Carver Owners Forum

Been doing mostly things behind the scenes like rewiring and plumbing. Miles of wiring removed that wasn't doing anything. Relocating things to suit me better and make it easier to winterize. Been mostly enjoying her though instead of working at it all the time. Have a big wish list but one thing at a time, I'm in no hurry and we're enjoying her the way she is anyway.

That's what it's all about, enjoyment. I've got things I need to address on my Carver too. I will get to them as time and $$ allow.

Serendipity wrote:Source of the post
New Bimini top and Eisenglass for the front but I am going to need to purchase the rear enclosure. I am not sure it has ever had a rear enclosure on the back as I dont find any snaps/rivets.

it may have had one . i dont think there is any "go to" person or company, at least i havent seen anyone post such . so probably best bet for a local canvas guy to take a look. the rear enclosure like mine could have been installed with a slide track on the ceiling and if you have the plastic surrounds and not fiberglass. the bottom of the eisenglass panel would have been attached by using loops that would have snapped around the stainless railing above the plastic surround of the aft deck and a flap to cover the top of the plastic panel. this keeps anything from being attached to the aft deck plastic surround panels that could cause a stress crack and break them. ( a very bad thing) so you may not see any snaps or rivets. except on the outside of the support column by the back of the wing doors.

It has been a crazy couple weeks but I have purchased my 1998 Carver 405, closed today actually. I plan on posting all the details that happened during this process hoping it will assist someone in their purchase. I had no idea it was going to be this drawn out with the survey and sea trial.

Now I need someone in the Houston, Kemah, League City, Galveston Texas area to ship the boat. I have a couple people working on getting me shipping quotes as the boat is actually in League City.

Just wondering if someone in the forum has used a boat company from Texas they were happy with after their boat was delivered to wherever?

thanks and I will post more details later on

Okay here are some more details regarding the 1998 Carver 405 I purchased and closed on today

So I had the survey and sea trial set up for last week. My survey person has been doing this for over 30 years and is a former mechanic. He is also retired from the Coast Guard so he found all the violations lol. He arrived at the boat at 530 am and finished at 330 pm that afternoon. He found a couple hinge screws in the cabinet loose and the strap on the ladder for the swim platform was missing. So I want go into all the issues he found, but you get the picture, he was very detailed and worth every penny I paid which was less than I was quoted by my broker. In fact, he is worth flying in to do a survey in my opinion because he is a buyers survey.

To recap the boat statistics, the boat has the original 7.4 Merc MPI engines with 367/370 hours now after the sea trial. 10E/10,000 watt Kohler Generator with 611 hours.

I paid a mechanic to check the compressions on the engines as my local mechanic advised me anything under 120 was going to need rebuilding soon. My local mechanic has had a marine service shop since the 1960's with his father starting the business. He oversees all the houseboats diesel or gas so I trust him. He mentioned I should be looking for 140-150 compressions. These engines checked out at 160/165 so I was very happy with this news.

So during the sea trial the starboard engine would not go above 3000 rpm but the port engine ran smoothly at 4000 rpms. Both engines had the risers, elbows and manifolds replaced last November 2017. They also replaced the fuel pump on the port engine last fall. Both fuel pumps were recommended but the prior owner only did one and put the boat up for sale. From what I know about the seller, it wasn't a money issue. I just feel they were tired of the boat, so sad to have such a beautiful boat and not use it. lol

So they finished the survey and sea trial and these were the results. I will post a second post on what was needed for the engine and generator.

So the starboard engine mount nuts were not seated tightly enough.

The 12vdc horn did not work and the hand held horn was empty.

The bilge blower squealed when it came on for 15 seconds

The generator started but would not stay running

Both propellers had some blade tip dings and light electrolysis that could easily be refinished and corrected.

The port main engine raw water suction seacock was seized and the starboard was stiff.

A few blisters were noticed on the bottom during the haul out, but nothing structurally and nothing he would repair if it was his boat.

