Carver Mariner 350

M

margaritaville

Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2007
RO Number
26765
Messages
49
Hi Everyone,
We are the proud new owners of a 1999 Mariner 350 - and we're REALLY excited about it.

Delivery is planned for a couple of weeks from now - and we have a nice week long vacation planned in July where we plan to be on the hook for as long as possible (Georgian Bay, Ontario).

I've noticed a few Mariner owners on here, and was hoping to pick your brains for a bit.

Our current boat is a 25' Regal so we're completely unfamiliar with twin engines, v-drives, and generators.

How long can we expect to run on a full tank of gas? How does the gas work for the generator - is it a separate tank altogether? How long can you run the generator for, and how long does it take for the generator to charger the batteries?

I'm sure all of this will be covered in our weekend long "instruction" with the dealer who is selling the boat to us - but I'm just so darn excited that I thought I'd get going on planning our vacation.

The past few years we have made this excursion, from Midland to the Bustard Islands - we go the inland waterway and it takes us a couple days to get there - and we have no generator so basically have 2 days of batteries if we really conserve....we're thrilled to potentially be able to spend more time up there with our new boat.

Jen
 
Hi Jen-
Congratulations on your new boat! My brother-in-law has a '98 350 Mariner. Fuel consumption depends on how fast you're going, and whether or not you're using the generator. Your boat planes at about 3100 RPMs and 18-19 mph. At that speed your probably close to burning 1 gallon per mile (less with the generator running). Slower obviously would get better mileage. The Mariner you have holds 246 gallons. The generator uses the same tank as one of the engines. On my boat it's the port tank; I can't remember which tank on my BIL's Mariner. I think it may be starboard though. Look in your engine room to see if you can switch which tank it draws from. I'll tell you now,if I hve my genset and an engine sucking from the same tank the needle sure drops fast! You should have a battery charger so your batteries should be close to fully charged most of the time if you hook up to shore power. Underway I believe that your alternators not generator charges the batteries just like on a car (someone correct me if I'm wrong). Don't worry, I was completely unfamiliar with twin engines too, and I think you'll find it's much easier once you get it down than single screw boats. You can turn on a dime which definitely helps with docking. Enjoy that trip! Sounds like a lot of fun!
 
Congratulations! As much as I love my Mariner 32, I'm jealous.

When on the hook I turn my battery selector to one battery only so I can use the other one to start the engine if I discharge too far. I've never had to use the genset to recharge as the alternator makes short work of topping off the juice when underway.

You made a great choice. Enjoy!
 
I've got a '99 Mariner 350 as well....CONGRATS!! rich356 pretty much covered it all...there's a fuel selector valve for port or stbd tanks (and off, I believe) for the genset.

We went from a 21' wakeboat to the Mariner, it was an easy transition...just take things slow when it comes to docking/slow-speed maneuvering, don't be afraid to abort a docking attempt. The one drawback of the helm being so far forward is that you can't see the aft corners, I more or less know where they are and I've got a foot or so on each side when backing into the slip...I singlehand the boat all the time with no issues...but to "learn" where the aft corners were I would have my wife in the cockpit (not on the swimdeck) shouting out "go port, go stbd, straight, abort" etc....

As far as fuel usage, I typically get a full summer on one tank, the first summer I'd burn a tank a month (the "new" factor)...but I've since chilled out...lol...we're on a small lake and I typically just do a slow cruise, not usually in a hurry....my typical RPMs/speeds are:

-fast idle (in the marina, no wake, just a few MPH)
-1,800 or so, about 7-8 mph
-3,200 or so, about 17 or 18

I swtich the battery selector switch every time I go out...and it's a good thing too...it's saved my bacon a few times (although I could've used the genset to charge)...this past Saturday/Sunday it appears that my genset impellor started to self-destruct...still water coming out, about half of normal, steam from exhaust, much more exhaust noise (so, leads me to believe the impeller started fragging - hope to replace this weekend)....it shut off soon after (most likely high temp sensor shutting it down)...I ran on one battery (no genset) from 9 pm until 3 am with anchor light, stereo, one interior light, etc....went to start...dead....swtiched over...vrooom!
 
Jen - Just in re-reading your post, you are talking about the generator charging the battery on the hook with the engine off right? If so, your batteries will probably remain charged the whole time. If you disconnect from shore power, travel to your destination and have the genset on while on the hook they'll stay charged. If you turn the genset off obviously they will discharge running all of your 12 volt systems, but they'd recharge quickly if you move or turn the genny back on. I agree with Tom about switching to one battery on the hook. You can run the genset for as long as you have the fuel. Keep an eye on that fuel gauge though.
 
Thanks so much for all your replies. I'm pretty excited about the genset - and yes, we would be using it while on the hook to just quick charge the batteries from time to time. When we were looking at the boat, a quick peek in the engine room appeared to reveal a bank of 4 house batteries and 2 cranking batteries??? I THINK. Does this sound about right? We have 1 house and 1 crank right now, and we eek out 2 days of battery on the hook, it will be really nice to be able to use some systems a bit more with the Mariner though.

