Carver Owners Forum

Hi, Thanks for this great website.
We have placed a deposit on a 1998 355 aft Cabin and would love some feedback on what to watch for before the survey and final trial run. The owner his a mechanic and has just replaced all four manifolds and risers. The aft cabin window was repaired properly. Mercruiser 454's with 1400 hours on each.

Just read the post on the aft cabinet on the swim deck. Also will check the aft cabin head cabinets.

I have read the Crusader 454's are better than the Mercruisers. Using 4 bolt mains etc. True?
If these engines blow one day, I'm sure a Crusader block could fit inside all the mercruiser gear? no?
I am a certified Marine Mechanic from the early 80's. The last boat I worked on was in 1985 so I am a long way from being 100 percent competent in this regard. I mostly worked on Mercruiser One legs, starter changes, oil changes, tune up specialist (points/condensor). So... here we go

How good are these 1998 355's? We are impressed by the layout and room. I am wondering how thick the fibreglass bottoms are. Owner says 3/8". I know this depends on what part of the boat.

thanks in advance

Brian

Welcome to the forum.......It would not concern me the 2 bolt/4 bolt controversy .....we used to put lots of hp (550 plus ) thru 2 bolt cast cranks with no problem. Check your year though for sure. They are all gm blocks. If that is something you are concerned about, just put main studs in the rebuilds if it is a 2 bolt.

Have the engines checked though, cause 1400 hours is starting to get up there, if they were taken care of there will be more life yet so long as you don't beat on them. Remember, consider if you keep the boat for a while and rack up the hours then want to sell. My opinion, just the other side to consider.

As far as the layout there are others here with that boat who chime in.......good luck with your search.

You can search on this forum for many things sounds like you have read on the 355. If your happy with the layout,engine access etc. Carvers are very good boats ive been very happy with my 405. Several 355,356 owners on here for questions. Good luck .

Good luck with the purchase and if all goes well Welcome Aboard.

General rule, Mercs are usually good for 1500 hrs. before thoughts of rebuild, Crusader is usually good for 2500 hrs. Crusaders were built with aviation technology, and marinized with high quality components. This is extremely dependent on how general maintenance was done over the years. Those big blocks are very reliable. The very bottom of the hull is 2" thick, monitored by multiple measurements during construction. You can call Carver with your Hull ID number, and they can access the actual building log for that vessel. The measurements for thickness are all recorded on that log. The side hull is not as thick, but at least 3/8", probably thicker. er

Well I'm a crusader lover for sure and have tore down 1986 5.7's with 1,300 hours on them for another reason and got to say they were impressively clean on the inside. Was thinking of somewhat downsizing in the near future since there is just the 2 of us most of the time to a Trojan/Carver 400 Express and the one in our marina that's for sale has 7.4 Merc's, so one for the con side list! The rear aux fuel tank can be a leaking issue do to the design of the tank, I have decommissioned ours after a 2001 356's rear aux tank leaked out one winter on the hard next to me. Hope it's what you want and all works out for you!

We have a 1998 355 with the Mercury Bluewater Horizon engines. We are very pleased with the boat. The mercury engines run great and have never given us a problem. The boat jumps onto plane rather quickly, cruises around 24-26 mph at 3200-3400 rpm and will break 31 mph at 4000.
No matter what you hear, the blocks are gm 454 roller cam engines. The only difference between the crusaders and mercs are the ecms, fuel injection systems and the water to water heat exchangers systems. The internals are identical.
Many at my marina swear by the crusaders, but have their engine hatches open trouble shooting issues while we are leaving the marina.
I believe the mercury MPI fuel injection system (the same as GM has in their vehicles of this era) is far superior to the crusader TBI system that is from the late 80's. Also, the 90's crusader ecm's seem to be hard to come by and from what I hear are very expensive if you can find them.
So i wouldn't be afraid of the mercs.
As mentioned on another post, these boats had issues with the axillary fuel tanks. If the tank is empty, it most likely leaks. If this is the case you do not want to use it. Not a big deal if you don't do any long distance cruising.

Another thing to look for is leaks around the aft cabin windows. These large windows tend to leak around the frames after 10-15 years if not resealed. look for water marks above and below the windows. Check for mold and mildew in the aft head around the windows and the cabinets. Also on the port side, check for water and mold/mildew around the windows. The window sealing is a fairly easy fix, but if water intrusion was left unchecked the interior repairs could take a bit of time.

I’m looking for a 356 can anyone tell me if the engine are hard to work on in the engine room if it’s very tight

I belive youll hear there are some tight and difficult areas of some maintance items. If that's a concern for sure you need to find one a look at it from a maintaince side.