Carver Owners Forum

Yes, there’d be more damage or signs wouldn’t there, if that was a crack from a collision. Plan to see it next week. Hoping for a spider web.

Never did go see boat, long story below. Have a contract on a 91 Carver 36 aft cabin. Hopefully will survey out ok and I can run it from Michigan to Miami in May. Looking too complicated and costly to transport OTR.

On the original Carver I posted about I think I made a mistake and learned a lesson. I had seen the listing and saved to favorites, but reached out to a broker about a different boat. That boat was under contract m, but the broker asked if I’d be interested in the other one that I’d already favorited. The thing is, he wasn’t the listing broker for that one. He seemed like a good guy. So knowing he wasn’t the listing broker I went ahead and told him that I wanted to see it. He got back to me after talking to the listing broker, who told him the engines hadn’t run in years, it had no canvas, and the swim platform was soft and wobbly. The general tone of his response to me was that I really don’t want to see that boat. I appreciated the information and decided against the long trip to see it. But the boat looked so clean and shiny in the pictures. I was thinking, maybe the listing broker said all that because he doesn’t want to split the commission with a buyer’s broker. I wouldn’t blame him, he’s not going to make much for his trouble. I could be totally wrong, but still, in the future I would only go to the listing broker.

Thanks to everyone for your feedback. Happy new year!

Shoot, I really wanted to find out if it was a crack or a web
Hope everything works out with the 36'. Keep us posted.

wilbur wrote:QR_BBPOST ...Hopefully will survey out ok and I can run it from Michigan to Miami in May. Looking too complicated and costly to transport OTR.
....

That would sound like a FUN trip, although MAY might be a little early for the first several hundred miles of that trip!!

I'm wondering if you've thought about which route... clockwise or counter-clockwise on the Great Loop?

It should be interesting. Will be a delivery trip, going hard to arrive as fast as possible. 2000 miles, counter clockwise. Spring Lake, MI to Chicago, Illinois River, Mississippi, Ohio, Cumberland, Tennessee, Tenn-Tom, Mobile, across the gulf, around the bottom of FL to Miami. 17-20 days. It will either kill me or just make me weaker.

Hope all goes well. Personally, I would be nervous to start out with a long trip like that. Would want to get to know the boat and power package a little better. Little tweaks can cost time and money, especially that time of year when all mechanics are tied up with launch activity and spring work. It is not unusual for mechanics to have 4 to 6 week schedule backups. Also, if this vessel does not work out, let us know where the target boat is located. Maybe someone would volunteer to go take a quick look before you make the initial trip, or may be familiar with a particular boat. Not that you can't trust brokers, but as you have learned, motivations can muddy up the reality of things. Good luck! er

I am nervous about the trip and might still truck it. But leaning strongly towards the river trip. Probably should start a new topic to tap into the vast experience and wisdom of the forum.

Doing the warm storage survey Jan 16, and I’ll be there. Then launch for sea trial around May 15.

There’s a lock below Chicago that’s closed from March 31 til 5 pm May 19. So I won’t leave til May 19. That will give me a few days between launch and the trip to wrench on things and get ready. The engine areas are spotless, I hope that’s a good sign. But won’t know anything til sea trial.

Just some ideas to consider.....If you are not that comfortable/familiar with that trip or route obstacles then it is possible to hire an experienced captain to go with you. That way you will learn the boat and gain experience under a watchful eye. That trip is a fair distance in a short time span IMO, requiring each day to have a certain progress and with a new to you boat then it could pose other obstacles.

Good luck with your purchase, hope it goes well for you.

Thanks for the advice. Yall are scaring me, which is useful. The lean is shifting slightly back towards trucking.

But I have to get boat height (boat alone) down to 12’6”. Pretty sure I can’t do that without removing a large section of fiberglass that includes the helm seat base and the cabin entryway directly behind the helm seat. That entry sticks up about 7 inches above the next highest structure, after removing the arch, upper helm station, upper wind screen. I’ll try to post a photo of a 405 aft cabin on a lowboy trailer that shows the cabin entryway sticking up. It’s a very similar boat. His was 14’11” on the lowboy trailer, with rudders, props, shafts removed, but cabin entry in its place. I need to be 13’6” on the trailer. Might be possible with cabin entry and flybridge surround removed. But that cabin entry piece is large and irregular.

Here’s the thread on the 405 move. Informative and interesting.

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=5065