Looking at a 1995 390 CPMY, seriously

Yup, sounds like a good deal, almost too good!! Especially for diesels. I have the 330 6 BT's and paid a bit more for my 355 ACMY last year.

Sounds like a very good deal, too good in fact. I would have a good surveyor go over it with a fine tooth comb. Of course I realize sometimes owners just decide it's time to get rid of a boat and price it for immediate sale. Lucky for you if that's the case here.

If you can get the owner to give you a ride in the boat before you shell out for a survey and haul out you can get a very good idea on the performance of the boat and engines. I wish I had done so before my purchase.

If the owner has taken as good a care as you say and he is as motivated as you indicate, he should be more than happy to do this. If he agrees, have him go to full throttle and note the rpm. Note if the boat gets right up on plane without hesitation. If you get 28-2900 rpm at full throttle then I would proceed with a full survey. Not getting that rpm would in my opinion require additional investigation before I shell out the $1000 or so for a survey and haul out.

Prior to survey and sea trial educate yourself on the required engine parameters, some surveyors are not as well versed on this. Boatdiesel.com is a good place to start. Also note the last oil change and haul out, which may give you an idea if the PO was as meticulous as you say. If the boat has not been run much recently and many boat for sale have not, you may have fuel contamination issues. This may be one reason for failure to reach rated WOT rpm.

Lastly, put a couple of clean oil absorption mats below the engine and transmission before sea trial. Back at the dock they can tell you a lot.

Not getting perfect numbers at sea trial and other issues is no reason to bail, just be sure you know what you're getting into. It sounds like you are getting a heck of a deal, just make sure this is really so.

I have the same boat without the cockpit. I've had my 355 for a year and love it. The sundeck is a little small for more than 2 people and my wife is on her 3rd attempt at arranging seating. It's a great layout for extended cruising. We just spent 13 days on ours and never felt crowded. Lots of storage for food and other dry goods in the V berth. I did some "remodeling" on the entertainment center to modernize it.

Interlux has a tech moderated forum that I found very helpful when doing my bottom job. My surveyor found "several dime size blisters most on the stbd hull". After purchase and hauling I uncovered 150 blisters all over the hull. I got advice from West Systems on fixing them.

My advice and you can take it for what its worth: Nothing; is not to do a bottom job at the time the boat is out of the water for survey. If you purchase the boat, get the engines running properly and use the boat for a couple of months. You will develop a list of items that will require hauling to fix. That was my experience, ie: rudder logs needed replacing, two through hulls needed replacing, rudder shaft issues, prop re-pitching, etc.

Concerning the pressure wash at haul out for survey, have the seller pay for it, it's minimal, and give him credit for that cost if you buy the boat.

Good luck on your survey. Just make sure the surveyor and seller have no business relationship. It sounds like the seller is not using a broker which can certainly be to both you and the sellers advantage when it comes to negotiations. Let us know how the survey turns out.

PS: check out boat diesel.com unless you can afford to have someone else maintain your engines.
PSS: just remember the satisfaction you get out of this boat will be determined by the state of the engines. Good solid engines and you can deal with most other issues. Bad engines and you will kick yourself until you sell it, or it will cost you a bundle to fix.

I looked at a similar boat. Everything seems to be the same on the boat but when I saw this picture I realized it wasn't the same boat because on the one I looked at all of the enclosures are gone. The boat had been sitting in the water since 2001 with only one trip on it. Needs a lot of paint touchup and the hull had not been cleaned in years as the boat had not been used. When I looked at the boat, there was a surveyor there by the name of Todd and he had given a visual survey for someone else who was looking at it. The people decided that they didn't even want to go for a ride in the boat to test it. It would be a nice boat but needs a lot of work and I was also told that the Carvers get a lot of blisters. Then we talked to someone who went for a test drive on the boat and it was blowing a lot of black smoke out and the top speed was 17k and rpm only went up to 2200. That person is still interested in the boat but said there are no maintenance records and the log book only showed one trip out to an island. So the man said that he would really have to do some more research. I have since found a great deal on another Carver. Really like the style of it and we are enjoying the boat.

I recently purchased the same boat. It’s a 1993 390 CPMY with Merc 454’s. We love the layout! It has some issues: leaking rear sliding hatch, and a 2x4 soft spot on the floor above the aft cabin. However, No blisters on the bottom. That said, we got a decent deal on it (sub 40k), and I intend to bring her back to good condition again. Thankfully, the surveyor caught most of the issues, and we used that in our negotiations. I would love to have diesels, but as you mentioned, too pricey. Also the gas engines will push her almost 28 knots @4,000 rpm. Downside-4,000 rpm=.5 mpg.

Mod edit: oversized image removed.