Carver Owners Forum

Good Morning,

Well just won my bid on a 1998 405 Carver and so happy. I do have a concern that she is underpowered. I see a lot of crusaders out there and I buying Merc 7.4. Any Body with these engines have any problems? Also anybody like to give any feedback please feel free.

I would say it depends on what you consider to be under powered. Before buying our 355 were had narrowed our search to a 355, 405 and a searay 420,
Both the 355 and the 420 had 7.4 engines the 405 had 8.2 (502 CI 385 hp). The 420 and 405 are larger and significantly heaver than the 355. They also have significantly more space. Something to be of course considered.
The boats we trialed, the 420 and 405 took a long time to plane, and don't actually fully plane, at least with these engines. If I remember correctly both the bigger boats topped out at about 22-24 mph on flat water with a light load. And ran about 16mph at 3400 cruise rpm. That being said, they ran well, had solid handing and no issues holding speed / rpm.
The 355 (which is not fast either ) seems like a rocket compared to the bigger boats. Up on plane fairly quickly, about a 22mph cruise at 3200-3400 rpm and top speed of about 31 mph when the throttles are fully forward.
We went with the 355, mainly because of this, I came from may express cruisers, the last one was an overpowered (if thats possible) crown line that would cruise at 40 and top out at 54mph, so the bigger boats just felt to "heavy" for me. We did not find any diesel powered boats in good enough condition for us to test so I can speak to them.
Overall, I would say it up to you what you consider to be under powered.

Good luck!!

Just sea trialed an 1997 405 with crusader 454 xli fuel injection, Got on plane rather quick i was surprised, just under 4000 RPM and was doing 21mph, At this time we are awaiting completion of a few repairs by seller then we will purchase the vessel.

http://galahadmarine.com/inventory/1997 ... d-5017435/

They still have the 405 for sale. The price dropped about 15k from when we looked at it. I would image you could get it down another 10-15k at this time.

I' m biased cause I own a 405 I do have the crusader xli engines. I don't think it's undepowered but how you use the boat may be different than mine. I looked at 355's also but the engine room in those is very small and we also liked the bigger interior both good boats but we chose the 405. I can fit 2 in the 405 engine room with room to spare. Good luck I can help with most anything concerning this boat.

Ahoy! And Welcome! Hope you enjoy her for years to come!

G36, good point about the engine room. There is much more space on the 405. This fall when I went to change my starboard impeller and had to remove the heat exchanger and associated hoses just so I could get down in there to do the work, I thought about the extra room on the 405.

Thanks for the help everyone