Hi Folks,

I was wondering if anyone who owns a mid-late 80s mariner has diagnosed or delt with cracks below the sliding glass door? Does this area tend to rot?



Thanks!

Just purchased a 2002 Carve r 396 diesel. It's in great condition. There is no carpeting up on the bridge. Where can I get replacement carpeting? Any i go would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

Are the screws that hold the handrails wood or machine w/a nut?

Hi All
Just got this boat working through a full service & general shake down for the glorious UK summer will may get for about 3 days this year

Anyone got any specific things i need to check / sort that isnt part of the normal servicing etc ?

Thanks

Newbie question: I've recently acquired a 1989 Carver 3207 (aft cabin) powered by twin Crusader 350s. What is the estimated planing speed for this boat? It cruises nicely at 8 knots and can do ~25 knots at 4,000 rpm. But at top speed I can sit there and watch the fuel gauges drop! At what speed can I first go up on plane before watching my fuel consumption go through the roof?

So, here is an abridged version of the story. My significant other(I'll call her my wife for ease of spelling) and I bought a boat in the last few days of summer last year, a 1995 Carver 330 Mariner from a, I'll just call him a "salesman" in Toms River, NJ. The survey was average for a boat of her age and the sea trial was deemed acceptable. So after a couple of weeks, I recruited a crew from work which included a licensed captain. We set off on a beautiful morning with the tide on our way to Chesapeake City, MD. We had a few small minor issues along the way but nothing the three of us couldn't handle. Did I mention all three of us are helicopter mechanics? We made it down the coast of NJ. It handled Barnegat inlet with ease... 6-8 foot waves, no problem. And good people, I tell you my new chariot was running great! Somewhere north of Atlantic city, with me at the helm I noticed fluctuating RPM's on the port engine. We incorrectly diagnosed this as seawater being ingested into the engine from a leaking exhaust elbow. We attempted repairs, but never got the engine restarted. As many of you know, maneuvering a twin screw boat on one engine can be tricky. Try doing it on a boat that is underpowered on one engine in open ocean... and well you can see where I'm going. We were pushed a little closer to the beach than any reasonable person in a boat of this size should be, to make a long story a little shorted we ran aground... three times. Maybe it was just one grounding and three sand bars... either way. Fast forward to today. It turns out it wasn't the engine at all it was the transmission. It developed a leak somewhere along the lines and basically seized up. So I'm out about $20,000 for repairs on a boat I paid $30k for, and I don't trust the boat anymore. I want to sell it. The wife says we spent so much we may as well keep her! I want to take it out to pasture and shoot to put it out of my misery!
This is my third boat. I traded in a 2004 FourWinns 248 Vista. I absolutely loved that boat, but we just out grew it. So my question is: What would you do? Is the wife right? Or, should I cut my losses and move on? I know I'm the only one who can answer this question, but, I'm interested in other opinions and thoughts.

Shore Cables. I sold my 405 so I no longer need these cables. The were custom made by Ward Electric in November of 2016.
They have only been used in our marina, and only for a few months.

To be clear, there are two 12' cables in this set.

If you need a short set of cables to use while "in marina" these worked great for us.

They were $1200 new but my loss will be your gain. If you are interested, make me an offer using this forum or give me a call/text at 615-579-8359.

Thanks,

405Driver

I've owned my 1985 Carver 2667 for 18 years (260 Mercruiser) and I still feel unsure about some things.

1/ If I turn while going forward at idle, it leans outward in a distressing way. It can also tip rather dramatically from strange currents, a following sea, and people moving about. I would assume this is merely the initial stability being poor and that after going over so far, it would tend to want to right itself. I hope that's the case, however when moored, I can stand on the gunwale with no apparent movement of the boat. How worried should I be? Has one of these boats ever tipped over? Maybe when on the bridge it just feels worse than it is?

2/ Although the tippiness described above is disconcerting, I have another worry. When I first got the boat I decided to see how fast it would go and after a little bit I hit 40 mph or maybe a bit under. I was scared to breathe... scared to blink... I had this feeling that the boat would fall to the side, either to the port or starboard side of the bow. Since then I tend to cruise around 12 mph. What's really going on here? Is it unsafe at that speed, and if so, what's a reasonable limit? I'm thinking of reducing the propeller pitch to limit the top speed to something safer.

3/ This is a minor one.... while cruising at low speed, say 5 mph, the bow wanders back an forth a bit. I think I did try lowering the trim tabs at one point, but can't remembers if it helped very much. Maybe raising the outdrive at the same time would help? From other boating forms, it appears that many people think lowering the trim tabs helps keep the bow down to help with this issue, while I tend to think it just evens out the natural drag of the boat from side to side. Doing that and then lifting the bow might be better. Ever row a boat with someone in the front and no-one in the back? It's all over the place. Anyway, any suggestions for me?

Now although all the above sounds bad, I really like the boat. It has the features I like and is small enough I could afford it and can afford maintenance even though I do most of it myself. It suits me perfectly other than I don't' trust it's seaworthiness all that much. Mind you, I did get caught in open sea where the swells came up. Front 1/3 of boat airborne heading into it and the bow pulpit just skimming the water before the boat started to rise again. Wipers on even though there was no rain, just massive spray. Fortunately I managed to get in the lee of an island and then headed up the river for calmer waters. Yes, I steered from below during the craziness. But the boat handled it well.

My boat was bought new (not by me) in august of 1998 for just under 350k A lot of money for the time, which would now buy you a nice 30' center console.

Anyway, if you look at the dates on the invoice, you will see the aux fuel tank failed and was replaced in just under three years time. I believe these boats only had a one year warranty for this type of item. I know I would not have been happy with a 4k invoice on a 3 year old boat. Hopefully they used a better tank when it was replaced. As of last season it works fine.

Also, the original owner told me they pretty much disassembled the aft state room and removed the tank from inside the boat.

I forgot to post this pic in the fall. Towards the end of last season my starboard motor would run a bit hot during longer cruises at 3200 -3400 so I figured it was time for an impeller.

After removal and back flushing this is what was left.
All of the bolt heads and the wear plate had the original untouched paint so I believe it was original from 1998. I would think they should last a bit longer than 18 years?