Postby voyagerfan » June 27th, 2018, 4:57 pm
Hi Jeff,
We own a 2000 Voyager 530, purchased used in 2007. Have done the Great Loop, Bahamas and many of the inland rivers with this boat and loved every minute of it. We have the Cummins 450C engines (now with 2400 hours) and they have been rock solid performers through the years. I know some owners prefer the larger Volvos, but we have never missed the extra 4 -5 mph that you might get at WOT with the Volvos. Just last month in calm water with little wind or current, a new bottom paint job, 75% fuel and water (and 10 years of accumulated stuff aboard) we did GPS-confirmed, 25 mph in our boat. You will find that unless you are planning on spending many hours in big water (large lakes/oceans, etc), the opportunities to get up on plane in this size boat are not very frequent - too many fishermen, docks, no wake zones, manatee zones, etc.
We have a full canvas/eisenglass enclose on our boat so can't comment on the hardtop. We spend about 80 - 90% of our time on the flybridge, but having the pilothouse to retreat to is especially nice in super hot, cold or windy weather. Our 13.5KW genset will run everything on the boat simultaneously if need be. We have 4 self-contained A/C units, one dedicated to just the master SR and it does a great job.
The Carver Voyagers are designed to be inland and coastal cruisers, but in over 1000 miles of open water cruising we never felt concerned for the safety of the boat - we had some uncomfortable hours holding on to things all day, but had no leaks, broken windows, structural failures, etc. The key is to not have so tight a schedule that you go out when you shouldn't.
Let me know if there is any other information I can provide you. I'm biased, but they're comfortable, reliable boats.
John
Thanks,
John
2000 Carver Voyager 530
Satisfaction
Grafton, Il