Carver 356 Port side list

R

reelpriority

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Joined
Apr 13, 2013
RO Number
33227
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Has anyone with a Carver 356 aft Cabin noticed a tendency for the hull to have a port side list? There are a number of heavy Carver installed items on the port side: Galley with cabinets, frig, and stove; Salon couch; 70 gallon fresh water tank under aft stateroom ( somewhat centered); ice maker and wet bar on aft deck; entry stairs from swim platform to aft deck. All three fuel tanks are full. No water in the bilge areas It's a mystery.
Thanks.
 
Reel,
Whether a Carver, Silverton or Searay, to name a few, I would not be concerned. IMHO, just seems to be the nature of the beast. Manufactures do their best to balance a boat, and I bet your boat likes ones I have had have no list, when empty (minus your stuff on the boat). Only real solution is to balance your boat with less fuel, water or stuff on the boat to the side it lists.

In other words, this is not exclusively a Carver problem :)
 
Our last boat was a Carver 356 I reluctantly sold. I noticed a listing to port when the water tank is full. The tank is not centered, they put it under the aft bed. We don't have water at our dock and try to conserve water, and fill it full every time we fuel up or pump out.
So I tended to carry an extra twenty gallons of so of fuel in the starboard tank to offset the list.
It did the trick.
Enjoy it, they are great boats.
 
VT, thanks for your suggestion on the aft water tank. A gallon of water weighs 8.34 pounds which means a full 70 gallon tank would add about 584 lbs of weight to the stern and it would favor the port side.
I will purge water from the tank and see if the hull begins to level out.
 
I purged water from the aft fresh water tank and we did see a measurable change in the attitude of the hull. The port listing was corrected and the stern lifted. The swim platform was easier to access from the floating dock due to the raised height of the hull/ boat.
Too bad the initial Carver design could not accommodate for full fuel and water tanks. I assume the designers expected that the systems would always be in flux between empty and full.
 
I have a Carver 350 and have no list regardless of gas or water tank levels. I only have 2 gas tanks, one on each side. Is you third centered?
Jim
 
Reelpriority, do you like your 356? What year is it? We are at the end of our 3rd season with ours and besides all the steps.... Really enjoy her. And not to high jack the thread. Ours lists to port with full water. It is more of a visual thing. I don't feel it underway or when I am on the boat.
 
How much list??

I don't think any from the factory boats have a noticeable list.

Do you have extra batteries?
 
I'm surprised by this... I have a 32 Carver Montego, with a 66 gal water tank that's definitely not centered...it's on the port side under the midcabin bed... and I have no list to port at all. I find it strange that this would be the problem on a 355 or 6?
 
Carver Virgin: Our 356 is a 1999 model year with two 98 gallon port and starboard fuel tanks plus a 125 gallon stern tank. The port side list was very visible with a distinct lean of about 3 inches which lifted the starboard engine exhaust completely out of the water.
Emptying 500 lbs of fresh water raised the port side and stern of the boat.
We had also recently replaced the original Carver innerspring mattress in the aft stateroom with a new HMC foam mattress which is heavier than the factory mattress.
The original Aft stateroom A/C unit was removed and replaced with a new Marine Air Turbo unit which is smaller and lighter than the original Marine Air system.
We like our 1999 356 but we did need to remove and replace a number of major items which seemed to fail in the last two years: Two A/C units; Refrigerator; Ice Maker; Hot Water Heater; Stero Speakers; Risers, Manifolds, and all exhaust hoses
 
RP, do you notice that the boat also sits bow down at rest as well? Sorry to hear about all of those failing issues. Ours is a 2001...wondering what we are in for? Do you boat in fresh or salt water?
 
CV: We have not noticed a bow down position for our 356. We have an all chain anchor rode too. The boat has lived in salt water since delivery to the original owner in 2000.
The only time we noticed a bow down situation on our 356 was when the stern fuel tank was mostly empty. 125 gallons of fuel in the stern tank will help to move the bow up.
 
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