Carver Owners Forum

I've worked for several dealerships that have carried multiple brands over the years and I gotta tell ya fresh off the assembly line Carvers by far required fewer repairs overall than any other brand. How they fair after that depends on several factors including construction but more importantly environmental conditions, running conditions, and the biggest one, how owners maintain them. It doesn't matter how well one is built, if you don't install something properly on the deck for example, you will end up with a rotten deck, and Carver had no control over that. They did have control over some things that could have been prevented like improper swim platform installs but browse through other brand forums and you'll find issues with all of them.

Funksavage wrote:QR_BBPOST ....the inspector said that Carvers are notorious for having their stringers and transoms rotted out......

He must have been confused with Sea Ray! I know there are a lot of them out there but I've replaced more stringers and transoms in Sea Rays than any other brand, and don't get me started on blisters. Older vintage Trojans were notorious for bad stringers as well.

Viper wrote:QR_BBPOST He must have been confused with Sea Ray! I know there are a lot of them out there but I've replaced more stringers and transoms in Sea Rays than any other brand, and don't get me started on blisters. Older vintage Trojans were notorious for bad stringers as well.

don't forget Wellcraft. it rare these days to see a Wellcraft older than mid 1990's as the stringers really had a rot problem mostly due to the factory not sealing penetrations through them.
Carver started using no wood in the hull below the waterline and no wood in the stringers, sometime in the late 80's or early 90's. No wood, no rot.

Based on my experience with a few brands over time and some that have been rejected on my inspection and the pre-purchase survey. Carvers have been our preferred choice in our affordability range, it was a great thing back then to get a Carver from Crates.

In my opinion all boats are great in general but when you are considering used up to 40 year old boats then the condition has more to do with the folk that have owned them before you and the luck of the draw from the factory ( ill placed screws , poor practice etc ) that in reality are not specific to any brand and may just be the day at the plant much like autos ( consider how a lemon comes about).

For all these reasons comes the recommendation to have your prospective boat purchase properly surveyed by a qualified/certified surveyor with a good resume, a good chance this may save you as the buyer from a money pit.

Also one thing to remember that coring of all kinds has its inherent problems, even if there is no below waterline wood ( balsa/ply ) there may still be some sort of coring ( composites? ) that need to be considered in those areas that need reinforcing, engine beds/struts/rudders etc.