Need help with skinny on Carvers

[Njlarry]

Hello all,
Newbie here. We are sailors now hoping to change over to power. Love the 40 foot cockpit Carvers but need to learn more. Interested in around 2000 year with diesel engines.
Any archelles heals to look for? Have heard varying opinions about quality so would like to hear from the owners here. Was looking at Beneteau but hate the fake woodwork and overpriced. Love the Carver cockpit design and 40 layout.
Still haven't figured out the 40x code, ie 404 405 etc.
Thank you for your guidance.

[bud37]

Welcome to the forum. Here is a link to the Carver brochures....you can pick the years/specs you want to check out.......may help with some visuals and sizes.


https://www.carveryachts.com/support/brochures-specs/

[tomschauer]

NJlarry, carver makes a solid boat. No wood below the water line since the late 80's i believe. The problem you may have in our area is finding a 40' cockpit with diesels. The 40' cockpit is a carver 355/356 with a cockpit. These and the larger 405's with diesels seem to be few and far between on the bay. If you aren't planning to do a lot of long distance cruising, the big block gas motors push them along pretty well, although not really easy on the wallet when you pull up to the fuel dock.

[g36]

Also spend some time on yachtworld etc and search for 40 carver cockpit motor yachts you'll start getting models that are appealing to you. Good luck with you search

[Tireless]

Carver Cockpit Motor Yachts, CMY, boats are very popular. The 40 ' version in a CMY boat, depending on the year, are the 390, 400, 404 and the newest one is the 41 CMY. Most of these are gas engines, however, there are some diesels out there. They are a great size boat and there a lot of them out there.

The next size up is the Carver 44 CMY, which I have, also known as the Carver 444. This is a Carver 396 with a cockpit. Most of these in the CMY version are diesels. The older version was a 430.

In around 2006/07 Carver came out with the 43/47 CMY. This had a totally new look for Carver and came with Diesels. It is a similar size to the Carver 444 CMY, however it has a much deeper hull with big engine room under the salon.

There is also a 50' CMY called a 504, but that is bigger than you are looking for.

I have always had Carvers and I always will. They are a great quality boat and if they are maintained properly, will last forever. YachtWorld.com is a great site to look and see what's available, styles and help with the price points.

I may have missed a model, but this should get you started.

Happy shopping.

Greg

[Viper]

Welcome aboard.

Nothing wrong with the quality of a Carver build. I'd say it stacks up just fine against what most would consider high end and much more expensive brands. I've worked on many different brands, some of them would fall into that category. I can tell you that even those come out of the factory with surprising conditions that need to be addressed before delivery to the customer. Every brand will have a design feature, construction method, or hardware placement that will leave you scratching your head. You may not see it at first but eventually something comes to light. NO brand is perfect, they each have their quirks.

The only thing that stands out in my mind as perhaps being specific to certain Carver models is failures of aft auxiliary fuel tanks that are mounted under the swim platform. The tank bottoms are known to fail mostly due to corrosion and eventually leaking. Some say it was due to substandard material used in the tank's fabrication and mounting practices but I can tell you this is a common occurrence with auxiliary tanks in many brands that are fabricated by the same manufacturer that made the main tanks. The consensus is more of the opinion that it's due more to the lack of use than anything else. Water collects inside the bottom of the tank and might sit there for years, eventually pitting the bottom. The worst thing about a leak here is the accessibility to remove the tank but you can say the same for just about any fuel tank in any brand.

I don't know that there are any particular areas of concern on a Carver that aren't just as common and can't be found on any other brand. The key to ending up with a vessel that has few issues to deal with is to narrow your search then have a qualified surveyor assess its condition on your behalf.

Welcome to the other side, the power boating side. Now you'll wish you there is NO wind

Good luck with your search and keep us in the loop.

[Njlarry]

Thank you all. Wasn,t aware of the 444 will check it out. Viper I also appreciate your pro input. The other boat we have considered is the Beneteau Swift but the interior woodwork is no where near the quality of Carvers imho.
For the pre 2005 ( I'm an old school kind of guy) how is the engine access? ( I'm also a dyi kind of guy).
Looking forward to the other side.
Scurvy dog Larry

[Viper]

Let's face it, engine compartments of most pleasure craft aren't the easiest to work in at the best of times no matter the size of boat. I worked on a 62' (different brand) recently and as I was climbing aboard I figured it was going to be a cinch, not a chance, it was just as tight in some areas. Amazing how much room a pair of Volvo D13 engines can take up. Still next to impossible to work on their outboard side. She also had IPS pods mounted under what I considered a pretty large aft deck. The construction below deck in that area though left little room to work on them. Ever see how big a set of IPS-3 pods are? They take up a fair bit of real estate inside, but the bigger the boat the bigger the gear.

The best you can do is take a look in the compartments when searching different models and assess whether most areas and hardware are reasonable to get at. Some things will be easy to get at, others, not so much. That goes for all brands.

[RGrew176]

If I were the king of boating I would decree that every boat design engineer would then have to spend time working on the boats they have designed.

They are not designed with future issues needing to be fixed in mind IMO.