Mariner Owners- Give me the Good, Bad and Ugly

My daughter wants me to re-do the woodwork.. She likes the high gloss look. I think that may take a back seat to some more pratical upgrades. I'm going to the big river next year so I'll need a depth sounder that works. I may even upgrade my radar. Any suggestions on debree finding radar.. What about thermal imaging stuff ? Think it would see a log in the water ?
 
OMG...teak should never be high gloss. Just a natural golden matt finish. BTW, teak is a naturally oily wood. Varnish does not stick to it for very long. Keep that in mind when deciding to varnish or not
 
oh I didnt say I'm doing it ! You know how it is the kid looks at those glossy boats and says, why doesnt ours look like that?
It would be a huge pita anyways.
 
Like Margaritaville, we've got a '99 350 Mariner as well. It's a GREAT boat! Too much fun! Lot's of room, lot's of lights. The bridge is great, we love all the woodwork as well (The Admiral keeps it all nice and polished/oiled). We upgraded the 20" or so sqaure TV to a 23" HD flatpanel LCD that fits over the original TV hole (with a swingout arm)...it's really nice and didn't destory any of the original wood...you'd swear it was factory-installed. I do my own maintenance (oil/filters and such) and have enough room in the engine room/bilge...and I'm NOT a small guy (think Buddha belly!). The shower is great as well.
 
I've got feelers out on a Mariner right now. Hopefully, by next spring, I'll pulling this into my slip.

Have a happy winter.
 
I think the one thing just about all Carvers share, and are known for, is that there is a heck of a lot of room in the boat for the size. Especially when you compare it to an express cruiser. That is what drew us to our Carver 325 from our prevous Four Winns 26ft express cruiser. Folks that come aboard our Carver are astounded at the amount of interior room in our boat. We would probably have had to go to a 38 express cruiser to match the room in our Carver 325.

And, the other things we like about the style is that we were tired of the "living in a cave" effect of our express cruiser; where now we have nice large windows to let the outside world in.
 
Yep, Carvers are certainly "big" for their size!!!

"OMG...teak should never be high gloss. Just a natural
golden matte finish."

Didn't Carver used to use Minwax polyurethane on their interiors in the past?
And wouldn't you be able to put a gloss version of Minwax on just as easily as
the matte (satin) finish? I don't recall if Carver ever did it but I know that
companies such as Ocean Yachts and others were doing it...
 
Carver always used a teak oil on their teak...never a varnish. In my 26 years with the same Carver dealer
I have never seen them put a hard finish on teak...and I started with boats that had fake wood bulkheads
with teak trim.
 
Is that inside or outside, or both??? I remember reading in one of the magazines that Carver used Minwax polyurethane on its interiors back in the 80s, and verifying it with representatives at a boat show...
 
I'm gonna say both....When we used to repair interior teakwood, we'd just use Starbrite teak golden teak oil, and it wood match perfectly. I don't think it would have had it been varnished with Minwax or anything else. I do know that mine is oiled and not minwax.
 
We use teak oil on ours - I saw "we"...but it's the Admiral's doing...she likes to keep the wood looking good...and I like it too...it looks REALLY nice!
 
I've had good luck with Minwax satin finish on the interior teak pieces I've added to my boat while sprucing it up....
 
forgive me for not knowing, but were the 1980 and prior using teak already, or finished mahogany?
 
I am also an owner of a 35' Mariner 1998. I love my boat for all of the reasons stated by the others. I have only had it for a couple months and I have a question for the other owners. I have not burned enough fuel to get an idea of fuel burn. I am starting to plan some long trips and would like to get an idea of range between fuel stops. I like to cruise at about 3600 rpm which gets me about 15-16 knts. I am thinking this is about the best range for fuel ecomomy. I have the mercruiser mpis engines.
Robin Conn St.Petersburg Fl.
 
Tampa - wish I could give you accurate fuel burn numbers - we are landlocked on a lake so it's not something I concern myself with.
 
"forgive me for not knowing, but were the 1980 and prior using teak already, or finished mahogany?"

Shoot, I never answered your question all this time, buddy!!! Oh well. Senility must be setting in at 41. My boat is mostly finished mahogany on the interior, but Carver was starting to work teak trim in on the interior as well, and all the later accessories we added are of course all teakwood. One thing I've never been real confident of is how to refinish that damn Mahogany - seems I'll have to sand it all down and refinish it. We've used the Lemon oil as specified in the owners manual to keep it nice, and so did the prior owners. But eventually it peels and discolors...
 
We love our 2000 Mariner 350...only reason we have it up for sale is i'm being pressured by the "boss" for something with 2 staterooms she can invite people down and give them more privacy. I personally feel that if we don't know them well enough or their too stuck up for them to sleep on the pullout couch or dinette then I don't want them on the boat!!! We've had a blast and are able to entertain quite a bit of folks on board.

I can pipe in on the fuel burn with 4 seasons of experience. We have found that we can maintain being on plane and cruise at about 14.1 knots..and burn about 11 gph per engine or 22 per hour total which is extremely reasonable for something that size.
 
Hello Dre, welcome to the forum!!! Glad to see you like your 350. What model do you
think you will be moving on up to???

BTW, as moderator of this forum, I think I am technically supposed to say something
about having a link in your signature line. Personally I have no quarrel with it, since
its not to a commercial site and it also happens to be a subject I am interested in, namely
boating on Virginia lakes. So if nobody else has a gripe then its fine with me!!!

So start another thread and tell us something about boating on the big lakes in Virginia. I
would love to hear more about it!!! So far VA has simply been a
stopover on I95 for me...
 
I truly like the 350. If it had 2 staterooms somehow, we'd never sell! For the 2 stateroom option, We like both the 43 super sport or the CPMY. My requirements are Roomy bridge to entertain at least 10 and a cockpit area that puts us close to the in-water activities. Factors we are facing is that $$$ to step up to these are more than our current house cost. As for a blurb on Va lake boating, i'll write up something but where should the thread be posted?
 
Are you looking at the 41 CPMY or the 43 (now 47) Motor Yacht? The 43 SS is a fantastic boat...especially with the IPS drives
We're gonna have both the 43 SS and the 41 CMY at our boat show here in about a month. The 41 is a very nice boat with lots of interior space, but a little tight on the bridge/aft deck/cockpit. The 43 SS has a HUGE bridge if you get the extended option!
 
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