Carver Owners Forum

We are in the process of selling our home and plan on buying a boat to live on. We are looking at the 530 voyager. We like the layout and the fact of getting off/on the boat without climbing ladders. The voyager normally comes with either Volvo or Cummins engines. Doe anyone have any feedback on their experiences with these engines? I would prefer Cummins but most of the voyagers on the market have Volvo engines. Like anything else, if you take care of your equipment with preventative measures you'll have a lot less problems with them.

Thanks for any input.

Capt Bob

I have the Volvos and can't say a negative thing, but the question is the parallel of the Ford vs Chevy debate. You will find pros and cons from everyone and will probably work out to even in the end. A well maintained set of higher hour mains is better than a low hour non maintained engine. Biggest tip is to get an engine survey from a local tech that specializes in your brand. That should include an oil sample test as well.

Personally, when i bought my 506, I only went for fresh water examples. Besides the obvious corrosion issues, fresh water boats are typically lower hour boats because of the shorter season. I bought mine from the original owner with just under 200 hours on the mains and every work order since it left the factory.

I envy you and your wife for the adventure you are about to begin. We purchased our 506 in 2014 with the same long term goal. The Voyager is a fantastic boat. If we didn't choose the 506 we probably would have gone for the 570.

Good luck and enjoy your search!

I had Cummins on my 45 Silverton and loved them. I just bought the 530 voyager with volvos. Loved them. A little more expensive to repair and parts but seem rock solid. My cousin who has owned every engine known to man just sold his boat with volvos and was very impressed! In 3 weeks I am taking boat from Miami to Annapolis. That will,be the big test!

In my area, it's much easier to get parts for Volvos. I can look up and get just about any Volvo part overnight unless Volvo doesn't have it in stock. Cummins, not so much. Volvo has a much larger dealer network for accessibility. Not impossible for Cummins, just not as convenient. Both good engines so I would do some research in the area you plan on boating the most and check the marinas for accessibility to parts for both brands to get a feel from them on just how easy it is to get parts for both brands. You may not get a truthful answer from a marina though so the best feedback would be another boater with Cummins or Volvo in your area. I've never heard of issues with getting Volvo anywhere but I suppose it's possible.

Nothing worse than wanting to get underway and not being able to because you have to wait for parts or can't get a tech who knows your brand.

Thanks guys. Like anything else in this world, everyone had good experiences and everyone had bad experiences. Getting the engines surveyed is a must along with the gen and the boat. I will post to the forum when plan of attach is in the implementation stage. Yes, I will include pictures. We already have a slip. Here is the web site: www.rdmarina.com.

I have the Volvos on seaquestered for 2001 530 the engines have been fine no major problem there are seven voyages in the club Del Rey Yacht Club in Los Angeles and nobody's seen it all seems unhappy with either engine the roads are a little more pricey on parts but other than that everything is fine

Hello Captain Bob,
Owner of the Voyager 530 and love the boat, were actually in the process of doing some updates (keep me in mind if you want to buy, the boat is always for sale) Anyway, our's is the 1998 so older and it has the 450 Cummins we have run the heck out of them. Now mind you the first owner didn't break the engines in correctly and so we finally got tired of the smoking (use to smoke like a chimney) at 1850 hours, I decided to have them tore down to the block and rebuilt, then have about 60 hours now and only smoke when they are cold the norm. So I like you love the cummins, old dogs are great. She doesn't run as fast as the Volvo but heck getting there is the fun.

As far as your marina, love it we had the voyager there for 4 years and decided to move it back to the east coast. any questions let me know.