One Week as a 3807 Owner

[VicB]

My wife and i are brand new owners of a 1988 Carver 3807 and ecstatic about owning our first large boat. We have had several trailerable boats and PWCs, but this is a first for a larger one. Last weekend was our first time to spend the night and noticed that most everything worked, just light cleaning and vacuuming . The spot light will turn on and tries to move but doesn't. Only issue that concerns us is that when idling as in attempting to put it in the slip is that if not moving for a spell, the CO2 alarm mounted in the lower helm will go off. When underway, no alarms, only when sitting still. Additionally, after our first cruise for a couple of hours, we noticed that our clothes inside the cabin smelled of exhaust. Really didnt notice till we got home. Not a gas smell, just exhaust. We kept all the doors closed, except several trips to adjust the volume on the stereo. Additionally, the previous owner said he never used shore water. He only used the potable tank and pump. When i hook up a hose, do i need to get a pressure regulator. The manual seems to think there is one built in, but if haven't really looked. Any advice on what to do and not to do would be great. I've always winterized my stuff at home, but all the dock people seem to use bilge heaters and pretty much leave engine blocks and the like without antifreeze. I'm in north Alabama and it does get cold, but we rarely get snow. BRING ON THE ADVICE ABOUT ANYTHING!!! IT WILL BE APPRECIATED

[bud37]

Welcome to the forum and Carver......I think you mean the CO alarm, if so look into it closely, make sure there are no exhaust leaks in the engine compartment, have a very good look around as Carbon monoxide is very dangerous.....good luck with your new adventure.....

Oh if you have the shore water inlet on the boat , it has a regulator in it, just connect up the hose, no need for onboard pumps etc..hopefully after all the non use it is not stuck up........

[buster53]

As a former owner of a 3807, welcome to the club.
As far as winterizing goes, I'm assuming you are leaving your boat in the water for the winter. You need to have temps consistently below freezing for several days to be concerned. Not just during the night.
The water is a great insulator to keep the interior of the boat, especially the bilge, above freezing, even if the water has some surface ice.

[quickdecision]

On the exhaust issue. Try running one engine at a time and try to isolate which side is leaking. Inspect hoses, exhaust manifolds and risers. If they all check out okay, I would next look at the fiberglass exhaust chamber that runs along the inside of the boat to the discharge point under the chine. Towards the transom. A crack on this chamber would allow exhaust gas to leak into boat. Also the water discharge from the A/C units, aft cabin and salon also discharge thru them. These chambers are easy to locate but a pain to get to. They are bonded to the hull from the inside. I am in the process of adding mufflers right before the chambers. The 3807 is a little to loud for me.

Ron

[Viper]

Congrats and welcome aboard. Great boat
Unless a previous owner made changes, the dockside water inlet does not have a regulator in it. The regulator is separate and is a little further in the hull behind the inlet. You can access it by removing the panel behind the couch. Barring any previous issues, you shouldn't have a problem running potable water from the dock by hooking up to the inlet on the starboard side of the boat.

[RGrew176]

One tip I can offer when hooked up to city water. In my case I only open the faucet one half to one and a half turns, I don't want all that pressure working against the onboard regulator. At my marina that gives me more than adequate water pressure. I generally only use my onboard stored water but will occasionally hook up to the city water.

[km1125]

Are you sure it's a CO2 alarm and not a CO or fume sensor?

Also, when you first hook up the shore water connection, fill the hose with some 50/50 chlorine and then connect it. When you turn the shore spigot on, then go in and just crack the nearest faucet inside the boat slowly until you smell the chlorine. Let it sit for a bit, then turn the faucet on and flush the clorine through until fresh water comes through.

If it hasn't been used in quite a while, that shore inlet hose can get some funk built up in it... you want that cleaned out before you actually use the water flowing through it.

[Midnightsun]

City water, great thing to have unlimited supply however do remember to turn off the tap at the pedestal when leaving the boat for extended periods. You do not want an unlimited supply in the bilge if something were to disconnect or rupture while you are at home. Welcome to the Carver club.

[pepmyster]

Welcome to the club!!!!!!!

[VicB]

Wow, this is exactly what I need! Great advice. What about winterizing? There is a permanently mounted engine compartment heater. Previous owner said he just uses it and closes all seacocks, covers the outer vent louvres with foil tape and puts a small heater in the center of the cabin on a low setting. It does get cold in north Alabama, and on rare occasions we might have teens or twenties at night. To get the boat closer to home, I will be moving to a new marina soon where it will probably spend the winter in an uncovered slip while I am waiting on a covered spot. Would love to know about anything specific about it being out uncovered as well. Thanks in advance, Vic.