Carver Owners Forum

I recently took possession of a 1980 3326 voyager, refit and ran it this season. I noticed the fume
smell and headaches. Anybody else aware of this problem. thanks

Wow. That's not good. Until you figure out how to eliminate the CO from getting up there, I'd run with the front clear vinyl open and install a CO meter up there!
Must be some sort of vacuum effect.

Yeah thanks for the reply. I get these fumes with all the glass off. I thought, although unlikely
that this model might have an aerodynamic problem. Check this out, when I head into the wind
the problem exist, when there's a strong following wind the problem lessens.

There must be a strong venturi action of the cabin superstructure.

Does it have some foward facing hatch, windows, or vent you could open along with the cabin door while underway, to see if that breaks the venturi action, if in fact that is what is going on? Make sure you have a CO detector in the main cabin and in the stateroom as well!

Is the exhaust's exit still what Carver had installed originally?

I too have this problem with diesel fumes on the fly bridge. You can smell it going into the wind, or running with the wind. Goes away when wind blows from the side, which is not too often. Interesting that it still happens if you take the glass off. This would explain why I see few Carvers of the era with glass on top. I guess I'll focus on directing the exhaust further away into the slipstream hopefully.

Welcome aboard.

If this is due to the overall design and how it influences aerodymics while underway, there may not be much you can do short of adding underwater exhaust if not already applicable. This would help divert the exhaust further away while you're moving in hopes that it doesn't get caught in the vessels air turbulence.

Thanks for the welcome, nice web site.

Yes, it's an aerodynamics problem methinks. This boat has a big "wedge" thing going on, creating a big vacuum and sucking up the fumes to the flybridge. The windows on the bridge increase the effect is my guess, but I was surprised by the previous fellow who said he removed the windows and it still had a problem. I was ready to remove my windows, but I'll avoid that for now. I'm going out there with some cheap stove pipe and experiment. I'm thinking I'll have to port exhaust out the side maybe.

There's this same model sitting in the graveyard in our marina here in NY. Last owner took chrome stacks and ran the exhaust out each side of the boat. My theory is that these early model boats were designed with out swim platforms and the addition of the swim platform causes the aero dynamics of the back of the boat to change, thus the exhaust issue. Our 1986 Mariner with after market swim platform would fill the salon with fumes underway if you left the sliding glass doors open and there was always the presence of exhaust fumes in the cock pit area. Wonder if your removed the swim platform if the exhaust issue would subside some what?

Hmmm.... interesting theory about the swim platform, sounds about right. I can't remove it though. It's the most important piece of equipment on the boat.

If you can run with the cabin door open, then I'd open the forward hatch and some cabin windows. This will help break the 'suction' that the boat structure causes.