Carver 506 saga gets exciting today on Sea Trial

[Carpediem44DB]

We departed right on schedule from Benicia for the 20 mile ride to the boat yard for the haul out and survey with a professional Veteran Captain and Surveyor (also veteran Captain). After a few miles of cruising at 12kts we start the engine performance and SOG tests. RPM we were shooting for was 2500 RPM and expected SOG around 18 knots. The best we could get was 2200 RPM and 13 kts. Its been 7 months since a bottom cleaning so I expected to not get to spec but....
The boat seemed to list a bit and the tabs were ineffective and the steering indicator started to to read way off yet we were not turning. I went below to the aft cabin to see what might be up, Pulled the aft hatch open and about shit my self! The bilge was full of water! I looked out the aft escape hatch and found the the swim platform 2 feet under water, Ran forward to open the ER hatch and found the ER flooded all the way forward. I reported the water to the captain and he immediately hit the manual bilge pumps. We slowed to idle, continued on course although closer to shore and found that the pumps significantly bailed the bilge in about fifteen minutes. Where could that much water be coming from? We had to use an auxiliary pump to bail out the engine sumps to reduce the water level where we could see the prop shaft PSS seal assemblies. At 1100 RPM they were both dry. Once the water level was getting to a comfortable level we increased RPM to 1600 and the starboard seal began leaking, we finished the trip at 10 kts at 1500 RPM and the yard was ready with the travel lift as soon as we got there.
I am not convinced that that much water could pass by the seal at speed and be completely dry at rest or low RPM. The props were pretty encrusted and the cutlass bearings looked a little warn and we did have a bit of vibration at speed so that may be it. Interested to know what you guys think.
I am seeing where Carver falls short on design and appointment though. No high water alarms and no emergency secondary bilge pumps. If we buy the boat I will be adding several safety features for sure.
Incidentally everyone stayed calm, worked together to form a plan and stuck with the plan. No call was made to Coast Guard.
We ordered the yard to wash the bilge down with fresh water as a few components did flood including the brand new Side Power Bow Thruster. The relay on it fried and stuck on to port so we just killed power to it. Ill call Side power to ask what we should do to mitigate the salt water intrusion.
All in all not the way I wanted my sea trial to go. The owner was not along for the ride and upon getting the report from his captain told him to FIX EVERY THING!
We are going to go thru the entire boat again and rule out any other water intrusion sources
Carpe Diem

 

[bbwhitejr]

Wow Rusty! I bet that was a shock when you initially opened the hatch. I am sure you will, but tread lightly here and best of luck!

Bennett

 

[joeyleggz]

Wow that was crazy!! Not sure that much water would come from the shaft seals, and wouldn’t the bilge bumps mitigate most of that? Must be raw water hose some where with a busted hose clamp. 15 min to clear with the bilge pumps!!? That’s a lot of water, gotta be a big leak , you’ll find it . glad your all ok

 

[ocgrant]

Yikes, glad you made it safely. Hope it works out

 

[Golfman25]

Curse of the Sea Ray gods.

 

[Mark.60]

Sorry to hear things didn’t go as planned. Glad everyone is ok. Take a deep breath, hope it all works out.

 

[Carpediem44DB]

Hey, it was an adventure and uncovered a major issue that is easily corrected. I'm glad it happened before it was my problem actually. No permanent damage was done and the owner is more than willing to take care of it. I just hope that the low RPM at WOT and low SOG will be mitigated by the new bottom job and cleaning the running gear. Wont know that until we can splash and run it home. That will delay accepting the boat which affects the financing which affects the LLC transfer. Just part of the game.

 

[Mauler34Rod]

Hey, it was an adventure and uncovered a major issue that is easily corrected. I'm glad it happened before it was my problem actually. No permanent damage was done and the owner is more than willing to take care of it. I just hope that the low RPM at WOT and low SOG will be mitigated by the new bottom job and cleaning the running gear. Wont know that until we can splash and run it home. That will delay accepting the boat which affects the financing which affects the LLC transfer. Just part of the game.

Glad to hear everyone was safe. Maybe WOT could not be achieved because of the excess of water flowing into the bilge? Good luck but not needed you have it under control.

 

[bahamabreisus]

Were you in fresh or salt water. If salt, I would run away. Salt has penetrated every electrical connection that it came in contact with. You will be chasing electrical gremlins for years to come.

 

[JimG]

Were you in fresh or salt water. If salt, I would run away. Salt has penetrated every electrical connection that it came in contact with. You will be chasing electrical gremlins for years to come.

Ill call Side power to ask what we should do to mitigate the salt water intrusion.

I'm guessing salt water.

Sorry about the misadventure... I hope it all works out for you.

 

[Stee6043]

Crazy! Why did you have to manually activate the bilge pumps? No float switches??

