Carver Yachts?

I own a 36' aft cabin Carver and in reasonable weather would take it anywhere. The previous owner of this boat took it from Galveston to the Bahamas and said he had no problems. This all being said, the big issue with the Carver with gas engines is cruising range, needs bigger fuel tanks. I have a friend with a Carver 42' that has had his offshore in squalls off of Texas and although it would pound a lot harder than a boat like SeaRay with it's deep vee hull, he said it never felt unsafe. He said when he came about in 8' seas he took a big hit broadside but other than knocking some ornaments off the shelf the boat took it in stride.

Had you posted this in the Carver forum to begin with, you may have had a response by now. The lack of response is an indication that the subject has been discussed before. Redundant questions are often overlooked. Maybe you should have used the search function, like most other people do?

I have moved the thread.

I have a 3607 ACMY and I've had her in standing 5 to 7 footers on the Chesapeake Bay, been hit in the rear quarter buy a rolling 6'r coming in from the ocean off thimble shoals and the boat took it fine, would I set out and try the North Wall with her he!! no ! But she a semi-displacement hull with a deep V and little dead-rise in her stern and a Quartering sea SUCKS ! As it will with most made like that. Most of the B.S. said about Carvers is just that B.S. And most of the systems on my boat are the ones installed in 87' and still work fine. Her cored sides and decks are dry and solid the hull (bottom) is thick and solid glass NO CORE. She'll run at 8 knots and track fine or at 17 knots all day. The Merc 7.4's (454) have over 1700 hrs. on them and the onan genset has over 400 and I'd trust them all to get us home.

Gel coat on my old boat shines, like a new boat no, but with the right cut and polish she looks good all season. Some say our (Carver) gel coat looks muddy, Well I feel some thing that the gel is white on the older boats. It's not it's off white and shines up fine. And on my old girl it's thick and smooth.

so ask away I'll tell ya just how I feel about my Carver, and when I retire to a bigger boat if I can't find a 4207 I might settle on a Hatt..... maybe a Viking 41 acmy

I have owned a lot of boats and I can honestly say I would take my Carver 4207 Aft Cabin anywhere. I went offshore last week and never had a feeling the boat could not handle it...the thing is built like a brick. I can not speak to the newer Carver models.

I always was told Carver was "crap" and thus I never looked at them until I got the chance to look at a 4207 and 440.....very impressed and happy I own one.

YMMV.

My 48 weighs in at 43000lbs per the specs but I am closer to 47k when I had here pulled in Dec for a bottom job, she is as solid as they come.

I have a 2007 466 that I've had for a year. My previous boat was a 47 Marine Trader with stabilizers, and I've driven a buddy's 52 Sea Ray Sedan a few times. I've also been on another friends 56 Sea Ray Express in some rougher weather. Here's my thoughts.

Nothing compares to a displacement boat with stabilizers

That being said, I was very pleasantly surprised at how my 466 handled some rough weather this year. We actually had a fantastic summer with little wind and almost no rain, so I didn't get many bad days out.

The one day I left early because the weather was supposed to get bad. We were running about 90 minutes in and out of protected water in about 2-3' beam seas. No problems at all. I got the bouncing that a planing hull gets, which I wasn't used to on the old boat, but no big deal (and we were going twice as fast as the other boat). We came around an island and hit 8-9' head seas. It freaked me out a bit (I was just not expecting it, but I finally understand why people hate that spot). It got unpleasant and I didn't know how the boat would react.
The boat actually handled things well. My bridge did get soaked, and that may have been improved with better handling and trim tab settings (remember - displacement hull guy here). I turned around but was really nervous about that. MY old boat took forever to turn and prior to stabilizers, getting hit on the beam in this size of weather was scary. The 466 turns quickly so I was able to turn 180 in the trough.
The following sea handling was what really surprised me. My old boat simply sucked in a following sea (even stabilized). This one handled it fine. My nerves took a few minutes to catch up to realize everything was okay.

Compared to the Sea Ray's:
The 52 has more power than my 466, and the 56 has more power again (and as an express I don't feel the rocking so much anyway). The Sea Ray's seem to have a deeper V that handles heading seas a bit better (not much probably), but the extra engine power is very nice.

If I had one complaint of Carver, it's that they tend to under power. My boat is full out at 22 kts. My buddy's 52 is about 32kts, and the 56 is a bit faster. That extra power and torque allows them to apply more power quicker to react to poor weather.

I also think, in my boat's case, that I'm more top heavy that most Sea Ray's too. That's just my boat though.

I think bot

I have an 04 444 with twin Volvo 370 diesels, love the boat and don't have any complaints about it.

I have never had it in over 4' yet but it handled 3-4 foot seas in 30 mph winds no problem without any pounding. You can get some spray up on the bridge depending on the direction of wind and seas. She cruises at 17 knots and tops out at 22 knots, not a fast boat but we have no reason to be in a hurry. Very economical to run.

Maybe a bit deeper V and more power will handle the rough stuff better but fuel costs go up and the big question is - Do you really need it? Why have more hull in the water and motor if you don't go out in weather that warrants that... If you're going offshore fishing this isn't the boat but neither is a Sea Ray.

The electrical, mechanical, etc systems are laid out neatly and organized. The quality and craftsmanship is good and everything is easily accessible. Also, Carver is excellent to deal with and I believe for the market and type of boater they're trying to attract they did a good job.

At the end of the day some people like the Sea Rays some like the Carver, it's just a matter of personal preference.