I not plumb in two Perko Flush Pro gizmo's into either raw water intake and then use the engine to draw antifreeze through everything and just leave it?

What do you guys think?

Marina tells us that we need the coolant replaced in our Volvo diesel 370 engines as currently the antifreeze protection is at -25 & -28...How many hours of labour should it take to replace coolant in both engines...Also, how many litres of coolant does each engine take..Thx..

At the helm there are 4 fuel gauges representing the 4 fuel tanks. 2 are on the dash gauges and 2 are above the "regular gauges" and are separate gauges at the top of the helm by themselves (one on each side above the steering wheel).
Which gauges refer to what tank? I am looking at purchasing a 2005 444 and can't seem to find the answer.

Sad, but what a summer!!! Thought I would share some photos with you guys.......

As part of the renaming ceremony for our new boat we have to remove the painted name on the stern. I’ve seen a video using EZ OFF oven cleaner. What do the experts here say? The name is being changed from Rememberance to Agradecido. Hopefully Neptune and Poseidon will approve.

The end is near. My 2018 season is just about done. Wednesday was the beginning of the end. I traveled to the boat to remove some of the things I bring home for the winter. Today, Thursday, weather permitting I will travel over to the fuel dock and fuel up and pump out. I will take a short run up the river and back to burn off a bit of the fuel as I don't want to leave the tanks completely filled.

Got a late start launching at the end of June but all in all it was a good season. Before she gets wrapped up in her cocoon for the winter I have a few things yet to do. I winterize my fresh water system, head and holding tank and the shower sump. The engines and A/C-heat I leave to the pros.

A few more things to take home and then start counting down to spring launch. Hoping to haul out around or about November 1st.

I am new to the forum and I just wanted to throw this out there for some feed back. I am very interested to find out what the typical fuel burn/speed over water ratio was for vessels similar to mine. Last year I took delivery of a 2006 Carver 44 CMY that is powered by twin Volvo Penta D6, 370 Hp. diesels. I went cruising on Georgian Bay for two weeks and I had an opportunity to run her on plane for hours on end, going from port to port. The maximum WOT for these engines is 3600 RPM's. I ran her on plane in the area of 3000 to 3100 RPM's. I found that I was averaging 20 miles an hour +-. I found that I had to trim the vessel "full bow down" to get to this speed and I felt that I would like to be able to bow down more as the aft seemed to be dragging to me. My fuel burn at this rate registered 30 GPH (American) on the EVC fuel flow meter.

When I left on the trip I was full of fuel both Port and Starboard, including the aux. tanks. I started burning the Aux. tanks first and at the above RPM I was getting 18.5 miles an hour. As the fuel burned and the weight became less, the vessel performed better, as expected. I have now decided to keep the Aux. tanks at 1/4 capacity to keep the weight down. I am interested to hear what other Carver 44 CMY, or similar, owners are experiencing under similar conditions. I have been told that these vessels are known to be heavy in the "aft" end, but I thought the extended hull under the cockpit would help get it out of the water. Thanks in advance. Looking forward to your responses.

Was winterizing and went to drain the water heater. As usual I opened the drain valve and pulled the manual relief valve flap. No water was draining, nada, maybe a drop here and there at best. Found the manual relief valve handle to be very stiff so I unscrewed the valve, still no water, WTF. Shoved my finger into the hole only to find a bunch of oxidation crystals. Had to unscrew the water inlet line which did nothing and finally unscrewed the outlet which did the trick allowing the tank to empty. Figured the tank must be jam packed with oxidation crystals (aluminum corrosion)

Options....... remove tank, replace relief valve, remove heater element and try to wash out the corrosion/crystals. How long will it continue to function not knowing the depth of the corrosion before it springs a leak? Another thing I found out is you can buy an OPTIONAL magnesium sacrificial anode that would protect the tank form corrosion Of course this is not supplied when purchasing. Read this. http://www.onboardwithmarkcorke.com/on_ ... art-2.html

Looking at new tanks it does say this in the literature. "To protect against galvanic corrosion and extend tank life, use of a magnesium anode is highly recommended."

Bottom line is if you have a drain valve you most likely do not have an anode as the optional anode replaces the drain valve which requires removal to empty the tank since you no longer have a drain valve. Did find this though that has a valve built into the anode http://www.suremarineservice.com/Galley ... 1496661821 Will modify it by removing the petcock (valve) and replacing with a 1/4 turn ball valve and hose barb fitting so I can drain to shower sump like it was set up from the factory.

After 11 years of service I decided it is a good time to replace the tank and get an anode for long term protection being I have all winter to shop for a great deal.