Hello fellow boaters. I have a mid 80s 32 ft Carver. It's a twin inboard with two stringers running between an aft and midship bulkhead. Engines attach to the stringers in that region.

No signs of structural stress, but moisture levels in the stringers and midship bulkhead are about 29 pct. Drilled some exploratory holes in the vicinity of the infamous limber holes. Soft wood. Not exactly rotten, but soft. Core sample I took revealed it is plywood. As I get farther from the limber holes, the moisture readings are pretty similar, but core samples are drier and more solid. So despite the moisture readings, there are clearly differences in the actual condition at different areas. Near the engine mounts and where stringers join the bulkhead all seems solid.


So my question....


Replacing the stringers is too big and expensive a job for a 25k boat. And seems unnecessary since after 35 years the boat has no sign of structural failure. This is something that has been happening since day one, and there are a lot of these boats still in the water leading happy lives.... But I do want to improve the integrity of the stringers. Here are options I'd like to ask those of you who are experienced experts for your feedback.


Option 1. Drill and fill method.

Drill bunch of holes in the stringers and fill with epoxy.

Pros: easy and cheap

Cons: doesn't really so the job for the poorer areas

Option 2. Wood sistering.

Sister the stringers with additional marine plywood on both sides, bolt and epoxy to the original stringers.


Option 3. Steel reinforcement.

Fabricate a Pi (greek character) shaped galvanized steel frame to fit over the area where the bulkhead and two stringers join together. Bolt and epoxy through the original bulkhead and stringers.


I'm inclined to believe 3 is the best option -- for someone like me who likes improving upon the engineering of others that is . But my experience with a matter such as this is admittedly zero, so I am requesting some more experienced perspectives from this excellent forum.


Thank you, John

We purchased a 2004 Carver 444 last year. Looking to add a dinghy lift on the swimboard. There are already some cleats on there, but not sure if they were for a dinghy lift? Please see photos. If anyone can tell me what they think these are for, I'd appreciate it. (We bought it from the second owner and he couldn't tell us what they were used for. We did figure out the St.Croix, but they no longer make the parts) I'm guessing we will not be able to use the existing hardware, so I'd appreciate any other dinghy lift recommendations. We have a 10 ft dinghy with 8 hp motor. We'd like to leave the motor on the dinghy for transport. We want to have room to enter or exit the boat while the dinghy is lifted, so need to leave room for that. And once dingy is in water we would not want it to block swimboard. Not sure if it makes a difference, but we use in salt water. Some that I found were by Dinghy Caddy and Roskelly Olsson ST 275. If anyone has an experience with these I'd appreciate feedback. Price is a big factor and would love to find a less expensive option versus the Dinghy Caddy and Olssen. Also, does anyone have any experience with dinghy slings? I realize we would have to store the engine separately but curious about others experience. Thank you!

Gents,

After my STBD transmission quit working early last year due to the packing within failing, the time has come to repair. After having a technician come out and look at it, he said that the only way to service it was to remove the motor as there is no room to pull the transmission out. I mentioned to him that if I made an access hatch in the inside of my cabin, can he do it that way. He replied that he can. My question for you is has anyone made an access hatch in the inside of their cabin to service the transmission? Is it just fiberglass in that area or plywood as well. Looking at it from the engine compartment, there is a bunch of green insulation there. Any helpful information you can provide will be great. BTW is a 1989 Carver Mariner 32 with twin Mercruiser 350’s with borg Warner v drives.

I have teh original A/C pump circa 1994. Work great but i know the days are limited How big a pump is needed or do you have for twin units, a 12K and a 16K? Both run off the same raw water. Pump

Just purchased a 1989 48 foot Californian\Carver Aft Cabin Motor yacht. Vessel is equipped with two 85 gallon saddle tanks in the engine room and one 350 gallon tank under the main bedroom bed. The previous owner only used the two 85 gallon saddle tanks. The attached photo shows, i assume, the valving required to feed from the main tank. What is the proper valve positions required to feed from the main tank? Are there any other valves in the engine room required to be set to feed from the main tank? Also how does this work? Does the main tank fill the the two saddle tanks so that the engines only obtain fuel directly from the saddle tanks?

I’ve been headed down the path to owning a 450 Voyager Pilot House. The survey is today, sea trial next month.
This site looks like a must to get information.
My first trip will be to bring it from Chicago to Duluth Mn about 800 miles, this spring.
Owen

Pretty cool.

Hey all, I have two (fore and Midships) bilge pumps that I think are dead. With spring here and summer on its way, I want to be sure I have all of this critical equipment working. Have any of you replaced the 2000 GPM pumps? Is there a model you recommend? Is the Rule Mate 2000 GMP Automatic pump a good one?

Thanks all

Thanks In advance! I just Bought a carver 35 mariner and I want to know if anyone has ever put a washer and dryer in? I just bought a mini black and decker dishwasher that you just fill the redo out and drain it in the sink through a hose.

I want a washer and dryer..

Not sure if my old eyes are deceiving me but Georgian bay ice seemed further down this past month and Lake Ontario has more beach evident.......hmmm, here we go again....