Carver Owners Forum

I am new to the forum and I recently purchased a 2001 Carver 350 Mariner and just had the port transmission fail. It started slipping while underway so we shut it down and brought it back to the slip. There is lots of fluid in the bilge. My mechanic looked at it and said that it looks like the front seal is leaking and he said that it would require removing the engine and transmission to fix it. Anyone have any experience with this tyoe of repair?

Did you have the boat surveyed? The front seal would have leaked for a while before it completely "failed". There should have been signs of this in the bilge. The slipping is a factor of the loss of hydraulic pressure due to the fluid being in your bilge - instead of your transmission. I'm not familiar with the layout of your drivetrain, but I believe the engines and train nines are behind the cabin and under your cockpit sole - which is way easier and less evasive to repair.

Yes, the surveyor didnt find anything. You are correct that the engines and trannys are behind the cabin under a hatch in the cockpit area. I was hoping that someone else with a 350 Mariner had their tranny worked on to find out if they had to have the engine removed. Its hard to tell if theres enough room to get the tranny out.

I watched my neighbor at the marina have the marina tech pull his. Was out in 2ish hours. Came out as one unit. Great opportunity for you to clean the bilge, and change your impellers etc.