Pros and Cons of buying a Carver Motor Yacht

FWIW I love my Carver but will never venture out in 8ft seas.

My advice; buy the newest one you can afford. It will be cheaper in the long run.

Agreed on the comment the interiors on a bit nicer than a Sea Ray from my very limited experience.

I have owned our 2001 Carver Voyager since 1997. I love the way it rides and handles in tight quarters like a dream. Obviously, I never would buy a boat like this without a survey and I got the right price.

I boat mainly in the St. Johns River of Florida and up through Jacksonville, down the ICW into Daytona/new Smyrna area. Usually two 250 miles trips each year, plus weekend outings. Perfect areas and venue for this boat. I will go offshore in 0-2' seas and the ride is still comfortable. It's just not made for more than that.

However, if you're looking for a RV on the water, the layout and design of a Carver are wonderful. Verify the maintenance on the powerplants. It doesn't matter how good it looks if it can't ever leave the dock.

Newer is not better, just cheaper to maintain.

Mid 80's boats have become difficult to sell, so if price is your primary consideration, then you should be able to pick up a very good deal.

If you're looking for a heavy boat that can take a pounding look elsewhere. But remember weight costs money at the gas/diesel pump.

The newer Carvers are a bit faster, but don't have as much space. I don't like the way the foredeck falls forward so much. It's good for getting water off the deck and makes the boat more aerodynamic, but it requires a bit of care while working deck and takes space out of the cabin. I've had several Carvers out in 7' seas. Scary, PFD's on and watching every wave time. Not for the Sunday sailor. They can handle up to about a 4' storm sea but you won't like it. They're a lake boat, 2' storm seas max in comfort. For the older ones a lot of generic parts are available at WM, etc. so they can actually be relatively cheap to maintain. The older ones tend to have things more accessable to get at.

HA! Actually, I meant since 2007...wow...

I toured Carver's new Sojourn 44 at the Miami boat show last month; beautiful boat, but I was really impressed with the mileage. It is spec'd to cruise at about 33 mph but uses 1/3rd less fuel than previous power plants. I'm not sure if I have the facts exact, but they're somewhere along those lines.

That sounds like IPS #'s ("20% higher speeds & 30% fuel savings"). Was it?

I believe so. I don't particularly remember what the acronym stands for, but the numbers look right.

You might want to do some research. You may be looking at your future drive system. Lots here and on the web. Very impressive. Cummins has their version (Zeus) also, as does Mercruiser (Axius).

I just got a 95 carver 355 motoryacht,its like a floating condo ,60k best boat I have ever owned ,interior is very upto date,goodluck

We just got A-11 down the dock from where your boat's previous home was

U gotta stop down say hello ,I'm at opus across the canal capt Adam,how's your boat doin mine is great

Will do as we get more towards summer! When are you there?

We love our 325 AC, especially after a new port engine next week lol. We'll have 0 hours on it, and about 100 on the stbd, so should be good for a number of years.

Tom.

You do have to watch out for those storm seas lol.

I am desperately trying to sell my Fresh Water 2000 Sea Ray 380AC Aft Cabin with twin 7.4 Merc's and buying a 2004 Carver 466MY which will fit our family better. The boat market is terrible and I've just lowered my price again down to $139,000 which is about the cheapest on the market...certainly the cheapest fresh water boat. And she is pristine with EVERYTHING from TV's to carpet upgraded! Anyone interested in a beautiful clean boat from Canada? She has been super for the last 6 years, but we are moving up as our family gets bigger and need a bigger boat with 3 staterooms instead of just the two! Now my 3-year old will have his own cabin to sleep in....

I also boat in Georgian Bay, out of Bayport. I just traded my 1989 Marine Trader 47 for an 07 Carver 466MY. Carver and Sea Ray are by far the most popular boat out in our waters. Sea Ray seems to be the most popular at Bayport, but that's likely because the Sea Ray dealer is onsite

There are 'better' boats out there, and I'd love to own a 70' Hatteras, but at what cost and what benefit does it provide to weekend Georgian Bay boaters?

On those really bad days, these Blue Water boats can go out, or can get home. My Marine Trader had active fin stabilizers (Wesmar), so I could handle almost any weather - my family couldn't and it wasn't fun, even if it was stable. So when the weather sucked, we waited until it got nice. If we were in a protected anchorage, we stayed an extra day. No big deal.

I bought the Carver based on their layouts, opinions of friends that own them, and my own observations of friends Carvers. As a new owner (less than 4 weeks), I say that I'm impressed by the quality of the boat in most things.

The only thing that confuses me is the quality of the canvas they supplied. My boat has hard top on the sundeck and bridge but the strataglass windows are extremely poorly fit. The guy who did my last boat was meticulous, so maybe I'm spoiled (but I'm having him redo this boat over the winter).

I think that you get the living space of a boat 5 feet bigger with a Carver vs a Sea Ray. The Sea Ray does have a nicer profile (at least compared to my 466, which is kind of ugly, although it is growing on me).

I'm very happy with it. The systems are well designed and look to be easy to maintain and work.

All my friends with them, from the 87 3607 to the 97 390 all love them. I can't remember a single 'carver' based complaint. Things went wrong - a trim tab pump failed on one of them this year (not a carver issue really).

The marina manager told me that people who own Carvers often buy them again. As a new Carver owner, I can see that. I would look first to Carver for my next boat as things stand now.

The 3607 is probably the one of the most popular boats I see. It's quick, easy to maintain, has lots and lots of amenities and tons of room. It's also easy to drive, and very comfortable for long trips I'm told.

Any thoughts on the 396 Carver motor yacht 2000 I think w disels about 420 hrs full beam master 2 heads