Carver Owners Forum

RGrew176 wrote:Source of the post I really enjoy following your story here. I think I will be just as happy as you when you launch. We all can learn much from you as you progress with your refurbishment of your yacht.

Thank you! Launch, heck I'll be happy to hear it run!

I don't know how much you guys will learn from me but I am trying to document it as thoroughly as possible for myself and future 350 Mariner owners. I'm actually really surprised at how much information there is out there directly from Carver. I have pretty much every manual and brochure I could find saved on my computer.

In the next couple days I plan on attempting to pull the port side fuel tank out and spend some time cleaning the bilge as well as pull the port side prop and shaft off.

Great you are in Florida you can get this work don.... here is what my Mariner looks like at the moment... LOL

anothernewb wrote:Source of the post He didn't say anything about the bend creeping back so I dunno.....

Before you get them to straighten the shaft, ask if they will warranty against it springing back even a little. If they won't, you have your answer on whether it's likely to happen or not.

Fuel Tank: Round 2

Broke out the Sawz-All with a 12" metal blade. After cutting this section out, the tank practically pulled itself. It's too bad Carver didn't have these tanks made with a bevel in them to begin with. The inside was completely empty aside from what looked like mud from a mud dobber's nest. There wasn't much corrosion inside at all. In total I found 4 pin holes that I picked into pencil holes. Two of them you couldn't even see until I started poking around. Right now the tank is at the welders getting a new bottom put in and where I cut boxed in. I might loose a couple gallons of capacity but I can live with that since the starboard tank was built 6 inches shorter when it was replaced.


Flipped on it's side


Dad for size comparison. The tank is 76 inches long.






Here's the 4 offending holes.



This project should start snowballing pretty soon. My propshafts come back from the shop this week and the fuel tank will be done in a couple days. Once I have those I'll order motors and start cleaning and painting engine brackets. Optimistically I'd like to have the boat in the water at the end of the month. Realistically, probably middle of next.

Wow you have had a pretty big project! The boat will be worth it in the end. This is a very comfortable boat and a joy to drive.

Warning. if you turn over the engine using the damper wheel bolt you run the risk of snapping off the bolt (very easy to do) then you have to pull the engine to pull the crank.

Agree about using the crank bolt. I always pull the dampener and use a crank shaft socket to turn the engine over when needing to do this.

I think this saga left off with me dropping my fuel tank off at a "welder" and having it repaired. I'll skip the $600 lesson and show you my brand new tank.




Sunshine Welding in Cape Canaveral built it for me and I must say they did a wonderful job. On the advice of them, I painted the bottom of the tank in an aluminum primer containing zinc chromate to prevent any future corrosion on the bottom. On top of that I just did a flat black top coat.

Since the tank was out I wanted to paint the wood platform that it sets on. It didn't take long to realize that starting from scratch was the best course of action.

The Old



The New



I liberally applied Kilz sealer/primer and some white topcoat to it and reinstalled it. I'm cleaning from the outside in so don't mind the blige where you can see it.



Had the Garmin 4212 looked at by a guy and to my relief it works perfectly fine so I have a power supply issue somewhere. So far it's coming together exactly like a boat should, twice as long and three times as much money. My time estimate to splash down is 3 weeks. I said that three weeks ago so I'm right on schedule.

I HAZ MODORZZZZ!!!!!!!!

Thats right, after months of tearing stuff apart I am finally going back together. Motors were sourced from http://www.marinepowerusa.com . Top notch service. Ordered on Friday, had them Tuesday morning. These are brand new, off of GM's assembly line motors that have been marinized with marine head gaskets, water pumps, casting plugs and a flywheel for top mount starters. It also included a harmonic balancer and crank position sensor though I won't be using the sensor.



The owner of the marina I'm at was nice enough to let us use a whole other slot beside my boat for a work station. It's not the most organized set up but we worked pretty efficiently with what we had.



With the help of my first mate/bilge rat we went to work cleaning and painting everything before bolting it back on. Any hardware that could be replaced was, I bet I have $100 in just miscellaneous nuts and bolts.



After two solid days of work this was the result. From 20 feet away the motor looks brand new. It's hard to get the wiring harness and hoses looking as good as the rest of it but those are things that can slowly be replaced later on once I'm in the water.

After much begging at 4pm, we were able to get a forklift to come over and drop the motor into the hull for us. I know I should be feeling some relief but everytime I do I'm reminded that I have to do everything I just did, all over again.



If I keep saying that I'll be in the water in 3 weeks, I'll eventually be right. So far I have one more big parts order to put in and I should be ready to start detailing it and get her in the water. At least I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Good work!