Rich, I've heard that 2 is better than one :) And good advice re running the genset - we can have fully charged batteries but if we're miles from the nearest port with fuel we're a bit screwed with no gas.

Ah, now I'm even MORE excited. 2 weeks are going to DRAG!!

Brad - thanks so much for your comments on an easy transition - hubby is quite nervous about docking. He's got the Regal down to a science, but this past weekend when the wind was blowing at us from the dock we had a bit of trouble. Made him even more nervous about the Mariner...but I suppose the key is go slow. We'll have to practice and see what works. When you dock - does your wife jump out and tie down a line, or how do you work it? Right now I jump out and grab the bow rail - not going to happen with the Mariner I don't think LOL.
 
We generally dock stern to. My wife stands at the aft end of the side deck to help spot where the swim platform is relative to the pilings (as described above).

After entering the no-wake zone, my wife drops the fenders alongside the hull. We leave the spring lines looped on the piling amidships. When we reach that point the Admiral leans over and picks them up. I kill the engine. If the boat starts to drift too far back or to go back out, use the appropriate spring line around a deck cleat to contain the movement. (For example, if it is drafting backward, loop the forward spring line around the aft end of the aft cleat and pull the line.) Since she is more mobile than I am, I relieve her at the spring lines while she calmly climbs onto the dock and picks up the stern lines which remained at the dock and then gets back in the cockpit. Before she ties them off, I pull the boat forward with the spring line to where I can walk onto the foredeck and secure the bow lines. Using the other spring line, I pull the boat back to where she can secure the stern lines at the proper length. Lastly, the spring lines are tied off. Don't know if that is the best way, but it works easily for us and is one of the reasons I love the Mariner layout. Some couples seem to act like docking is a timed event. It's not a pit stop at Indy. Take it all slowly and calmly (unless it is very windy or the current is strong) and you'll be amazed at how easy it is.

The Mariner profile is susceptible to wind so sometimes I miss backing into the slip on the first go. Just pull out, realign, and try again. I think we have one of the easiest boats to maneuver and dock we could possibly have chosen.

(Hope that wasn't too much detail.)
 
No, that was GREAT detail. Now we just need to figure out what spring lines are *sigh.

We bow in, the depth at our docks aren't so great near the wall, and the view is better off the stern when we're relaxing :)
 
Jen - Two is most definitely always better than one ;-). I would guess though that you have three batteries. 1 crank, 1 house and 1 for the genset. That's how it is on my boat and the Mariner is very similar. Spring lines are tied to the two cleats along either side. We actually tie up the bow spring line first because we dock bow in too heading into a cement wall. The bow spring stops our forward motion and keeps us from hitting the wall. About wind, my boat is even more like a sail than the Mariner so it is definitely a big consideration. About your old boat, I'm a bit surprised that it didn't charge the batteries if you ran the engines a bit. Maybe you stayed on the hook the whole time though. I probably would have pulled up the anchor and ran for a bit to recharge if I didn't have a genny. If it's any consolation to your husband, this is my first boat. I've only driven single screw boats before this one (other than my BIL's Mariner), and it's not hard to learn. There are some great videos and books on twin screw boat handling that really helped me from a confidence standpoint. My suggestion though would be to stay as calm as possible to avoid overreacting and overcorrecting, and if it isn't going well, back off and start over. Don't try to correct a bad docking for too long. The other thing is that if there is no wind take it slow. When there is wind you have to go faster to get it in (as I found out the hard way). Listen to me, I sound like some seasoned veteran! Not trying to be a know-it-all so I hope you don't mind. Since I bought my boat in the middle of this past winter I had tons of time to read and research. So far I've only failed docking once though I'm sure there are many failures to come!
 
I dock stern-to (back the boat in), once the boat is just a foot in the slip, it's no worries...I'm in a U-type slip (main dock with finger docks on each side), the pilings/poles (for roof support) all have plastic sliders on them, my bow rail is the widest part of the boat, so I just slide on in. Once I'm a few feet away from being all the way into the slip I'll shut the engines down. The first line that either I (or my wife, or a trained guest) reach for is the port aft spring line, we just put it around the cleat (I don't worry about going through and around when first getting into the slip, I do that later)...that one line will keep the boat perfect safe and keep any damage from happening, it is set perfect. Then comes the stbd aft spring line...if folks need to disembark quickly I wait to attach the bow lines...in between all of this I shut off shore 1 and 2 and let the genset cool down (no load) for about 5 minutes...I hook up shore power 1 & 2, satellite feed, then turn off the genset and turn shore 1 & 2 back on...letting the blower run another 5 minutes before I shut it off.
 
congrats on the new boat. did you have a survey done? if so, the surveyor should be able to tell you not only about the condition of the boat, but also about what the previous owner(s) did (or didn't do). we just moved from a 26 ft express to the 32 ft voyager (35 ft loa). although a different boat than the mariner, we had the same transition to twin engines and even though our new boat catches more wind than the previous one, docking is easier now than with the express. btw, we have 6 batteries on ours. 2 starting batteries and 4 6v golf cart batteries (with incredibly high amp hours) to power the house systems. the previous owner also installed a kick-butt inverter / charger system. we don't have a genny (or air conditioning), but the battery setup will allow us to stay on the hook for a few days. good luck with the boat.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I'm doing a lot of searching about spring lines and I think I've kind of figured out what to do - correct me if I'm wrong, but we should leave at least one spring line on the dock - that's the one we want to set to the perfect length to stop our forward motion into the slip....likely going to be midway down the dock to a forward cleat on the boat?

