Carver Owners Forum

Doing my sea trial on a 1999 Carver 406 Aft Cabin this Saturday. A survey was completed late May and it was EXCELLENT with really no deficiencies. The boat is absolutely clean and in great shape. My only concern is that it has twin Volvo 7.4l Gi (310 HP) engines and wondering if it is seriously underpowered. We will cruising in the Northern Great Lakes home port will be Frankfort or Suttons Bay, Michigan.

I would welcome any experiences with this boat. Would love to have an idea on ideal cruising speed/RPM, fuel consumption expectations, etc. Any areas to watch out for or other or other suggestions.

Thanks,

Welcome to the forum!
As far as power, its really a matter of your personal preference. The Volvo 7.4's will push the boat along just fine. You wont be passing many boats, and you wont be passing many fuel docks. But if you don't need speed and are not planning many long distance cruises at planing speed, you will be happy with it. The boat has a lot of space and a great layout.

Congrats, I think you'll be just fine. I don't believe Carver would ever under power any of their vessels.

IMO - you're not underpowered, unless you expect to cruise at 28mph. Those engines can generate a lot of torque in rough water. Had the same engine with duo-prop I/O's in my Cruisers. Always ran like a dream. They are thirsty. When you start cruising, find that sweet spot speed that provides efficient performance in terms of mpg. Carvers are about comfort and space. I used to be able to cruise at 35 in my express, now I cruise at 19. I will trade speed for comfort/space any day. er

I used to have a 3807 with Merc 7.4's. Very thirsty at cruise speed. Actually, thirsty at any speed. So, to help out our pocketbook, we cruised at hull speed, around 7 - 7-1/2 knots. More than doubled our cruising range and cut our fuel bill in half.

I have a 405 sister to your 406 . they are really roomy boats and we love ours. Mine has crusaders. Welcome to the gang. Most of our boating is around 8-10mph. Check this below it gives a pretty good guide to your fuel usage at various rpms...scroll down and pick your engines ..https://www.boat-fuel-economy.com/volvo ... e_vignette

There are lots of differences between boats depending upon their method of propulsion. My current Carver 3007 Aft Cabin has some similarities to my last boat a Bayliner 3055 Ciera Sunbridge. Both boats were 30 footers. The Bayliner 32' 2" overall and the Carver 34' 0" overall. The Bayliner was an express style and the Carver a sedan.

The Bayliner weighed in at 11,741 lbs dry, the Carver 10,500 dry. Both were powered by 5.7 engines the Bayliner 5.7 250 HP Mercruiser I/O's and the Carver 5.7 270 HP Crusaders inboards. The Bayliner had Bravo II drives turning 17 1/2" dia. 23 pitch 3 blade props. The Carver 18" 18 pitch 4 blade props.

The Bayliner topped out at 45 MPH and cruised at 28 to 30 MPH. The Carver tops out at 25 MPH and cruises at 16 to 19 MPH. The Carver is no speed demon. It took me some time to get used to the slower cruising speeds. Now I sit back and enjoy the trip, not that I didn't with the Bayliner. I just got their quicker in the Bayliner. The Bayliner was better on fuel. Over the 12 seasons I had it I averaged between 1.2 to 1.4 MPG. The Carver .82 to .86 MPG so she is a thirstier boat. For the most part it was easier to work on stuff in the Bayliner than it is in the Carver.

The amount of room below in the Carver is way more than in the Bayliner and I do like being up top on the bridge of the Carver. Much better view even though the Bayliner did have an elevated helm station. Two different boats. The differences are night and day. Bottom line both boats serve the same purpose, to get out on our waterways. And they both get you from point A to B.