Closed cooling means the engines are filled with antifreeze and therefor protected from the evils of winter assuming the antifreeze is up to spec. The only thing the raw water does is cool the antifreeze via a heat exchanger which basically replaces the radiator on a car. I also have closed cooling however different engines but it does remain the same procedure. Most simply unscrew the strainer cover and pour the pink stuff into her while the engine is started and run. I went a step further and machined a new strainer cap with a barb style hose fitting on the end so I use a 5 gallon pail of the ink stuff connected with a hose to my machined cap and fire her up. That is it for the engines.

I've got my eyes on a boat in the Solomons, MD area and I'm looking for suggestions for a marine surveyor in that vacinity.

soooo i'm a bit confused as to what i should do i have a 86 Carver 3207.My aft desks non skid is full of cracks and a chip my forward deck and paint looks extra crappy when its wet, when its dry it looks white when its wet it has a yellowish brown color near the chain locker opening..... Should i Repaint everything?
The previous owner let it sit in the weather for the winter not shrink wrapped.
1.There is allot of oxidation all over the hull.
2. If i choose to paint the entire boat should i use the roll tip method or spray it?
3. The entire Deck just sucks, allot of cracks in the non skid, whats the best way to deal with this?or should i just put carpet and over it?
Has anyone ever painted using the roll tip method i'm curious if the finish is smooth?

It's been a while since I've been on here, so much going on but I continue to plug away at my boat project. I am currently building a complete new dash for my Carver 2687 and the plan is to do away with all the analog gauges. The plan is to use two Raymarine 7 inch Axiom displays. Is there a company out there that makes an Interface between older analog engine outputs to the new digital electronics?

This past weekend was the last weekend of summer. Fall is upon us. I along with some friends in their boat decided to head out to a local anchorage to spend the weekend. Temperatures were in the 80's both days and no rain was in the forecast so it was a good time to head out for a couple of days onboard.

I keep my boat at the Gibraltar Boat Yard in Gibraltar Michigan. My friends were at Humbug Marina just across the canal from my marina.

I got up at 8 AM and after a shower I headed over to the Gibraltar Grill for some breakfast. After breakfast I prepped my boat for departure. I saw my friends arrive at their boat so I cast off my lines and backed out of my slip. I motored out into the Detroit River and idled outside their marina while they prepped for departure.

While idling there I was listening to VHF radio conversations from Put in Bay and Middle Bass Island as boaters were calling in to each place seeking dockage for the day or the weekend. It is amazing how much you can pick up when you buy a good antenna. I installed this antenna on my boat last year after I replaced my VHF. For the record Put in Bay is 37 statute miles away from where I was located. All those conversations were clear as day, as if they were just a couple miles away. My friends still have the antenna that came with their boat and they did not hear any of the distant conversations.

I saw that they were close to departure so I throttled up to 1400 RPM and started heading out. Passing between Grosse Ile and Celeron Island I was putting along. They headed out from their marina and by the time I got to the Sugar Island/Grosse Ile cut they were alongside. After passing through the no wake zone I throttled up to 3300 RPM just to run the engines for a bit at a normal cruise. The boat performed flawlessly.

I reached a place we call the hole in the wall. It is where you can enter the Livingston Channel about midway in the length of the channel. I throttled back to 1600 RPM and slowly cruised up the channel. It was quite busy with many boats travelling either up channel or down.

I reached the north end of the channel and made the left turn to enter the Dunbar and Sullivan anchorage area. My friend had already dropped the anchor and were set waiting for me to pull up alongside and raft off them. I slowly motored over and pulled up alongside. We got the lines secured and were set for the duration.

I grabbed a bottle of Bacardi Rum and a bottle of TGIF Mudslide mix and crossed over into their boat. We polished off the bottle of rum and mix. Needless to say were were feeling pretty good by that time. As the day progressed many other boats pulled into the anchorage. Some of them were just there for the day but about 20 or so boats spent the night. We sat there watching boats arriving and departing. It was a busy shipping weekend as we saw many freighters traversing the waterway both upbound and down. I would say there were about 50 or so freighters that passed us during our time there.

