Pros and Cons of buying a Carver Motor Yacht

Although I'm not a big Carver fan, I think it would be fairly perfect for where you are. If you put Carver in the SEARCH key above you find a lot on the subject.

Carver

have it well surveyed by a knowledgeable surveyor...as with any boat purchase...but....

I used to own a 270 Sea Ray SD. 1984. Nice boat with a deep V. I also used to own a Carver. The biggest dfference is the flat bottom doesn't take rough weather as well. If you are just sitting in a quiet bay, which our area has lots of the Carver is great. Lot's of room. I second the survey but there is a lot of good buys in our area. Are you looking for the aft cabin. I tried out a 32 but found it pitched a lot. The 36 is a lot more stable.
Good Luck,

Timvail, I think what we did is exactly what you're looking to do. We had a Maxum 2400SCR pocket cruiser with mid cabin, and while it had lots of ammenities, just wasn't enough room for overnight's and weekends, so we moved up to a Carver 325 AC and it's made all the difference. Plenty of room for our family of four, comfortably.

Too long a list to go down again, which is why I suggested going through what you find with the SEARCH feature. Where I boat you can find some serious seas, and they're just not made for that. IMHO they are made precisely for the type of area you're in, where 8' seas or 5' storm seas are less likely. What they do have is plenty of space. They are fairly uncomplicated boats, and fairly economical to run and maintain. Main thing is that every boat has a purpose and limitations. If I were on Lake Havasu I'd take a 3 Buoys houseboat over a Hatteras. If I hit 20' seas I'd want a good SF or a Feadship. You don't want an 50 cal. for rabbit hunting and you don't want to go into war with a .22.
Survey is vital with any boat you buy. As for touching a sand bottom, the hull is not your weak point, it's the running gear. Look for shallow draft and prop pockets (tunnels), and idle through very slowly. Even if you save the props, a big problem there will be injesting the sand into your motors. Best not to explore too many shallows with a cruiser. With a 36 you can carry a dink for those explorations. A 32 will get you closer, but I always advise people that if they're looking at (for example) a 32 and a 36, go with the 36 because you'll be there sooner than later and it will save an extra commission.

NYCAP, would you explain what you mean in "the larger boat getting you there sooner" ; do you mean in rough seas solely? I'd think that power is commensurate with size of each boat (i.e. 5.7 ltr's in 32 ft, vs 7.4 ltr's in 38 ft boat for example) so speed should be about the same for cruise and WOT considering weights and displacements.

In actuality, coming back through a heavy storm one time my 325AC was handling the conditions a lot better than a number of friends boats which were both smaller, and larger.

What I was referring to was '3yearitis'. The first year your boat is the greatest. The second it's still terrific, (but did you see that other one?). The third year you have to have the bigger one. If you're thinking about two boats and you get the smaller one you'll accelerate that cycle. Better to get the bigger one and maybe make it '5yearitis', saving one commission. I had one client who bought a 42 Sea Ray when they were also looking at a 50. The wife explained about their "5 year plan". That 5 year plan went out the window so fast it could make your head spin. By the next year they were in the 50 and the following year a 68' Azimut. The brokers loved them.

LMAO - so true! After a 7 year hiatus from boating, we got back into it 2 summers ago. The wife said "go ahead and buy what you think will be good for us all."

Yea, right. That lasted for 1 season and she pulled a Brody; "I think we're going to need a bigger boat."

I said, you find it, you find the way to pay for it, and ok. She had us in our current Carver within 2 weeks (after I checked it all out etc).

I must say, it was a great step up; it's like a moving condo on the water.

And you fell for that one? Must not be married long enough or just haven't been paying attention. Good to see you learned.

Anytime.$$$$$$$$$$$$

Not all Carvers have a flat bottom..

Theres not much risk in buying one that a surveyor passes. They are straightforward and often look a lot nicer on the interiors than the same year Chris Craft or Sea Ray.

Are you looking only at mid-late 80s 32-36's? I used to own a 3207 and had a bunch of friends with 3607s. The 1991-1996 36/370 was a much better boat than the older 36.