Carver Owners Forum

I recently inherited a 1998 Carver 355 Aft Cabin that is cosmetically in excellent shape. The fiberglass is great. The wood and interior is flawless after wiping off a little mildew. The fridge used to be cold on 3 but now needs turned all the way up. The two AC units have rust in the pans and one doesn't seem to be as cold as the other. The Kohler generator won't stay on all the time but works fine when it does. I'm planning on taking it to a a service center in Cincy this fall and was thinking about just replacing everything: 2 AC/Heaters, fridge, water heater, and anything else that is not 100% perfect working condition. Also thinking about having the new seadeck stuff put in the interior in lieu of carpet and snap on seadecking on the exterior. Also it needs all new canvas but I wish I could somehow put a hard top on with plexiglass sliding windows instead. I would welcome any thoughts. Does this retrofit sound like a good plan or are there other options?

sounds like alot of money if your replacing everything you mentioned. But if you inherited it for nothing then that's another story I guess. I think evaluating each systems condition before shotgunning the whole thing might be consideration. Best of luck whatever you do.

Did you get a survey done? If not, I would have the bones checked first before I spent money on incidentals that might leave me short on cash for structural repairs like soft decks or swim platform. And while not a structural concern, I'd want to address osmosis if it were present. After ensuring she is structurally acceptable, then I'd focus on the items you mentioned. Whether you have them all done at once or over time while enjoying her really depends on your personal preference and wallet.

By the way, you might want to have the aft/aux fuel tank checked before you fill and use it if that feature is available on her. A good surveyor will visually inspect all the fuel tanks but recommend they be pressure tested.

Keep us posted.

Finally getting this project going. Ordered new AC/heaters and replacing the water heater and shower sumps.

Good luck keep posting your progress..

If your main AC is under the dinette take some pictures of how you got that thing out of there! I'm contemplating installing a new quieter one, but I can barely reach the thing let alone disconnect it to try to pull it out of that little hole!