Posted: January 25 2010 at 17:17 | IP Logged

We now own a 26' Carver Santa Cruz and we are looking into buying a 28' Mariner because mainly my wife is insecure in the 26' because of it's "tippy" nature due to it's narrow beam (or so it is said).

The 26' had a sever problem with leaning all of a sudden and it was uncontrollable. It just seemed like it wanted to turn turtle. You would have to slow down to recover and sometimes if on plane, it would swerve violently as it slowed.

Of course, Carver disavows any knowledge of this occurence, or at least never responded to any emails I sent to Carver.

I would like to hear from 28" Mariner owners that can tell me how stable the 28' boat is in turns and on plane.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Vinson

Posted: March 10 2010 at 14:21 | IP Logged

We own a 2006 Carver Mariner that cruises on the Upper Cheaspeake Bay.  It has 2-5.7 Volvos and we have never had anything close to any "tippy" situations, or even sensations.  We feel very comfortable on the Bay and while we have not been in any really rough weather situations windy conditions, rolling waves, or rough chop conditions have never created an unsafe feeling for us.  My First Mate can be a white-knuckler, but on the Mariner she has been quite comfortable.

We absolutely love this boat, but if I could change anything on it I would get a bit bigger engines as with the 5.7's it seems to be a bit underpowered.  Also, since these are relatively small block engines the weight is not sufficient to keep the swim platform inclined toward the rear at dead stop so water will collect on the swim platform (and the shower won't completely drain) as the stern sits about one to two inches too high with these motors.  A friend has big locks and his mariner sits about two inches lower in the back and drains fine.