Carver Owners Forum

Hi, I am new to the forum. Looking to purchase a 94 Carver 390 CMY. Boat location makes it almost impossible to travel any waterway to my home of Rock Island , IL. Looking for information to breakdown the boat for lowboy transportation. Has anyone been through this? What height does the boat breakdown to with just the radar arch and hardtop removed? Will it require more? Possibly front windshield and top helm station? If so, what height does that take it to? Boat is currently in the water so very difficult to get proper measurements. I have not been able to locate any spec sheet that will help me with measurements. Any help with this matter, would be greatly appreciated. Thank you !

Just a follow-up. I believe the 355/356 is the same specs except for the cockpit? I just have had no luck getting dimensions other than overall height, draft, beam. Transport cost vary depending on whether I can get the height down to under 13'6 including lowboy. I think boat is originally delivered with fly bridge off? I am trying hard to keep from going that route.

I shipped my '99 404 without removing the flybridge but just barely got it under the 15' max (14'9"). Pulled the props, removed the hardtop, arch, venturi and helm seats. I also separated the top half of the helm station and slid it down in front of its base. Since the boats are very similar you may not be able to get much lower without removing the entire flybridge. I believe you are right in that they shipped to dealers with the flybridge removed so that maybe easier than it looks.
..Aaron

Thank you Aaron. The spec sheet is pretty similar so that helps a lot! I am guessing the 14'9' you are referring to does not include the 12' added by the lowboy, meaning 15'9' clearance on the lowboy? I think that still will require a pole vehicle escort in most states. How hard was the removal of the helm top and venturi? I am a aircraft mechanic so I'm probably going to do those myself to ensure continuity on both ends. The marina will have to remove and install the Radar arch and hardtop. The cost of removing and reinstalling the flybridge would make the purchase prohibitive. Thank you for answering.

I worked at a Carver dealer for 35 years before it was sold. The 355/356/390/400/404 are all identical except for the cockpit. To ship these safely, you must remove the hardtop and all supports for it and the flybridge. If you can use a separate trailer, you can leave the arch on the flybridge. IMHO, it's not worth the possible damage to leave the bridge shell on the boat to save a couple hours on reassembly. Also, the props should come off so the boat can be set as low in the trailer as possible. If you cannot do a separate trailer, the arch will need to come off, the bow rails will need to come off (a pretty easy task on a Carver) and supports made for the bridge to set on for support. The hardtop was shipped under the bridge from the factory, on the bow. I recommend a separate trailer...it'll make things easier.

Cessnatech, the 14'9" was on the trailer so only one overpass had to be bypassed coming down I90. A pilot car was required because of the wide load. The venturi came apart easily, took longer to put it back together. The helm is put together with a few screws and a bead of silicone which was a pain to cut/remove but doable. The advantage was simply disconnecting the cables and wires from the instruments and controls and coiling them in the base.
..Aaron

Aaron, thank you very much for the reply.you have been a great help! I Think this option is much more doable than removing the fly bridge all together. Almost the entire route of travel will be interstate where almost everybridge has at least 15' clearance. Going to do some measurements today then check transportation.