About 9 PM I was pretty well blitzed out and could hardly keep my eyes open so I headed to my boat to go to sleep. About 2 AM I could hear a boat slowly motoring through the anchorage. I was kind of lazy so I laid there for some time. Well, my friends dog started growling so it woke them up. She headed topsides with a flashlight in hand. She said the boat came in with no lights and motored around the other raft of 18 or so boats then headed towards our 2 boat raft. She shined the spotlight into the guys face and he immediately took off at a high rate of speed still without any running lights. I gotta think he was casing the anchorage maybe looking for an opportunity to make off with something. My Honda generator was sitting outside on the aft end of my boat. So who knows what his intention was.

I went back to sleep finally awaking at 9 AM. I headed out topsides to another beautiful day. We stayed at the anchorage until about 2 PM. The other couple wanted to head for home so we broke up the raft and I headed down the channel and back through the hole in the wall.

As I was motoring downbound I saw a lot of boats anchored at the Cross Dike so rather than head immediately back to my marina I motored through the anchorage so see if I knew anyone there. I did see several boats from my marina. I then motored out into Lake Erie before turning west towards home. I, still not wanting to call it quits motored up the Detroit River to the Grosse Ile Free Bridge. Then I turned the boat south to head for home. I arrived back at my dock just before 4 PM.

It was a bit windy but I got safely back into my dock. This year I have really improved my skills handling this boat. My confidence is now high and I feel pretty good going out in windy conditions. My handling skills are now improved enough that I feel good heading out in less than ideal conditions.

This was a great way to end the summer. There is still a lot of great boating weather to come as fall boating in Michigan can be some of the best boating days of the season.



One of he other rafts.



This was the biggest raft of boats there over the weekend. There were about 20 boats in that raft.



Another group of boats.



Looking out onto Lake Erie on a beautiful late summers day.

I could not have asked for or hoped for a more beautiful weekend of boating.

Life is good when you have a boat.

My 1994 390 CPMY has twin 7.4 Merc Bluewater gas carbureted engines. Port has 1100 hours, Starboard has 40. Each has 160 degree thermostats. Under normal load, running at 3000 RPM's, 15 kts, both operate at 170 degrees. if I open I up to 3750, (NOT WOT)I will hit 180 -185. Both are pretty much the same temps, so they are even. What do you all operate at? Does this sound normal?

Hi all, I have a new problem popped up last week. Starboard side gear was stuck in neutral. Could not shift forward or reverse. After playing with it a bit, it started working fine. This week I tried while engine was off and could not shift. Port side is fine it clicks up, center and down without a problem. Starboard won't. At this point I am not sure it is the cable gone bad or where it is hooked up to on the engine side. Any ideas or input from anyone, next step I should do. I do not know much about mechanics of engine, so if you suggest something would appreciate it if you could be clear where on the engine I would check. Most likely I will have mechanic over, but if I can figure out hopefully I can save some money Until last week there were no problems. Last week it was a brief problem. this week I did not want to force it too much and end up with a bigger problem. This is on a carver 356 aft by the way with gas mercur engines.

Where can i find spiral staircase for my 3807

Morning from Racine. I have a 10 kw gennie with under water exhaust. It also has above water line port aft quarter exhaust outlet. No water comes out of the above water outlet. Is this normal? No evidence of overheating and exhaust is not hot to feel.

Also have about 3 inch port list. Any thoughts on reason or fix?

Thanks.

I have a 84 Carver 3607 with 454 Crusaders that I bought 3 months ago. I've notice a stronger than normal gas/exhaust smell lately after being away from the boat for a few days. I've thoroughly cleaned the already clean bildge and checked for any type of gas leak, there are none. When I checked the blowers, the 4" inch on the port side was blowing into the bildge while the starboard side is sucking out of the bildge. Both blower hoses go to the port side vent. Is this normal? It seems to me that each blower should suck out of the bildge vent to its respective hull vent. Any thoughts?? Thanks in advance!