Some of the time when I go for a cruise, the Marine Air unit loses its prime. I can prime it with a hose connected to water at the dock. It tends to lose prime when cruising above 12 knots. Does anyone know what might be causing this.

After many years of boating with cuddies and small crusiers my wife and I just upgraded from a 1989 Chaparral Signature 23 to a 1995 Carver 325 AFT. We're so excited to have a boat we can be comfortable on for more than a day. We boat on Lake Lanier in Georgia. Spent the July 4th weekend at Sunset Cover there.

The boat was very well taken care of and has 2 new Crusader 350s with all new fixings (block, carbs, exhaust, shafts, etc...) that are still under warranty from a local marina, main AC replaced last year, fridge replaced last year, and various other smaller things replaced. The engines and gen run like a top! I'll send pics once I get some good ones.

I like to work on boats so I already have a number of projects in mind. As always, money and time will dictate if and when I actually do them.

Projects:
- Install inverter and house batteries
- Add Aft Deck Rail Skirts (is that what they are called?)
- Add Aft Deck Hardtop or Bimini
- Add Spreader Light
- Replace and add speakers, amp, etc...
- Install underwater lights
- Repaint bottom (1 to 2 years)
- Install misc. LED exterior lighting
- Install Windlass

The Crusader engine in my '78 Santa Cruz 2866 won't break 2100 RPM.

The good news- I don't need it to. We use the boat mostly as a floating lake camp. In the summer I work from it. At 1800 RPM's it runs 7.5 kts, which is fine for our cruising needs. When we want to go fast, we use a different boat.

The engine starts easily and runs fine. No stalling or misfires. No steam or smoke. No overheating. No 'milky' oil. We use 91 octane ethanol-free fuel.

I will have our marina mechanic check her out. I'd like to be able to ask some intelligent questions (or at least understand half of what he tells me).

My reading makes me guess a fuel restriction problem? Planning to check fuel lines, anti-siphon valves, and mechanical fuel pump, water separator and fuel filters, and clean carb.

What other questions should I be asking?

Thanks... JB

I am considering a purchase of a 1981 3007 aft cabin with 3.8 liter twins.
The engine hours are unknown:

Broker's Quote: "Unfortunately I have little idea of hours on the engines and the owner doesn't appear to have much of an idea either but the Hobbs meters indicate more hours than these engines physically show so I am guessing that at some stage, they have been rebuilt."

The boat looks good but my concern is with the older engines and finding replacement parts and the whole engine, if necessary. It looks like these engines will be hard to find parts for. I have done some searching online and find very little reference to them. I have not found a place to purchase new engines.

If the mechanical inspection is acceptable, I would expect at least several years of use, then, if an engine replacement is needed, I may have to repower with a different model engine. I suspect we would want to stay with gasoline engines.

I have seen a lot of reference to the 4.3 crusader engine. This is a V6 as well and there appears to be easy access to this model. I am hoping that the physical size difference would not be big enough to cause issues with engine room space. I assume that both engines are Chevy, the transmission would bolt up the same.

*Has anyone on this forum repowered a 3007?
*If so, what did you repower with?
*How did it go?
*Any recommendations?

Thanks

Does anyone know the bridge clearance for a 1998 Carver 355 with radar arch? I do have a radar so I will be adding that to the arch height. I have seen 17'6" as the bridge clearance, but I have also see 15', not sure what is right.

I am looking to take my boat up river and have a few bridges to get under so obviously this is critical.

Does anyone know how much fluid/what level I am supposed to fill the resevour at the helm? I opened it up this weekend to check and cannot tell what is considered full.

Has anyone found a way/lubricant that makes opening/closing the sliding door on a 355 any easier. While I appreciate its heft, my 1st mate and my guests constantly complain how hard it is to open/close.

We are looking at a 1981 3007 aft cabin and I have a lot of questions which I hope to find answers from this forum. Please bear with me as I ask what might seem to be simple questions.

**********

The unit we are looking for has a pair of V6 Crusaders based on the Pontiac 3.8 litre gasoline engines. Looking at the spec sheet it indicates fuel consumption to be about 1.5 Gals/hour at 6 MPH. (I assume this is US Gals) is this measurement per engine or 2 engines?

Our plans are to 'putter' up the coast, not cruise at higher speeds. Would it be more economical to use one engine a slightly higher RPM or 2 engines at low RPMs?

Is there any issues 'idling' the engines for extended periods of time, such as 8 hours a day during a slow cruise? If so, what would a minimum RPM to shoot for to mitigate these issues?

In my youth when we used to work on cars, we used to say thing like "Blow the carbon out of her". I don't really subscribe to this action, but there may be truth in it. Any suggestions?

Thanks

Peter

I read a comment in another post indicating it might not be possible to fish from an Aft Cabin model. Is this the case?

We want to cruise up and down the western BC coast from Vancouver to Alaska and of course fish as we go. I suspect we will want to do some prawning as well.

Is the roof of the aft cabin strong enough to support walking on?

There is a tender and I see the ladder to the swim step, so I assumed that there is walking area on the deck over the aft cabin. Is this the case?

Can I expect the swim step to be submerged under normal load and slow speeds?

We have not visited the boat yet so we do not have reference to what is actually there. The pictures we have are from an ad and the unit we are looking at has canvas around the rails, making it hard to see what is there.



Any and all feedback is gratefully accepted:

Thanks

Peter

I have been reading this forum with interest. There seems to be quite a bit of information on many models. I look forward to earning more and more.

I do have a question and hope for a quick answer. We have found a 1981 3007 Aft Cabin model and will be flying out to look at it. We will have it surveyed by a SAMS accredited surveyor before any purchase.

My question is in regard to the hull construction. Would this model year have a cored hull or all fiber class?

I have heard horror stories of cored hulls leaking, being water logged, etc.

I am always open to free advice and would appreciate any and all feedback!

Thanks for letting me join up!

Peter