Carver Owners Forum

I have a 1990 Carver santego with twin volvo pentas. Shifting into neutral has always been tricky. It's almost like I have to shift past neutral first before it will go into neutral but I just got used to doing that. Now a new problem that just happened, is when going into reverse it didn't engage right away until I gave it more throttle then it made a loud slam into gear. The first time I noticed something wasn't right is when I was pulling in my slip and put the port engine into reverse, in and out quickly just to slow me down, and it didn't go into gear so I quickly through the starboard engine in reverse. Has anyone else had this problem or know what it could be. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Lisa

Welcome to the forum.......is this an outdrive boat ?

Hi, it's an I/O

More equipment info would help. Is it a Mercruiser, Volvo? What model sterndrive? If it's a Mercruiser, the most common culprit for both Alpha and Bravo drives is the lower shift cable. You can try adjusting but if it started off as a minor issue and getting progressively worse, it's a pretty good bet the cable needs to be replaced. Other possibilities are improper idle rpm, bad interrupt circuit/hardware (Alpha), bad remote/shifter, wrong gear lube, worn internal drive components, etc.

I think Lisa said they were volvo pentas if that helps....I have zero experience with them.

Yes, they are volvo pentas. I'm wondering if the cables need tightened. Im hoping its nothing too serious. What other information would help?

Do you know the model and serial number of the drive? Volvo will have a single cable from the drive to the remote at the helm. Do you know if it has ever been changed? When was the last time the gear lube was checked/changed?

Since I've owned it for 3 years the cable has not been changed. Gear lube checked beginning of season. Not at Boat to look up serial number. I don't seem to get as much speed full throttle as I did when first purchased. When it should be in neutral, it's still moving. I have to bump it past neutral then back in again to go into neutral, and now not engaging until giving more throttle.

Sounds like something is either loose, or a cable is stretched.

I'll check the cables and see if that helps. Thank you