1987 Carver 42 Cockpit

[Shrew]

Take it with a grain of salt. The majority of active members on this site are sailors. The truth is, when comparing ROI, look at the cost of the diesel engine as compared to a comparable gas engine. Then look at the difference in burn rate. Finally consider the difference in total cost of fuel. True that the diesel will be more dependable have a lower cost per mile/cost per hour.

They key is the amount of time it would take you break even. Based on the number of hours most recreational weekend boaters use their boats, that's anywhere from 10 - 20 years. You can even repower a gas engine at 10 years and STILL not reach the ROI for diesel. Again that is the typically, weekend user in relatively northern climates that hauls seasonally.

For commercial boats, or any boat that runs daily and/or large numbers of hours per year, yes the ROI is achieved much more quickly.

[SV Bacchus]

[QUOTE=landsend;2223263]454's are only good for dock queens? Incredibly ignorant./QUOTE]

Did I say something ignorant? I don't think so, maybe you misread; problem with the Net is you don't get tonal inflection of the voice.

I love 454's, especially in cars but good engines in boats as well.

What I said was they are expensive when you run them the way most will want to run them, up on plane. Some simply can't afford it. But heck, the Diesel boats that get up on plane and go fast can't be afforded by most of us either..

[Comogene]

I agree that a pair of well maintained 454s are not just for dock queens. I run a 36-foot, 43 year old, solid fiberglass hull of 25,000 pounds just fine with a pair. Fuel burn is about 12 gph each at 15-16 knots. No, its not a speed boat nor a trawler but it sure is comfortable. New diesels would set me back anywhere from $30-40,000 (conservatively) and I can replace both of the 454s with rebuilt or even new blocks for less than $10,000. That is 4 gas replacements to cover the cost of the diesel. Diesel fuel is also more expensive than gas and from what I understand, the fuel burn is not that much less.


Carver makes a nice, roomy boat. Not the best but far from the worst. I think you will find the 42-aft cabin to be very comfortable and I am not aware of any inherent problem with that model. Look around the windows and entry for signs of water leakage - these take an enormous amount of energy to trace back to their source. Make sure you have a hull survey, a sounding of the fuel tanks and a check of the 110-v electrical system.

[landsend]

Bacchus, it wasn't your comment on dock queens. And yes 454's are gas hogs. My same boat with diesels would have cost me $40000.00 more. Love to have them but I just wanted to get out on the water.
Diesel is actually cheaper than gasoline now.
Comogene, my fuel burn at 16 knots is 30 gph!!! But my trips are short.

[TooCoys]

Originally Posted by SV Bacchus

I almost bought a Mainship 34 with twin 454's and the 1.2 hour roundtrip from seller's house to haul out in Tarpon Springs cost $200 in fuel. In fairness some of that time was running WOT for the surveyor. I remember standing at the rear with the surveyor looking at the beautiful white and blue churned up water from being "at speed". Surveyor said "Beautiful isn't it? Enjoy it now because most can't afford to see it that often!"

I have a friend of mine who has a 1996 Mainship 34 with the same engines, and she's itching to move back to a land based home. I have another thread on this model because its our second option. If she gets to the point where she just can't live on the water anymore, she's going to give us first dibs on it.

We like the layout of the Carver better because its bigger and has a little more room, but I like the Mainship too.

[SV Bacchus]

Carvers are sweet, no doubt. We are big weekend boaters and go out once a weekend every other weekend, both days each weekend in between so roughly 6 times a month. We had an old Chris Craft Stinger with twin Merc outboards and still spent $160 to $180 each day on fuel. The Merc's were first gen EFIs and just not that efficient and we liked going fast. Couple that with a bit of a run to the party island we liked to hang at with marina gas prices, it was eating us up. Expensive but sure was fun at the time.

We've since moved to another area of W/Cent Fl and new cruising grounds; the reason for looking at the Mainship. Started looking at the figures closely and they were not going to be that much different. The new party island is close to Tarpon Springs and a bit of a run for us.

After much deliberation we decided against the $1,000 a month gas bills just for entertainment purposes and are going a different route. Hence the sub to CF, sailboating is the new us and Diesel just happens to be the fuel of choice the older, but new to us, yacht demands.

That folks want and use gas in their 30'+ cruisers or fishing boats makes perfect sense to us, we did it for years. However, when someone asks a question about a boat like that we think they should know the ramifications if they happen to be uninformed. The true cost of any boating can be alarming to those just getting into it.

It's all good my fellow brothers, not slamming anything or anybody.

Dang things cost money when you use them and they cost money when you don't use em enough!

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by TooCoys

Well, it isn't neglected. I can't go into details just yet, but considering its age it's still in great condition.

But this is my question, if you had the opportunity to get into a boat like this for an obsurdly good price, would you? I'm talking like $30k or more under book value.

You have to take the idea of "book value" with a grain of salt... More accurate would be "market value" based on recent sales of comparables. (But maybe you meant that.)

Assuming you like the boat!

And if gas engines are well-suited (enough) to your intentions!

And then assuming it passes the marine survey -- enough to suit you!

The engines wouldn't to me be a showstopper. Might be fine as is, actually... and the mechanical survey (454 specialist) might show that.


You'd still likely want to do some immediate surgery, depending on the depth of your mechanical survey -- new risers and manifolds and so forth and during that you might find everything is hunky-dory for another boatload of hours. Or you might find right there that you might as well re-build right away. Or you might find you might as well replace right away. But you already know at least a little about the potential costs of re-man'd engines, and if that's not a budget show-stopper...


Could work fine.


-Chris