Shopping, then Cruising Chicago to South Florida

[pizzazsdaddy]

Forgive me for the delay on reporting about my latest boat shopping expedition and subsequent delivery to her new owner. Since the boat shopping trip and the delivery home were 2 separate adventures, I'll start with the shopping trip that began after I returned from the Bahamas in late July.
Since a new 60 foot anything these days pegs the needle around $3Mil, the premise seemed simple enough. Help my buddy find the nicest turn key boat period, preferably a pristine older Hatteras... Or find as close to a new any other boat as possible for 30% of a new boat price. Restoration was out of the question. We spent about 4 weeks, personally inspecting 35 different boats from Minnesota to Florida. Price was not the object. Physical condition was.

A 70 footer was too big. A 50 footer was too small. We looked at a dozen different Hatteras's. Not a single one for sale at the time (condition wise) was worth bothering with. Where we ended up was unexpected. It was a 57 foot 2003 model Carver Voyager...for lots of reasons.

View attachment 24004
US Built. 700 fresh water only hours on Cummins QSM11s, Inside winter stored since new, Updated Electronics, Factory Hardtop, Comfortable and open interior layout, simply the nicest boat we looked at overall. Cummins Chicago did the engine survey...and they even fixed an oil seal for free that was under a 7 year old recall. The hull surveyor recommended to us up there missed half of what wasn't right. Still, at the end of the day, it was the cleanest "newest" best overall boat for under $400,000 available at the time. And what an opportunity to enjoy the once again pristine Great Lakes waters...

What was most surprising, was the ride, performance and handling characteristics of this boat, particularly during the offshore run from New York to Norfolk (yes we did this in one day) while experiencing a full day of 4-7 and 5-8ft beam and following seas, all while maintaining 24 knots, at 1950RPM and 75% of engine load at a burn rate of 41 gallons per hour.

In spite of miserable conditions from a now retreating Hurricane Marie, you wouldn't know it. The ride was way better than we expected, as if she were dancing around the sea conditions. In places where we did have to go slow...this 57 Carver delivered 10.5 Knots at 1050 RPM at a burn rate of 4.6 gallons per engine per hour. The 2600 mile journey was flawless. Not a single issue or breakdown. Captain Bruce Brooks, who's been delivering boats for 40 years was totally surprised and equally impressed. Neither of us expected what this Carver delivered.

 

[pizzazsdaddy]

This was the Carver 57, as docked in Frankfort MI on the 3rd day of out journey...

 

[Boatsb]

A bit hard on the eyes for sure.

 

[Finalee]

Anyday on the water without a problem is a good one.

 

[rsmith]

A bit hard on the eyes for sure.

Fugly

 

[jim rosenthal]

Maybe Carver have upped their game. They have a reputation for difficult access for servicing- lots of stuff crammed in and hard to get to. Anyone want to comment? Glad you had a good trip. Always nice when a boat turns out better than you expected. If nothing else, those are the engines of choicce.

 

[northshoreone]

I owned the same boat, 2000 model year, for ten years in the Great Lakes. Great use of space in the boat! Mine also had the QSM 11 engines 635 hp and cruised at 25 kt burning 46 gal. Per hr. I did allot of customizing on mine and really enjoyed the boat! They are no Hatteras for sure but a good value fore the money! The Great Lakes are very rough cruising waters allot of the time and in anything more than 3 ft waves it’s a rough ride and you better be holding on to something! I had mine in 6 ft plus the boat would take it but it was NOT fun! My only complaint with the boat was it was almost impossible to get a good shine on the hull! Something they use in the mold during the build process is what I was told. I tried almost every kind of wax you could think of to get it to look good.

 

[pizzazsdaddy]

This boat had the 735hp QSM11s. During sea trial we topped out at 31 knots, which is the first time I've ever seen the top speed actually equal what the factory said it would. No, it's way not a Hatteras, but way above an Azimut or a Sea Ray in quality details. The cherry wood interior is very well done. The joiner work is excellent. While she hates head seas, the ride and performance far exceeded our expectations in a variety of sea conditions. The comparison here is a fast "modern" boat with modern engines, modern electrical systems, and modern equipment, as opposed to an older design with old technology for about the same total money invested. In this particular case, the Carver 57 won the argument.

What I found was a well thought out and comfortable galley up design with a pilothouse that is open to the salon. For her 72 year old owner, there are no steep stairs to the bridge deck or the staterooms below. And no sharp corners anywhere. As for her gel-coat, when we got her home, we used a 4-step gel-coat restoration process that brought her back up to "new" condition.

What put us over the top "after the fact" was the incredible "customer service" we experienced both from Carver/Marquis and Cummins. During the engine survey, the folks at Cummins found an oil gasket issue that was part of a 10 year old recall that Cummins fixed for free. And the folks at Carver/Marquis have bent over backwards in answering every question or concern we have had since buying her. Here's an interesting fact. Carver delivered more (360) 53/56/57 Voyagers during this models 9 year production run, than Hatteras delivered the venerable 53 Motor Yacht during a 19 year run. If you can't find a nice enough older Hatteras, the Carver 57 Voyager is a pretty good option in my opinion.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

. If you can't find a nice enough older Hatteras, the Carver 57 Voyager is a pretty good option in my opinion.

