Carver Owners Forum

Hi, New owner here, don't have all details at hand yet and not much documentation came with the boat so I'm full of questions.

Small family, first (motor)boat and a winter ahead to get her up to speed.

This one was imported from Canada or the US around 1990-1992 to Belgium. At that time equipped with V8 petrol engines. Quite soon refit with 4-cylinder Volvo Penta diesel engines. Imported into The Netherlands some years ago and not used as much as planned so put up for sale.

Some maintenance was done, some interior items were removed adn upholstery renewed.

All in all at the moment a nice inside, a somewhat dirty and worn exterior. Engines are good though, drives OK and that was my main worry. Bit of damage of physical experiences long ago but nothing that can't be fixed or at least put in decent order.

So soon I'll be looking for info on the electrics and hopefully some background information on this particular version of the 26. Others we've seen around here are 28 or the earlier model 26.

Welcome aboard!
Interesting history too.

Welcome to the forum.

Welcome aboard

Thank you.

Just found my model in the 1991 brochure only. Labeled as NEW then and not returning the following year. So I've got something relatively rare

unfortunately I did not find my model among the manuals, would be nice to have it all complete but not really necessary.

Welcome Aboard. You've come to the right place to gain information about your Carver. Good luck and I hope you have many fine adventures aboard.

Thank you Rick.

Here (Europe) winter's coming and we're expecting her to be delivered on the 17th nearby. Organized a birth as we plan to practice a bit before taking her out again. She'll go inside into a workshop where I can work on the. err..., wel everything and get her fit for spring 2021.

So expect some project threads here as I'm sure I'll run into lots of unexpeted things when checking everything all over the boat.

A short update after a few short trips:

- port engine running hot. Expect an intake problem as I saw a lot of dirt/growth when she was lifted and transported. it runs, so ok for manouvering in/out of the berth but not good enough for continuous use. No problem as she runs fine on one engine but of course a job ahead.

- electronics wiring is a mess. I'm very interested to see pictures of how it was when new as I'm going to rewire the fuses board en pretty much everything else. In time several modifications were made with various levels of care and professionalism.

- battery charging is not as the equipment is suppose to deal with it: some rewiring to do here too.

- fuel filters (the ones with the clear venturi cups) look dirty. Tank level sensor was loose, so when in the workshop all fuel (diesel) will come out and tank is to be cleaned. Question: I have a square watertank in front of the engines in the middle. I will take it out to reach the cabling to the battery monitor/charging control/main switches. Is there an opening to reach the fuel tank? There is smelly diesel/dirt grime under it and I can't reach it very well from above (and I dropped a worklight..... ) If there is no access I will make access but I'm hoping that there is some sort of removable panel?

- gas handles (levers?) are not smooth and don't stay in their position when just above idling. Also the other two (fwd/neutral/reverse) are difficult to feel their change of position. Inside that is better, but the ones on the bridge need somekind of adjustment. Makes manouvering less precise as sometimes a short 'reverse' to reduce speed turns into a reverse back out of the birth.

and lots more of course, will post pics per job soon.

Finally got the boat to an on shore bilge pump location and pumped out most of the soup. Next week degreasing and such to do.

checked the fuel filters last week, shouldn't have done that; pretty nervous trip today. Those filters are filthy and I don't dare to open them as particles will go everywhere and I can't replace the filter cartridges right now. In a month all is to be flushed/cleaned and both engines serviced.

We don't (can't) open the throttle often anyway so it was a 2000rpm max short trip. In spring we'll open the fuel floods and see what she can do when properly taken care of.

Can't wait to see some pics!! Sounds like a nice project and I'm jealous you can bring it inside to work on it all winter!!

I would not worry to much abour bringing it back to "stock". Take a good inventory of what you have, whether wiring or plumbing, and figure out what you want, then layout what you need. You'll likely end up with something much better than stock, as a lot has changed in 30 years.

Don't know if you have this, but I ran across this nice writeup on the boat: