CARVER OWNERS CLUB
This site is owned by, managed by, and exclusive
to Carver owners.

Members Update

Club News

Featured Article

Our featured article this month deals with marine insurance.  Please note that our listing of dealers, brokers, insurance agents, financial consultants, or any other person or business is NOT an endorsement of that person or business.  Mark D. Hoey CIC is a member on the Great Lakes.  He has offered to help the club negotiate an insurance policy for members.  I’d appreciate your thoughts on that.  We’ll try to have a feature each month of topics of interest to our members.  If you have a suggestion or would like to write an article, please let me know.  I asked a new member to help, a retired newspaper editor.  He asked, “Dave, what part of retired don’t you understand?”

Florida Rendezvous

Marsha and Ray Starsman hosted a very successful first Florida West Coast Rendezvous for the Carver Owners Club.  The Rendezvous was held at Palm Island Marina in Cape Haze Florida on February 27, 28, and 29.

This rendezvous was a series of firsts for the club.  For example, it was the first club event outside the mid-Atlantic region.  Some of the other firsts were:

•  A Friday night potluck dinner, instead of snacks

•   Saturday morning vendor seminars for electronics and insurance.

•  Having to wear winter coats as the temperature plunged into the 50’s.

Twenty-two boats were represented with 47 people attending.  Eighteen boats were actually present at the Rendezvous, with one cancellation and one couple choosing to drive rather than put up with heavy seas.  We had to turn away five requests for reservations because of the limited space at Palm Island Marina.  One of our members described the Marina as “tight”.  The fairways between piers were so narrow, two boats longer than 40 feet could not be placed across from each other.  There was just no room.  Several couples who were not registered attendees drove to the Rendezvous just to see the boats.  One couple was from the Orlando area, about a three and a half hour drive.

The Friday night Potluck Dinner may have presented one of the better meals of the weekend.  Members prepared their favorite salads, entrees, and desserts to share with the other attendees.  The Saturday morning seminars were a big hit.  Tropica Electronics, one of the larger electronics dealers on Florida’s West Coast, brought a specially equipped trailer with all kinds of new goodies.  Tropica also gave the club a gift certificate for a free C-Map or Navtronics card that was used as a thank you gift to Ray and Marsha.  Alycia Hoeper of Tampa Bay Underwriters gave an informative presentation related to marine insurance.  Most of the attendees went to the insurance seminar as there are some significant changes going on in Florida’s marine insurance industry.

As always, the Boat Hop was a wonderful success.  Ten boats participated in the Boat Hop.  Joe Ashworth of Galati Yacht Sales brought a 2004 560 Voyager Pilothouse, priced at $1.2 million.  It is a beautiful boat.  Jeff Rummel of Galati brought a 2004 396.  One of the more popular boats in the Hop was a 1990 Californian 45.  Several people commented on the original salon carpet and its intricate design.  One of our member’s boat was not in the Boat Hop, but looked so good that people kept going on board to look around.  The snacks were gourmet treats on all of the boats.  I especially liked the layout of the 310.  Ron and Mary did a nice job setting up their boat so they could “store the experiences”.  One of the other firsts was that our traditional Rendezvous game involved the boats in the Hop.  I can’t describe the game (I intend to steal it from Marsha for other Rendezvous) except to say that it was, uh, challenging.

Saturday night’s dinner featured steaks grilled to order, grilled salmon, steamed veggies, and salads.  It was one of the best Rendezvous formal dinner meals we’ve had.  Rum Bay Restaurant did a nice job with the meal and other preparations, including beginning to make arrangements for taking us home if the water taxi guy didn’t show up (he was 45 minutes late).  Marsh and Ray Starsman were recognized for their work on planning the Rendezvous.  They brought the game, the location, the restaurant, and several of the attendees.  Great job, Marsha and Ray.  John Todd and Carol Casal won the award for most experienced Carver Yacht.  Chuck and Julie Ashley and Lou and Chris Downs both won the award for Newest Carver Yacht.  The Club recognized Joe Ashworth of Galati Yachts for his efforts in making the Rendezvous a success.  We asked Joe to make a few remarks after dinner and he asked if it wouldn’t be easier to just have him pass a kidney stone.   

Dave Bishop, president of the Carver Owners Club gave a brief history of the Club, founded by Rich and Gayle Barnum and Patsy and Dave Bishop.  He also restated the purposes of the club which are to provide a:     

• Forum to exchange information about Carver boats in Boat Talk 

• Place to display Members’ boats in Family Album      

• Way to get together and have some fun at the Rendezvous and other events.

In response to a direct question, Dave explained that the Club is not an advocacy or an advisory group to Carver Boats or its dealers.  He went on to explain that the fundamental purpose of the club was to have fun.

We hope to see several of the Florida West Coast members at other Rendezvous, such as Milwaukee, New York City, and Lake Ontario.

Rendezvous Update

We had an unusual experience with the Florida West Coast Rendezvous that causes us to more clearly state our policy concerning boats for sale attending Rendezvous.  Boats attending may not be represented by a broker or display for sale signs that are visible outside the boat, unless your boat is being shown by a sponsor.  If your boat is for sale, you are welcomed to attend and show your boat.  Brokers or other agents cannot attend on your behalf without paying an additional sponsorship fee and receiving the Club’s prior permission.  Please call me if you have any questions about this.

Chesapeake Bay Rendezvous – The Carver Owners Club Plans Solomon’s Invasion

It is now official – the 2004 Chesapeake Bay Rendezvous will be held at Solomon’s Maryland at the new Solomon’s Yachting Center.  This may be a once in a lifetime happening as we booked into a marina under construction.  Their construction schedule means that they will not be filled with seasonal rentals   We plan to have a couple of cruises from the upper Bay to Solomon’s and a side cruise to Vera’s White Sands Resort.  We are finalizing the budget and expect to begin taking reservations later in March.  Please reserve early for this event.  I have already received several requests for slips.  Some additional notes.  We will have sponsored seminars at this Rendezvous.  Attendance by the members is always optional, but we hope to have a boat financing person, an insurance person, and an engine service representative. 

Texas Rendezvous – Cancelled

Scheduling changes and a lack of dealer support made this impossible this year.

Upper Lake Michigan Rendezvous

The Club is still planning this Rendezvous, but a busy boat show season slowed down the responses we need to move ahead. 

Lake Ontario Rendezvous

This is shaping up to be possibly our biggest Rendezvous ever, if early responses are any indication.  We have a marina, Port Dalhousie Pier Marina, reserved and he promises to turn no one away.  Ted Cooper and Patsy are finalizing some of the dinner reservations and we expect to open reservations later this month.  Boats coming from the US will receive extensive information concerning entry into Canada, if you have not done that.  It sounds like great fun to take a boat into foreign waters.

Tidewater Rendezvous

Patsy and I visited the site of the Tidewater Rendezvous, Tidewater Yacht Club and Marina.  It is a nice marina, undergoing extensive renovations.  The Deck Restaurant is a potential Saturday night dinner site.  We are working with the Portsmouth Department of Tourism to see if we can come up with some other fun things to do, such as dinner at the Children’s Museum after hours.  They promise to run the trains if we have dinner there. 

New York City Rendezvous

Again, we are moving ahead on this Rendezvous.  We are currently considering making this a four-day event, so we can spend one day in Manhattan by taking the ferry from the marina.  We hope to have this finalized by the end of April.

Getting Through the Winter without a Boat

One of the best responses came from a member in California, who asked, “Why would one winter without a boat?”  Good question.  The Florida West Coast Rendezvous group saves thousands of dollars by not winterizing their boats.  Hopefully, they spend their savings on cruising and Club Rendezvous.  Here are some other responses.

Joanie and I get through the winter by taking a cruise.  This Thursday we set sail for 10 sunny days out of Ft. Lauderdale for the Southern Caribbean on Celebrity.  This is not only important for the warm weather component of the experience, but the anticipation value of the trip.  For example, last Monday when I was out breaking my ass on the frozen driveway here in Ellicott City I was able to bear it by just focusing on the upcoming experience. 

This is our third winter cruise and I highly recommend it to all northern members subject to the vagaries of old man winter.  Not only do you get the experience of being at sea but the anticipation of actually doing it makes the darkest days of the season stream by quickly.  I do think though, that scheduling in February is essential to making the process work.  My reason is that not only will you get your dose of warm weather when it is coldest here, but when you return the weather will be gradually warming more rapidly.

So there you have it from Dr. Mel.  The mid winter cruise for the blues.  Mel Soule.

Mel goes on to suggest that we have a Carver Owners Club on a Cruise Ship during the winter.  Let me know what you think.

    In mid- December we had VOYAGER delivered from Virgin Gorda over to St. Maarten. This is about 85 miles of open ocean, the Sombero passage, directly into wind and wave. A Carver 530 does not handle these conditions well. You have to slow down to 9-10 knots pounding into 6-8' headseas. Linda and I flew from Boston directly into St. Maarten. For a month we cruised the Leeward Islands; St Maarten, St. Barth's, St. Kitts, Nevis then back to Virgin Gorda. It was an interesting trip. We cancelled going further south, down the Windwards to Grenada, due to bad weather and disappointment with what we found in the Leewards. You can read all about it on our website, www.mv-voyager.com. The pictures of the trip should be posted soon. The logbook and lessons learned are up now.

    After returning to Virgin Gorda, believe it or not, we purchased a 3 bedroom, 3 bath 2400 sq ft condo on Virgin Gorda. It won't be built until mid 2005. But given that, we have decided we do not need a 3 bedroom floating house too. So, Voyager is going up for sale. Sad. But we will buy another, smaller boat to keep in the BVI's. Also we will probably buy a 36' Sabreliner type boat to keep in Maine for summer use. So things change, and life goes on. Linda and I drove Voyager from St. John's, New Brunswick, Canada all the way down to Antigua. It has been quite a trip and quite a life's experience. Now for new adventures. We plan to ride a mail boat up almost the entire Norway coastline this summer. Let someone else do the driving. I have lots of relatives there I've never met, so it should enlightening.

Thanks to Dave Fraser.  Uh, Dave, if you think you haven’t met lots of relatives in Norway, just let your BVI address get out.  I’m pretty sure that you and I are related.  When should I meet you in Virgin Gorda?  And I can drive boats.

Two of our member couples spend at least some of the winter snowmobiling.  Carol and Cary Duncan take a trip from destination to destination in Canada over a week’s time.  Grace and Cleon Arnold invited Patsy and me up for a weekend of “sledding”.  That weekend, the high temperature was 7 degrees.  I won’t go into details, but Patsy is invited back – I’m questionable.  I mean, almost anybody could have rolled the snowmobile into the creek.  My deepest thanks to Cleon for getting me out.  Patsy was laughing too hard to be much help.

Hal called me from Palm Springs, CA with his winter suggestion.  Hal keeps his boat barely inside Washington State south of Canada.  He suggested taking a motor home to sunny California and think of interesting design changes to his boat.  Now Hal is trying to decide if he can afford the gas to get home, with the soaring fuel costs.

Gregory Johnson said, I've decided that inside heated storage is the only way to go. I can visit Paradise (356 Aft-Cabin) whenever I care to, in relative comfort, about 50 degrees. Most Saturdays a number of my fellow Detroit Yacht Club members are there to work on their boats as well. But 90% of the time we end up shooting the breeze and finally going home with about 10% of the project complete. Which means we have to come down the following weekend. It's a vicious circle. Other activities, as with other members include the Boat Show circuit. I've been volunteering with the race committee that is responsible for the Unlimited Hydroplane Race each year on the Detroit River (The Gold Cup).  I also enjoy woodworking, which turns our basement into a sawdust disaster every winter. So by the time re-commissioning comes around, I'm trying to figure out why I didn't get anything accomplished, and I'm scrambling to get her ready to splash.

One final note about winter survival. Hi Dave, in your Feb. Newsletter you where looking for suggestions on how to get thru the winter without boating. My wife and i have dedicated a spare room in our house to previous boating adventures.  The walls of the room are covered in pictures of friends and memories of seasons past Floor space has everything from seashells to bent props. The ceiling is painted a sky blue to represent the wonderful days of summer. After a bad day at work it’s just a nice place to sit, have a cocktail and remember better days are coming soon. If that don't work you can always go to where you store your boat [in my case 3 miles away] and give your boat a hug. Remember be nice to your boat and it will be nice to you, it wants to be back on the water as much as we do. Bye for now keep the faith    Frank Metes   home port Wilmington IL.

Frank, Patsy made me a similar room.  Only, instead of walls covered in pictures and bent props (not that I would ever have such a thing), it is padded.  The room can only be opened from the outside.  I spend many days there, trying to write the newsletter.

Thanks for all the great suggestions for getting through the winter.  I’m tempted to print some more in the July newsletter.

McDaniel Yacht Sales, Northeast Maryland

Just a quick Thank You to Tom Trainer and his staff at McDaniel Yacht sales for their help to Jim Shilling (Techguy) in resolving some of the more technical issues presented in Boat Talk.  Please show your appreciation by stopping by McDaniel and buying a new boat.

More Shameless Commerce

One of our goals is to offer sufficient savings to offset your annual cost of membership.  Thanks to a member who must remain nameless, we are able to offer an extensive line of marine supplies, including some parts and maintenance like cleaners and paints.  For example, the low end of bottom paints (no pun intended) comes in around $10 a gallon less than West Marine.  Even with the additional cost of shipping, you can still save more than your dues when you buy marine supplies from the Club.  If you need something and don’t find it, I probably just haven’t had time to add it yet – the lines offered are quite extensive.  Look at the Club Store as you prepare for the recommissioning.  Use the discount code COC2003 to save 10% off the published prices.  In a sad note, Dolphinite recently declared bankruptcy.  They are no longer supplying products to any distributor.

UK Membership

I am one of 4 owners of a 1989 Carver 23 in UK which we are currently refurbishing. Is there any UK membership.  Even as a new owner we are much impressed with quality of boat despite previous owners efforts!

We do have a few members in Europe.  Most of our UK members keep their boats in Spain, rather than the North Atlantic.

Help with a Vintage Boat

I recently bought a carver Mariner 28 (1974 model) which I am going to restore. It still has the original motor and mercruiser leg and I would like to get wire diagrams , plans, drawings , photos etc to restore to original.

If you can help, please contact me, webdude@carverownersclub.com.  I’ll post some photos they sent later this month.

More Engine Problems

I own a 1998 Carver 500 motor yacht, and let me say at the beginning that I am happy with Caver as a company and the    boat they produced for me. However, nothing is perfect, so I am passing on my experiences is hopes some one else may

benefit. Shortly after taking delivery, I noticed that I had a vibration at slow speeds (850-900) rpm. It felt like a bent or out     of balance propeller. Sometimes the vibration was very slight, but at other times it was very violent (enough to make me shut down the throttles for fear of doing damage). I talked it over with the Carver warranty dept., however we both agreed it did not seem to be a warranty problem, but more of a maintenance matter involving bent prop or shaft. I had both props and shafts removed and checked. The shop said they did some very marginal repair, but nothing that should be noticed.  They were right. Needless to say, I had the shaft alignment checked on both shafts several times during this period, and by now I had about 400 hours on the engines in 2-1/2 years. While inspecting the engine mounts as a possible cause to this problem, I discovered an oil leak coming from the rear of both transmissions. A closer inspection revealed a crack in both transmission cases extending from the output shaft down about    2 inches. I called ZF in Florida, and they sent a man to inspect my boat as it was being lifted out of the water. In spite of the fact that there was no visible damage as a result of hitting some underwater object, he ruled that my transmission was out of warranty by one or two weeks. While searching for answers, I had contact DeMann Marine Power located near Wilmington Maritime Center on the Cape Fear River in North Carolina. Tom DeMann is the president and a dealer for both Cummins Marine engines and ZF marine transmissions, and I might add very knowledgeable. He went to work for me, and soon had the folks at ZF agreeing to replace both transmissions under warranty. While discussing this, I happened to mention the vibration I had experienced over the past two years. Tom said he knew exactly what it was. It was caused by a faulty fuel pump. It seems at slow speeds the fuel pumps caused the engines to surge slightly, and depending if the engines surged in unison the vibration was severe, if not in unison the vibration was slight. He replaced both transmissions and fuel pumps and my problems were solved.

Now I have turned to Tom again with a problem. I now have 890 hours on my engines, so I'm cleaning the heat exchangers for the engines, turbo-chargers, and transmissions. The after-coolers are both effected by electrolysis. Tom's mechanics had cleaned these units at 350 hours along with his previous work, but with a core made of brass and a housing made of aluminum, it would seem this becomes a sort of battery when salt water is added. In any case Tom has recommended a fix using an all aluminum product that should last longer. I can only urge those Carver owners who have an engine or transmission problem, to contact Tom DeMann at Demann Marine Power located at 107 Bryan Road, Wilmington, N.C. 28412 or call him at 910-791- 6222. Bob Rippel

Boating in Baghdad

As many of you know, two of our members were activated for service in Iraq last year.  One is home and one is on a work assignment in Iraq.  Here is a brief update.

I wrote, “I realize that you are probably not doing a lot of boating these days.  Would you like to continue to receive the emailed Carver Owners Club Newsletter?”  His reply.  “Yes I do enjoy reading the newsletter = if there is anything I can do for the club in the Chesapeake area when I get back let me know – I should be back in the US by the end of March”

We hope to see you soon.

Safe boating,