Carver Owners Forum

Good evening, my wife and I are considering buying a used 504 CMY, we live on the gulf coast of Florida and would like to cruise the Gulf coast and maybe to the Bahamas. I would appreciate thoughts and experience on this model, I have seen some negative opinions on hull construction and sea worthiness. Thank you in advance.

JT

Welcome Aboard. I can't answer your query but someone will soon chime in with answers you are seeking. Lots of great people here willing to share knowledge.

Hi JTW. We have had one for over 3 years now. Upgraded the electronics and made some modifications to it. We have a Freedom Tender on her. Have done the Loop with it and are on our second loop. We put a tour of her on our YouTube channel and are working shorter update tour videos as we move along. Our YouTube Channel is What Yacht To Do and we have filmed every trip (now 144 total) and some still in editing. We love the boat and have not found any issues with the build or construction. She is a 1999. Let me know if you have any other specific questions, or you can go to our website and send me an email directly. Have a great day! Sam

Welcome aboard!

Welcome

If you are referencing the article written by D. Pasacoe, that is/was not an article I would have put a lot of faith in. Mr Pasacoe ( RIP ) was a respected surveyor, but had no use for boats that were not Bertram's or OA or heavy ocean type vessels. He compared a really old 20 something foot Carver, with a 40+ foot Bertram that had both been through a hurricane. Carver uses very solid construction techniques including no coring below the water line. Are they the same as Bertram? No. Their value of price point to quality is extremely high. My advice to you would be this,...call Carver with the hull # of this vessel. Ask them to look up the hull construction review and give you info for that particular hull. This will help you with the info beyond some individuals opinions. From my perspective, you cannot find a better value in terms of price, quality, builders support, amenities, layout, etc., than Carver boats. Seeing as a friend of mine owns Cruisers Yacht's, I feel like I am giving you a non-biased opinion. If you are the type who is going to cruise 20 ft seas, then look to Bertram, and pay 3X the price. If you are going to be a reasonably smart boater, Carver will serve you beyond expectation. ( I have heard the Pasacoe retracted that story after Carver investigated the article, but did not see that myself. ) You may want to come up and tour the Carver facility. Anyway, phone # to call is 920-822-7248. They are great at customer service & support. What year model is this? BTW, that 504 is a gorgeous vessel. The key to any boat is previous owner maintenance, but 504 owners are mostly pretty darn good about maintenance, unless it was a repo or distressed boat. Good luck. Let us know what happens. er

Well said Cooler. Look, you can have the best construction ever which may count once it rolls off the assembly line but that won't help you if the vessel was poorly maintained or improper installation and repair practices were the case through a previous owner. Cored hulls are okay too but you better hope that thru-hull and deck hardware, and fasteners were properly sealed at factory, and that previous owners were just as mindful with accessories they installed. If they weren't careful, it won't matter what brand you get, how expensive the brand is, or it's overall reputation. Keep in mind too that ALL brands will typically share similar deficiencies for a given boat's age such as wet swim platforms, high moisture around stanchion bases and windlasses, bow pulpits, etc. I've been around some pretty expensive brands and they are no different in these areas.

BTW, as good as Bertram's reputation might be, they had some massive hull failures. Outer fiberglass skins pealed right off. Look it up. One was even covered by Mr. Pascoe. I don't recall that ever happening to a Carver that I've heard of. There is no perfect brand/model! Get a survey.

Good luck with your search and keep us posted.

Thank all of you for the feedback. I really love the lines of the 504 and my wife loves the interior. We are thinking about making it a live aboard in 5-7 years. I would like to find one, take a few years and redo it, so when we make that move I know what has been done to it. I know all boats are not perfect, not even my 1975 Bertram 28 that I am redoing. But wanted feedback of people who know the boat and the line. Thank you all for letting me into this group, look forward to beginning the search very soon.

Good luck on the search. Sounds like a great plan. There are not a lot of 504's available. Owners do not part with them very often, unless they are ready to move on from boating. Be sure to keep us posted, I may try to organize a Carver owners rendezvous next Feb/March, and we need a destination host. Great way to celebrate Covid expiration, meet Carver owners from all over, AND we could talk smart and lie!!!! Also, we may be able to meet the infamous Viper - the person everyone wants to meet. Last time we tried to organize, Viper was thinking couple of years to retire. er

Cooler wrote:Source of the post....Last time we tried to organize, Viper was thinking couple of years to retire. er

Counting the days buddy. Don't know if I'll ever completely retire though. Unless of course the Admiral throws down the hammer.