The engine space fixed fire extinguishing service is not currently certified and the fire extinguisher was empty on the flybridge. The flares were expired and I did mention he was retired Coast Guard right. I love the detail he put into this survey.

A couple of the 110 VAC covers were fractured on the salon starboard and flybridge steps.

These were my deficiency review recommendations and the boat was given a structurally sound opinion and the OVERALL CONDITION is ABOVE AVERAGE on the survey report.

So this is how my survey and sea trial shaped up. Next post will detail what was wrong with the starboard engine and generator as well as what I opted to do to the boat with survey in hand. I have really enjoyed reading everyone post on what they have done to correct issues and enjoy their boats more and more. Happy Boating ya

For my 405 friends and myself in case I forget in the distant future and anyone else this might assist. These are the details basic as they may be regarding why the starboard engine would not go above 3000 rpms and what was wrong with the 10,000 Kohler Gen. It was a simple fuel pump and the fuel water separator and fuel filters and a carb on the generator.

So part of the work needed on the engines was done last fall Nov 2017, see my last post for more details. So, I hired the same mechanic that has been servicing the boat for years. My broker recommended him and he seemed knowledgeable during our compression conversation on the phone. My background is I have been a Service/Parts/Body Shop Director and any other position you can name in an automotive dealership for 25 years. I simply got tired going around fixing them, so now I flip houses and own an insurance agency but my point is-I understand engines and the language.

So after looking at the past few years records it was determined that while the boat has been on a monthly engine maintenance program and that doesn't mean a whole lot by the way. In fact it means starting the engines up, bringing them up to idle, warming them up and switching them off. Sounds great on paper or in an ad, just don't put too much focus on that statement. I guess I can say that is better than the engines never getting started at all for months during the winter.

However, you have got to replace parts on a 20 year old boat because they are not going to replace themselves lol &%$@#*arrgh

So the fuel pump on the starboard engine needed replacing last fall when the port fuel pump was replaced. Both fuel water separators need replacing, engines need a tune up, spark plugs, oil and filter change are due on both engines and the gen, cap and rotor on the starboard engine and they recommended the fuel regulator and fuel filters.
I am also having the impellers on both engines replaced and they tightened up the motor mounts on the starboard engine noted in the survey.

So the generator would stay running if we held the choke just correctly. 611 hours on this 10e Kohler Gen so we could rebuild the carb or replace it. I am a workaholic and I might watch 2 hours worth of tv per month. However, Murphy's Law follows me around and just as soon as I start enjoying a John Wayne Western I see this Generator going out if I rebuild the carb. lol So we are replacing the carb with a new one.

I am also replacing both bilge blowers and all of the bilge pumps. Remember one of them was squealing on the survey. Just trying to keep my boat off of the National Liquidators website lol Even though I am going to be on the boat weekly if not 3 or 4 times a week, this is probably my biggest fear after reading so many boats sink over this issue.

I am also replacing the thruhulls and valves noted on the survey as well.

I also re-negotiated all these repairs off of the agreed upon price once the survey was done. Owner was aware these items needed to be done and I still wanted the boat. In fact, I would rather have a boat I am doing the repairs on so I know what was done-when it was needed. So this was a win-win for us both because I am paying the slip rent now the seller was paying until it I get the boat here.

With the compression checks done, I am now over $5,000 just in engine and generator maintenance but I feel it is worth every penny. Don't we all want to hit that ignition key or hit the start button on the generator and hear them purring and rumbling. Happy Boating everyone and tell me something?

What is everyone doing for labor day? ya got any special plans that might make some of us on the forum consider doing the same? Day Trips? Cookouts on your boat? Inviting family just to come down and enjoy some good conversation? What are your plans if you don't mind sharing with everyone?

We are taking the week off. The current plan is to go out into the lake and head north. Who knows where. Or how long.But we have ten days!