1999 Carver 356

2

27boat27

Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2011
RO Number
32563
Messages
73
I am under contract to purchase the boat and am going to survey next week. I have three questions:

1) Does anyone have one of these they use in the Chesapeake Bay that does not have any sea strainers? This boat does not but has been used in the bay since new. Should I add them?

2) It has Crusader 454 MPI with 198 hours. The exhaust elbows are original and have never been replaced. Is this possible? According to my research, 4-6 years in brackish and salt water. The engines are FWC so the manifolds should be fine according to my research. Their are no signs of corrosion where the elbows meet the manifolds. I am conducting a separate engine survey, but if the elbows run cool, during the survey, it will be hard to force the seller to replace them as partr of the sale. Any input on this situation would be great.

3) It has a soft spot in the swim platform about the size of a plate. I assume water entered at some point. Has anyone had to deal with a similar situation, and if so, what was the outcome.

Thanks,

John
 
You might get more responses to the engine and strainer questions in the ATC or engine forums as this isn't a question particular to Carvers.
 
1) I would add strainers (I thought Carvers had them standard...every one we sold had them)

2) Unfortunately, we don't have the salt issue here on Lake Erie, but I'd at least have them checked.

3) You can have a glass shop cut out the afeected area and replace the coring material, then reglass the surface. A good glass shop will be able to do this without you being able to tell where it was fixed.
 
John, My 30 carver aft cabin did not have strainers for the engines. they had a sceen bult into the bottom of the boat, that worked fine did not have any major issues. I had strainers for the AC units, that would be a must. This is picture of when the screen pulled back. man i got bad gas useage that time.
IMG_1995.jpg
 
my 3607 has them most of the time I only get seagrass in them but I'd put them in, I wouldn't want that stuff in my oil/trans coolers.
where you at on the bay ?
 
I will be on the South River at Holiday Point Marina if the deal goes through. I went back to the boat today to check for any signs of water penetration after the heavy rains. No signs of water damage. This time I found a strainer on the port engine but none on the starboard that I could see. Another question comes to mind, Is it safe to anchor out and run the generator overnight?
 
I would not let a gasoline powered generator run overnight sleeping right behind it. There is a huge potential that you might not wake up. Its just not safe even with all the Co2 detectors you can stick on.
 
I posted the gas generator question in the ATC forum and pretty much decided from the activity there that it is a bad idea. Now I just need to find the other sea strainer.
 
There should be 4 strainers on the boat, 1 for the A/C, 1 for the gen, and 1 for each engine. Are you sure the one strainer you found wasn't for the A/C system?
 
I definitely found 2 of them. 1 is for the generator and the other maybe for the AC but it looked like it was going to the port engine. Survey is on May 2nd, so hopefully, I can get it all straight at that time.
 
The engine strainers will be much larger than the ones for the AC or Generator. If one is definitely going to the AC, and the other is the same size, that is for the generator. Keep in mind, the engine strainers may have been either deleted when the boat was ordered or removed at a later date...I wouldn't know why, but it's a possibility.
 
I purchased a 2003 356 new, and "internal seawater strainers" were an "Owner Preference Item". I think that means an option in plain English.
 
"timeout" is correct.....while most dealers added sea strainers to their ordered boats they were "optional" items from Carver.
 
quote:
Originally posted by zolna

"timeout" is correct.....while most dealers added sea strainers to their ordered boats they were "optional" items from Carver.

Click to expand...


Maybe that's why I thought they were standard...every one se sold had them.
 
My '98 Carver 355 has 4 strainers.

I have some water intrusion on the front deck around and aft of the windlass due to Carver not sealing the windlass hole and anchor cleat.

I can see little reason for having a genset if you feel unsafe running it. Especially if the only reason for a genset is to run Air Con. This was one reason I bought a diesel boat.
 
I've got a gas genny and wouldn't run it overnight because of the CO2, and it is too loud anyway. We usually run it for an hour or two in the mornings to make coffee and breakfast, and to charge up the house bank a bit. If it is REALLY hot, we'll run it for awhile in the late afternoon to cool the cabin down with the AC.
 
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