Hello from the Tampa, FL area!

[Dark Horse]

Good Morning, Everyone.

My wife and I are moving up to a 1998 350 Mariner Aft Cabin from our Bayliner 2655 Sunbridge. Well, we are still in process - subject to survey and sea trial, which will happen shortly. and then transport to Hudson, FL.

Been in boating my whole life and this will be boat #7 for us. Probably the last one, but i keep saying that!

Any advice on Carvers in general, or this model in particular, would be very welcome indeed! Any issues with the 350 Mercruisers (approx 435 hrs)?

A step up for us in length, beam, and weight (and comfort), but we're very excited!

Cheers!

Steve

[RGrew176]

Welcome Aboard. I thought my 99 3055 Ciera was my last boat. Sold it then got the bug now I have an 81 3007 Aft Cabin model. Miss the Bayliner but am very happy so far with the Carver.

[Viper]

Welcome aboard Steve.

The Mercruiser like many other brands are GM blocks marinized with marine hardware. There's pros and cons to each brand but perhaps the best thing about Mercruiser is that parts are readily available and you can get them just about anywhere.

Hope everything works out Steve. Keep us posted.

[Cooler]

Welcome aboard! You're going to really appreciate having a condo on the water. You will need to get used to a different speed and handling. You are going to probably cruise around 18 to 20 mph, instead of 30 mph, but having the space and amenities is an easy trade off. I ran at several different speeds/RPM's to find my "best cruise" performance on my Crusaders. Turned out to be 3000 to 3100 RPM. If I ran up to 3400 RPM, I would only gain 3 or 4 mph, but burn 8 gph more fuel. One of the issues you may have is,...if your friends have boats like your 2655, then they are going to spend a lot more time on your Mariner. That translates to a significant increase in the consumation of the "other" fuel...err beverages! Take some time to practice close quarter handling. BIG difference between inboards and the I/O you previously ran, plus wind effect of the higher profile. You are going to love the bridge for cruising and maneuvering. Great site lines! er

[waybomb]

Welcome aboard!

[SplashyLady]

The 5.7L Mercruiser is very reliable and the Chevy-related parts are cheap. It does use a proprietary ignition system (Thunderbolt). The Thunderbolt systems have proven reliable, generate a powerful spark, but require a heavy duty coil.

You do not state if yours in fuel injected or has a Rochester Quadrajet carburetor. In 1998 I would assume FI, but have seen carbs too. Q-jets are nice carbs with good fuel economy until the big secondaries open. But Q-jets are a pain to work on - one of the hardest carbs to overhaul IMHO. Make sure you pay attention to replacing the fuel filter and water separator to keep the carb clean and prevent problems. And don't run fuel with ethanol on these engines! If you have carb problems, your best bet is to replace it with a quality rebuild and not try to take it apart and fix it yourself. There are several companies that specialize in Q-jet rebuilds and offer a 1 year warranty.

One quirk with some Mercruisers is a 143-147 degree thermostat (not a misprint). This was used on some closed cooling systems to prevent salt build-up in the heat exchanger. Some folks change them out to 160, but others believe Mercury knew what they were doing and stick with 143.

Other than that, just the usual stuff - oil changes, filters, sea water impellers, etc.

Good luck and see you on the water!

[tomschauer]

John, you may have the luxury of using non ethanol gas in NC, but in MD, if you want non ethanol, you have to carry a bunch of 5 gallon cans to your boat! 300 gallons/ 5 is a lot of trips!
I believe it has been 10% ethanol since around 2005 here. Knock on fiberglass, I haven't had any issues. I never fill up in the spring until I know the marina has received a new fill for their tanks.

[Dark Horse]

Okay well after a thorough survey, we did not move ahead with this boat. It was discovered that a water leak or possibly something else has caused the fore deck from beneath the bench seat up to the forward hatch to become de-laminated. While I could fix it as I've done this kind of repair in the past, I dont feel like taking that on. So a big no on that boat.
That being said, over the weekend we looked and and made an offer on a 2001 350 Mariner with almost all the options checked off. It's in fine shape with a pair of 350 Mercruiser MPIs and over all in really nice shape or at least will be after a good cleaning and detailing.
So still in the game...........

[Viper]

Thanks for keeping us in the loop. Good luck.

[RGrew176]

Hope this one works out for you.