Likely new Carver owners - need advice quick

[Awsmits]

Hi, we are Allan and Diane, from New Haven, CT, and we just put an offer on a 1998 Carver 355 in the Annapolis area. Scary and exciting. So now begins the survey and sea trial phases.

We are hoping that other 355 owners can jump in and advise us on what to look closely at during the survey phase, and we would welcome any suggestions on surveyors in the Annapolis area that know used Carver motoryachts we..

Thanks! We look forward to talking and sharing with this community!

Allan and Diane

[buster53]

I bought my 356 on Kent Island and had Bill Weyant do my survey. He really takes the time to educate the buyer on the boat and it's systems. My only complaint...the batteries were pretty close to the end of their life and he didn't catch that. Had we switched the battery selector switch from both to 1 and then to 2, we would have caught it. One of the batteries probably would have started the engine, but the other would not.

[tomschauer]

Is this the one listed for 49k in essex?

[Awsmits]

No, the boat is in MD, near Annapolis.

[tomschauer]

Good. Friends of mine went to look at the other one and it was not in the best condition, even for that price.

A couple things to look for on that or any 355.

The aft cabin windows tend to leak after many years if they were not resealed. Look very closely around the inside of the windows for moisture, mold and or rot of the bathroom counters and cabinets. Not a deal breaker, it can be fixed, but takes a bit of time. If not fixed you will have mold smell until you do.

The aft deck receptacle can leak water into the closet in the aft stateroom if the canvas was not always up. Look and smell inside and outside the closet for mold or mildew.

Auxiliary fuel tank. These seemed to have a high failure rate on the 355 and other models of this vintage. If the aft fuel tank is empty, it most likely leaks. If not, it was probably replaced. Again, not a deal breaker unless you plan long cruises between fuel ups. But if it does leak, you don't want to put gas in it.

We are very happy with our 355. We looked at a whole lot of them before we bought ours. I did have the remove and reseal the rear windows and replace the counter top in the aft head due to leakage, which i knew before purchase. Some surveyors don't look at the minor issues, so make sure you poke around every inch of the boat.

Good Luck!

[buster53]

Ok,this happened to us during sea trial...just be aware that it can happen.
We took the boat across the Narrows to another marina for a short haul to check the boat while out of the water. When we put the boat back in the water, we were not aware that one of the engines had lost it's cooling water prime. After a couple of minutes of running, the engine started to heat up. We shut it down and limped back to dock on one engine. Obviously, the impeller burned up and had to be replaced so we could complete the sea trial.
FYI, if you are a DIY kinda guy, the engine room is tight. Not the kinda place a big, burly guy is going to fit into.

[g36]

If it has the oem dock box on the swim platform I would survey around it carefully for any high moisture or rot these were not sealed well in many cases and have caused some to cut out some of the platforn to replace the bad areas