Carver Owners Forum

Morning. I have a 2001 444 cpmy. At the dock the boat has a very pronounced bow heavy feel. The floor/deck slopes toward the bow.

We have all chain anchor rode so pretty heavy.

Any thought on managing fuel/water loads to mitigate?

Thanks.

Hi I'm not sure what is causing you to be bow heavy. I would think that it would take a lot more than chain to cause that on such a big boat. How does the plimsoll line look? By the way love the 444 my future boat one day I hope.

If all fuel and water tanks are full and bilges are dry, all chain rode and the way u load ur stuff on the boat could make it bow heavy. I'd like to know how many feet of chain rode I had and how much it weighed per foot to give me and idea as to how much weight I had in the rode locker. Rode locker drain is open? Do u have a lot stored under the front berth? Guess u could unload the chain rode and see if there's a noticeable difference. Hope u find it.

Not sure about your 444, but with my 355, I have noticed that when my tanks are at or below 1/4 full any bilge water moves to the front of the boat. Otherwise it is in the aft. At the dock, it looks level no matter what the tanks are holding. But when running on low level tanks it "feels" like the bow drops further when coming off plane. I usually fill all three tanks and then run them down to 1/4 or less before refueling.

I have a 444, it's just the way it is inside the boat. Out of curiosity I did dump the anchor and chain in the water and the bow rises by 1/2" so it doesn't really do much. Water, waste and fuel tanks are all midship and back so that's not going to do anything either. I played with keeping cockpit tanks full and draining mid tanks first but not much difference.

If you look at the waterline from the side at the dock the boat is actually level, it's just slightly slopped forward inside near the galley area. I know what you mean though but after a season you won't notice it anymore, love the boat, not too small and not too big, perfect size for weekend boat.

What cruise speed and rpm are you at fully loaded? Volvo's or Cummings?

Hi Hugo. Thanks for reply. The sloping floor is exact condition. Glad my 444 is normal. I like boat; very roomy. Wife and I live aboard.
Boat has 370 Cummins. At 2400 R's doing about 14 mph. Getting used to boat so haven't run faster. Sea trial at 3000 R's was 18 mph as I recall. How about your's?

I have the volvos, Mine runs 16 knots (~19mph) at 2400 and 23 knots (~26mph) WOT at 2800 rpm. They're not fast but when we arrive we are very comfortable and burned a lot less fuel than most others. Great boat.