Carver Owners Forum

So my owners manual on the 1995 mentions carver made a cradle for storage on the hard. I’m not to thrilled with how the current marina has her so went looking for such a cradle but found none.
Has anyone built there own or have photos of carvers on them? I googled cradles and see most look hand built any suggestions on a build? Like the idea of making sure supports will be under bulkheads. May not be a happy camper storing it over the summer but will feel warmer in the winter…

Hmmmm...I had the factory shipping cradle for an 83 28 Mariner way back when we were at a self help club.......we lifted, blocked ,stored all the boats both power and sail.........rebuilt the cradle and stored the boat on that cradle for a few winters.

So the storage was ok, but the cradle weighed lots....required a machine to move it around and summer storage was a problem. We ended up cutting it up and going to wood blocking and jack stands.....much easier and overall better....well that is what we found anyway.

If it's done right, there's nothing wrong with blocking. The weight is on the keel which is designed to carry the weight, and the stands or side supports are just there to prevent rolling. Those supports can be wood but I prefer jack stands because they can be adjusted as the ground moves in the winter. The blocking under the keel doesn't have to be at bulkhead locations as long as the there is good weight distribution, and that really only requires a few sets of blocking depending on the length of the vessel, the entire keel doesn't have to be supported. It takes some forethought but blocking is perfectly acceptable.

Hello Georgeviking,
I have the same boat as you 390 CPMY and bought it in 2018, the next year in 2019 I took her out of the water for maintenance. The crane set her on the cradle and damaged my rear keel due to the weight. So we ended up to set her down with 2 supports on the rear flat bottom. with the front keel resting on the cradle. I was lucky that it was the responsibility of the harbour , so the repair costs was for them.
Now every year when we come out of the water we use the rear supports. See Pics

Sailor Robbert wrote:Source of the post Hello Georgeviking,
I have the same boat as you 390 CPMY and bought it in 2018, the next year in 2019 I took her out of the water for maintenance. The crane set her on the cradle and damaged my rear keel due to the weight. So we ended up to set her down with 2 supports on the rear flat bottom. with the front keel resting on the cradle. I was lucky that it was the responsibility of the harbour , so the repair costs was for them.
Now every year when we come out of the water we use the rear supports. See Pics

I had a similar thing with my 3607. I had owned it for over 10 years and never had an issue. Several different marinas blocked it up using mostly the keel but stands on the sides like Viper said. One year when I removed all the bottom paint, I inadvertently was tapping on the keel and realized the last 2' or so of the keel was HOLLOW, the rest was solid (well, maybe not solid all the way though, but obviously thick and strong). From then on I warned the yards not to block on the last 2' of the keel. Whadda ya know, about three years later some knucklehead didn't read the written warnings on the work order and put blocks under that area and crushed a chunk. Their fiberglass shop did a great job on restoration but it was really an unnecessary job if the guy would have just read the warning!!

Guy beside me one year had some bleeding from the keel after his boat was pulled for the fall....turned out it was foam filled, it took them a while to open up and dry it out.

Thanks KM1125
For me too it was the last 2 feet at the rear. You can see on the first picture where they started to repair the keel. It took a full week for that fiberglass repairman to finish the job.. I'm afraid now to put it on the keel so I use the stands at the back.

I will have to watch the back end of the keel for sure ….yard I went to had her on one block with wood
At the aft one near front and one further back,,,,I always went with one block every ten feet of boat
Was told by marina it’s overkill only three blocks and three stands ,,,,,two days later boat was listing
Marina lifted her up straight ,,,I go down to see and stern is off to one side of blocking and bow is off to other side,,,show yard foreman ,,,blames it on the help ( he was operating machine ) said he would fix it,,,,for some reason front block was moved back about 18” ground was about three inches lower and center block crushed my keel,,,boat raised again set down with longer wood in middle and a bit farther back yard foreman pokes at damage and says your keel is soft while poking the crushed fiberglass that mind you is dry as a bone…..waiting to hear from yard owner on this one,,,,oh and originally no plywood under anything after boat listed the plywood one side of stands last move one stand is half off plywood
Maybe I’m just to picky,,,

You are never picky, if it comes to your boat. And sometimes being picky can save you a lot of money.

Just a follow up first thanks for the photos Robbert I may be going that route next year,,,,yard blocks boat three days later boat is listing to one side,,,,,yard lifts boat and straightens her out, go to check and rear of boat is close to edge of block front is close to other edge,,,yard says they will center the boat. Come back and front block was moved rearward about 18” ground was a few inches lower center block has crushed the keel yard foreman is trying to tell me keel had a hollow spot that they must have put the block under it he then taps above the damage and says hear how hollow that sounds???? Are you kidding me when did damaged fiberglass ever sound solid anyway every time they blocked it I took pictures and clearly see center block was always in same spot..Marina owner telling me same hollow story but since they blocked it he will have ( his fiberglass guy repair it at no cost to me ) but insists boat is blocked properly. While I’ve done quite a bit of glass work I’ve never done a keel but figure curve out the damage and start laminating 1708 in strips till it’s filled in, just can’t trust any work they offer…..not going to get into the shrink wrap