Hello Fellow Members,

New to boating, bought me a 1996 455 Aft Cabin last year in October. Made the mistake of trucking her from Wilmington to Chattanooga, hindsight is 20/20 of course. Other than a lot of pains related to getting her here, she is a great boat. She is my first boat, go big right! Love boating, love tinkering, looking forward to more time on the water.

Looking forward to sharing with the fellow members.

Happy Christmas!

Rich

I've been riding Harley's over 40 years and in fact am the co-founder of a very nice (if I do say so myself) on-line Harley community forum. I won't name it so it doesn't look like I'm here to promote my bike site. I mention it because I want to point out how aware I am of the potential helpfulness and camaraderie found on sites where people are gathered with a similar passion!

I'm new to boating. Always wanted a boat but there were always other bills to pay and boating is an expensive hobby, that I knew from the many friends who gave it up as a result over the years!

But now, at age 60, I'm feeling like it's "now or never" and opted for "NOW!"

I did some homework, looked at a LOT of boats, decided on a budget and the style of boat my wife and I both liked, and the result is our recently acquired 1991 Carver 3807 Aft Cabin, a one owner boat who took delivery new with gas engines and genny but immediately pulled them and installed new Cummings diesels and Westerbeke diesel generator. For some reason he had to replace the port block about 50 hours ago, but the boat has about 1100 hours total on the rest of the vessel, about 1/2 that amount on the genny.

We got a survey done, and as a result, there was a lot of "deferred maintenance" discovered that resulted in about a 15K repair bill to the sellers, which they paid to get the deal done.

Aside from the large bill to give the boat a clean bill of health mechanically, it's had NO upgrades and/or improvements cosmetically, and while it's "clean" and doesn't look like it's been abused in any way at all, it sure could use a fresh and modernized interior.

That's where I am hoping you guys can give me some advice!

I'm spending about 12K as we speak on a Garmin 7215 and with a few extra gizmos (new radar,VHF AIS combo radio, digital sounder, transducer, back-up cams) to tie into it's network, so the electronics will be made current.

But the salon has the same furniture and carpet it was delivered with in '91, and it looks clean but tired. The problem of course is how to get new stuff into that tiny little doorway. I know the sofa comes apart but we haven't been able to find ANYTHING new that will go back in. Advice? I suppose we could have what's there reupholstered but that cost is high enough to buy new furniture, IMHO. If we can find any! We also want to change out the floor covering, at least in the salon....my wife likes the look of hardwood floors, I can live with new carpet.....thoughts?

Another question......

We had my new best friend, the mechanic who did all the work to make the deal happen for the sellers, do some additional work for us and he's installing all the electronics, and he also had a stairway built on the dock so we can walk up and step onto the side of the boat, avoiding climbing the ladder on the swim platform at the back. I've seen a few boats like mine retro-fitted with a spiral stairway but haven't been able to fInd anyone who sells them. Any advice on this? We'd sure like to get rid of that ladder for the times we'll dock somewhere other than our home marina where the stairs are now built and securely attached.

I'd appreciate any and all advice you Carver owners can offer with respect to my questions and any other thoughts you may have, especially any specific to my model. I had three sea trials on it before we did the deal and shortly after that we winterized it, so I have literally had ZERO time at the helm to just enjoy it! We're excited about it and can't wait for Spring, which seems a hundred years away right now in 19 degrees of bitter cold and ice and snow in my driveway!

Looking for some experience on prop selection for my 466 in fresh water. I previously ran the boat in saltwater where WOT was about 2655 rpm @ 26 mph. The props have recently been reworked (28 x 28) and are very smooth running, however I am not seeing the speed that I have seen on the specs for he 466 of 32 mph with 1-2 foot seas. Since we hve moved the boat to fresh water my WOT is around 2450 rpm and my speed is only around 23 mph. Now I understand this isn't a speed boat, but I am looking for optimal fuel efficiency and performance.
I have heard that you may have to drop two pitch sizes to achieve the proper WOT. If anyone has input on this I would sure appreciate it. Also FYI, I am running the Volvo 74 TAMD's
480 HP, and they appear to be running well. Thanks

Hello everyone,

Just would like to say this a good forum to share experiences with similar boats. My wife and I are very avid boaters and purchased a 2001 Carver 466 MY recently. We also have a Formula 419 Fastech with triple Mercury Racing 500 EFI's. Both of our boats are on Lake Travis in Texas. So far we have really enjoyed the Carver with the room and amentities. We have both been boating for over 30 years. The cruiser scene is new to us, but I know we are going to like it.

Does anyone know if the 96 355 has one reverse rotation motor?

We own a 2003 Carver 564. Yacht has four ac/heat air handlers in the main cabin. All operate of a single raw water pump. We have two compressors in the engine room. Is it normal for the water pump and subsequently the compressors to come on only if the main salon is calling for heat. When the forward cabin and master cabin calls for heat, the compressor does not come on until the main salon compressor comes on.

Here in N Texas we are having a 5 day typical north pole comes in once or twice a winter event. My 2000 Mariner 350 has engine compartment heater on the panel. Question is whether to turn this on when I will not be able to get to the boat for 2 or 3 days.
TXS mkrouse

Can someone share with me the best way to access the lines under the aft cabin floor to service or replace septic lines. We are at a loss to find where smells are coming from. The vac flush in the forward cabin is fine but the conventional toilet in aft is a problem. Other wise the 396 is a great boat. Thanks George

I am a new member to this board. Purchased an 1986 Carver 3207 Aft Cabin in May. The boat is located at Fell Point, Baltimore, MD. As a new boat owner, I anticipate having many question for this site. Thank you.

I just read in one of our industry news outlets, that Carver is launching a 37 Coupe by end of 2013! I am really excited to read this as I think they should have never retired the Montego (and Santego) boat models...but enhanced and redesigned accordingly. I have no idea how it looks, but am VERY excited to read this news. I had an inkling about this coming when I talked to one of the factory reps about express boats, and he said..."you never know what might happen"