If you don't care about looks. And IMO, life is too short to own an ugly boat.

 

[Boatsb]

McDonald's serves more meals than Ruth's Chris


Numbers are just that. Numbers.

And there are more people with an IQ below 130 than above yet they sell carvers.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

For $400,000 I think I'd rather buy the best Hatteras I could find around $200,000 and put $200,000 into it. You'd have a much better boat and you'd be proud to own it. If I owned that Carver I'd be kicking myself that it wasn't painted, had no isolation transforms, no stablilzers, etc, etc.....

After owning a painted boat, I'd never own one with finish gelcoat and I boat in the north away from the worst of the sun damage.

 

[JLR]

Sky - I would like to take issue, a little, with your last. As you know, I own a 74 Hatteras and now also a 56 Ocean. The Ocean is a painted hull so I am in agreement with you there. Although I have only owned the Ocean for about one month, I can say that it fits the bill for my intended use. Would I want to use it to make a 200 mile Canyon trip everyday, probably not. Does it have its shortcomings like limited access to certain portions of the hull, no parallel switches, no internal strainers for the engines, you bet. But in fairness, it also is devoid of the Hatteras smell, has a beautiful interior, updated head and water pump systems and the like. I also like the 27 knot cruise at 60 GPH. So, in a 15 foot sea, would I rather have a Hatteras - for sure. But, to go fishing for blues and strippers in Long Island Sound and avoiding going out in anything over 3 feet, the Ocean is BETTER for me than an older, slower, heavier, thirsty Hatteras. That's one reason why I sold my 42 Hatteras Open to but the Ocean. I know it is all a matter of personal preference byt for my needs, it was the right choice.

 

[saltshaker]

An Ocean is no Hatteras but it’s also no Carver. The Ocean is miles above. I have several friends who own or owned Carvers and while the interiors are pretty and often well laid out, it’s not a boat I could own. When you start taking things apart and look behind the curtain, the build quality is too poor for my liking. Tat pretty interior is built over poor quality materials. I’m no fan of Searay but to claim a Carver is better built than Searay or Azimut is very far from what i’ve Seen.

 

[Pete]

If you don't care about looks. And IMO, life is too short to own an ugly boat.

Life is also too short to spend hours defending your boat against 40 years of mariner scorn, well earned scorn.

You have to wonder if any market testing of the external appearance was done?

Pete

 

[Pete]

Let me expand on my market testing comment with a short story. Back 6 or 8 years ago the Admiral and I attended the Miami Show and were on a new Hatteras Sport Fish. A person with a Hatteras badge approached us and asked if we would take a preference survey about a possible new product. After assuring the person twice that I was not a potential customer for a 100 foot motor yacht, which was the subject of the survey, they came close to insisting and we agreed. Suppose they did not want to mess up their random selection algorithm.

So we sat down for 30 minutes with independent surveyor, hired by Hatteras, and looked at a book of alternative line drawings for every aspect of the proposed product, with the main focus on the exterior of the boat, from deck layout to handrail designs. Received a SAM's discount for outerwear coupon for our participation which never got used.

This is the market testing of which I write in my prior post. Just wondering how Carver decided that the exterior of the 57 would be appealing to potential buyers or anyone else?

Pete

 

[carolinacoast]

It resembles an RV to me, similiar to a bluewater. Perhaps the target market is the houseboat or RV crowd.
Then the look makes sense.
We are not the target market for sure.

 

[Walter P]

Very few boat designs excite me as much as a classic Hatteras, however Carver apparently knows it's
market because they sell a lot of boats. Most of us on this forum are not their market but as the saying
goes "different strokes for different folks".

Walt

 

[krush]

Carver doesn't care what we think. End of story. LOL

I don't like the lines of the front, but it's not horrible looking. I'd take it over a hatteras MY any day. Why? It has a cockpit and a raised pilot house.

 

[Nightingale]

In my humble opinion the Carver Voyager series looks a whole lot like the newer Hatteras 56/60 and 63/64 Motor Yachts. Not my personal preference but there is a pretty large design comparison so you have to think that these designs were pretty well thought out.

 

[Bertramguy]

I live in Southern California, Newport Beach. For whatever reason Carver had one hell of a dealer here or it seems like it because they are everywhere in Newport Harbor. Unfortunately I have two in my canal that I get look at on a daily basis. I have absolutely nothing to base this statement on other than my own observations but out of the hundreds or possibly a thousand Carvers in my bay the fraction of boats that actually leave the harbor for say Catalina Island, or a trip south to San Diego (god forbid Mexico) is extremely small. These are glorified cocktail cruisers at best. Another unsubstantiated worthless stat that I have observed is why the hell cant a Carver / Bayliner / Searey owner pull their fenders in ? My god the boats are ugly enough on their own the last thing they need is 8 fenders hanging off the sides going down the bay. Bayport Yachts that sold all of these glorious Carvers is no longer the dealer which is kind of weird. I have no axe to grind with Carvers other than the fender thing to each his own.