Carver Owners Forum

New to this place and i need some help from Carvers owner. Just bought the Carver 30 Santiego yesterday.
Without much experience in that size of boats. Today when i was trying to back in the slip i had a hart time.
Mine number 1 problem was control ,its stiff ,hard to move forward or back and finding natural its a challenge.
Now is the question , is there anything i can do to make that shifter running smooth or that the way is should be?
Plus the starboard engine before it goes in to reverse i have to reve it up the RPM ,so it makes nice challenge
for someone like me to back in the slip . Any help for me ? Or just have to learn hard way to do it?

It should be smooth. Sounds like its time for new throttle and shift cables.

Yep, should be smooth and no challenge to find neutral. Revving up an engine to get into reverse is not normal either. Needs a bit of works as mentioned and after it is just experience backing into a slip. Your title asked about thrusters? I would hold off on this until you have items corrected and are familiar with the operation of your boat.

Welcome to the forum.....sounds like you may be in need of some serious TLC, cable set up and lube, maybe engine tuning......when all is smooth it is a great sight easier and safer to dock your boat for you and your dock mates.

From the replays here i know already that there is a problem with that throttle and shift cables. Everything is stiff ,hard to move . Even steering wheel . Boat was parked for few years before I bought it so that didn't help . Any idea if that's a big job to change this throttle and shift cables? Wonder if i can do it my self.

Does this boat have outdrives ?

I suspect we might in fact be dealing with Sterndrives. If that's the case, there may be a lot more going on than just the shifter control and cables. What brand is the engines and sterndrives if that's what you have? I know they used a lot of early model Volvos but could also be Mercruisers.

Does the engine stall if you shift into reverse without increasing throttle? What is your idle rpm set at?

Increasing throttle to shift is not the right answer and will cause damage to a transmission or sterndrive.

Yes its I/O Bravo 1 i think with mercruiser 5.7 Idle rpm is around 600-700.
Thats the whole package im worry about , incrising RPM dont sound so good to me too.
Port side engine shifin to revers without any problems( not counting stiffness ) but starbord needs more RPM to engage in to gear. I guess i have 2 problems, or one bigger one .

No engine dont stall when shift into reverse without increasing throttle. Thsts not a case here

Need to know exactly which model Sterndrive you have as Bravo and Alpha are very different in the way they shift. Are you sure it's a Bravo 1? The first thing to check is ensuring the gear lube is at the proper level AND that you're using the correct type, it should be green fluid.

You mentioned that everything is stiff to shift, that can be the control at the helm, the upper shift cable, the lower shift cable or all of them. If it is indeed a Bravo, your clutch may need replacing as requiring higher rpm to engage the gear is a symptom of a worn clutch, wrong oil, incorrectly adjusted shift cable setting, etc. When you increase rpm to shift and it finally goes into gear, will it stay in gear when you bring throttle back to idle?

Bradorksy wrote:Source of the post....mercruiser 5.7 Idle rpm is around 600-700....

I suspect this is not an EFI application but is that idle rpm in neutral or in gear? If that number is in neutral, what happens to idle rpm when you put it in gear and the drive engages?

What year is the boat?