 

[Carpediem44DB]

Crazy! Why did you have to manually activate the bilge pumps? No float switches??

After the water level dropped to where we could start poking around to find the source of intrusion we discovered that two of the four automatic switches were stuck, Then we found that Carver actually put four individual circuit breakers on the Helm DC panel, one for each bilge pump rocker switch on helm switch panel. The CBs were hidden. The panel has two sliding white plexiglass doors so no matter which side is open the center of the opening is obscured hiding the center row of CBs all of which were off! Frickin ridiculous! Luckily there were only a few systems that had wiring and terminals that were under salt water. The owner agrees that any of those systems need to be addressed.

Were you in fresh or salt water. If salt, I would run away. Salt has penetrated every electrical connection that it came in contact with. You will be chasing electrical gremlins for years to come.

I am going to the yard today to really scout out what all was affected and make that call. I do not want to buy myself a new job for sure! I'll be doing some very serious soul searching because before yesterday this boat deal was just what I thought was to good to pass on. It could be though that a higher power is telling me its not. Hmmmmm.......
Carpe Diem

 

[spikedaddy99]

After the water level dropped to where we could start poking around to find the source of intrusion we discovered that two of the four automatic switches were stuck, Then we found that Carver actually put four individual circuit breakers on the Helm DC panel, one for each bilge pump rocker switch on helm switch panel. The CBs were hidden. The panel has two sliding white plexiglass doors so no matter which side is open the center of the opening is obscured hiding the center row of CBs all of which were off! Frickin ridiculous! Luckily there were only a few systems that had wiring and terminals that were under salt water. The owner agrees that any of those systems need to be addressed.

I am going to the yard today to really scout out what all was affected and make that call. I do not want to buy myself a new job for sure! I'll be doing some very serious soul searching because before yesterday this boat deal was just what I thought was to good to pass on. It could be though that a higher power is telling me its not. Hmmmmm.......
Carpe Diem

You know better...As others have said, anything that salt water touched will be a future nightmare. Good luck with it buddy. M

 

[Mark.60]

As far as locating switches and breakers just remember the first time you ran the 44. At some point it will become second nature ,you’ll find those switches in the dark.

 

[Carpediem44DB]

Well I have an update, The intrusion of water was from a broken access panel on the swim platform that un beknown to us was awash at low speed. It was akin to having a 5 inch hole in the hull at the water line. Easy fix. New access panel and all is well. Now we just need to mitigate a couple of electrical items that were submerged in salt water.
Thanks for the well wished everyone, Since there are so few affected electrical circuits by the flooding, we are proceeding with the purchase. Time will tell if its a good move but at least I know I can take care of any thing that comes up myself. The only big ticket item really is the Side Power Thruster motor which Side Power of course suggests replacing.

 

[joeyleggz]

View attachment 98143
Well I have an update, The intrusion of water was from a broken access panel on the swim platform that un beknown to us was awash at low speed. It was akin to having a 5 inch hole in the hull at the water line. Easy fix. New access panel and all is well. Now we just need to mitigate a couple of electrical items that were submerged in salt water.
Thanks for the well wished everyone, Since there are so few affected electrical circuits by the flooding, we are proceeding with the purchase. Time will tell if its a good move but at least I know I can take care of any thing that comes up myself. The only big ticket item really is the Side Power Thruster motor which Side Power of course suggests replacing.

Glad to hear it was something simple ,so the swim platform is part of the hull and not attached to it? Sorry if it’s a stupid question I’m not familiar with that boat. Congratulations I’m sure she’s going to treat you well

 

[Carpediem44DB]

Glad to hear it was something simple ,so the swim platform is part of the hull and not attached to it? Sorry if it’s a stupid question I’m not familiar with that boat. Congratulations I’m sure she’s going to treat you well

Our 44 DB is actually similar as I think would be the case with integral platform boats. Now as I ponder it more I'm kicking myself for not realizing it the minute the access panel was broken. We should have at least speed taped it over. Things you miss at 6:30 in the morning when you've got a schedule to try to keep! Live and Learn.
Carpe Diem

 

[Stee6043]

I assume you'll repeat the sea trial?

 

[Carpediem44DB]

I assume you'll repeat the sea trial?

Yes we are accepting the boat with the known issues to get the transfer docks started and financing moving forward with the right to cancel if it doesn’t make full power on the way home from the yard. Since the owner is happy to keep the boat if we don’t buy it he will bear all yard costs less surveys.

 

[Jeremygavin]

You may have thought about this but I would find a more secure access panel for the swim platform if those are under water at any time especially if that is a normal operating situation. Those screw in hand holes are not mean to be under water at anytime other than some wash and spray. If you look in the cockpit of sport fish boats with access to the bilge they have secure water tight hatches on them.