As for batteries, I guess I'm going to have to wait until next weekend to sort through all that when we do our sea-trial (crossing fingers for good weather).

Rich, our old boat does charge the batteries if we fire up the engine but we don't pull up the hook and run it, we just run the engine for awhile...gives us a bit more juice. But you should see how we tuck back in to an anchorage, we have about 3 or 4 lines to keep the boat just so- getting out of there is a lot of work so we don't go out to run the engines :)

Bruce, yes we're having a survey done. I'm nervous but the dealer assures me that if anything comes up on the survey it will be rectified before we sign the deal. The one thing that mildly concerns me right now, and I'm hoping to hear from the surveyor as to an opinion, is the difference in engine hours. One engine has almost 100 more hours than the other...one around 500 and one around 600 I think. Sound strange?
 
Dont be nervous about a survey be eager. If the boat is a POS now is the time to find out so you can cancel the deal. More lilkly the survey will turn up some things that need fixing so you have the opportunity to get the seller to pay for stuff instead of you. How can that be bad????
 
margaritaville - I keep my lines (in the slip) set, meaning that they are always there and the same length, when I pull into the slip I just have to loop the lines through and around the cleats...no worrying about re-setting lines...of course I've got a full set of lines on the boat in various lockers for rafting up with others and also docking at the few places on our (small) lake....along with fenders, etc...oh, a dock pole/boat hook is immensely helpful too. I've got fender baskets (4 total, 2 port, 2 stb on the bow railing) for the fenders (12" dia. I believe, bigger is BETTER).
 
Got the new boat this weekend! REALLY HAPPY.

Buddha, oh wise one, a couple of questions for you....

where is the genset fuel selector switch?

survey said helm seat adjustable but we could not figure that out....and it's way too close to steering wheel - is it truly adjustable and if so, how the heck do we do that?

do you have the snap in carpets in the aft salon, and if so, do you leave them on during the week? will they get yucky if they get wet?
 
Congrats margaritaville!!

BTW - the Buddha is not for my "tiny pearls of wisdom"...it's the funny way to say "hi, I'm Brad, with the beer belly"....lol

The genset fuel selector switch on my boat is literally right about the generator...open the center hatch (and look right about the genset and right behind the hinge for the hatch - that's where mine is.

Yes - my seat is adjustable - there should be a lever on the front/bottom of the helm seat (it's a double-wide seat), mine is just to port of center...works similar to a manual car seat, move the lever, slide the seat.

I have snap-in carpet in the cockpit (where the engine hatches are)...it's one big piece. Yes, I leave it in most of the time, as I use my boat (alot!). However, I've had the cockpit carpet rolled up and stored on the bridge for the past few months, and I've had the bridge enclosure up until Saturday morning...finally took it all down...it's been raining ALOT here lately...we're in a covered end slip. We still get some rain on the boat depending on how severe the wind/storm is. If the carpet gets wet I'll hose it off (as it tends to get dirty just from exposure) and let it bake in the sun for a few hours and then it's all good.

Congrats again!!
 
Brad, thanks again. My husband should be called Buddha then as well, sporting quite the "2-4" :)

I thought the seat was adjustable (double wide as well), I glanced underneath and saw that it's on rails - but couldn't see the lever.....mind you this was while we were underway and my husband was standing in front of it. It doesn't look like it goes back too much further though given the table leg right there....do you find it too cramped to stand while driving?

as for the carpet - we're not in a covered slip so the bridge enclosure will be up all the time...ours also has a canvas bimini extension over the salon, but no side enclosures...so just a sun shade really....do you recommend that we store the carpet in the bridge then?
 
Sure thing.

Maybe the lever broke off? You might be able to get a long screwdriver in there and try to work the mechanism...I keep the seat all the way back and it's fine for me for standing at the helm...sometimes I like to sit on the top of the seat/table and drive with my feet...but only out in the main body of water (no boats around, etc...)...I find that the top of the windshield is in my way when "perfectly seated" - meaning that I either need to be taller or shorter to either above/below the top of the windshield. Usually I'm kicked back in the seat...I typically stand when maneuvering around the docks and other boats though. You will probably get longer life by storing the carpet on the helm, but it might be a pain to do so every time out....would also depend on how much rain you get.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top