570 Carver Voyager Pilothouse Boat Review

Boat Review: 570 Carver Voyager Pilothouse

Source: Eston Ellis, Seamagazine.com

A worldclass motoryacht with an American pedigree

Time was, if you were looking for a luxury motoryacht over 50 feet in length, your only option was a custom builder. Carver’s new 570 Voyager Pilothouse is proof that times have changed — for the better.

The 570 Voyager Pilothouse is considered Carver’s “flagship,” for good reason. While this meticulously appointed 59 foot vessel looks like a custom yacht, it is a production boat that carries a base price well under $1 million. It offers all the luxury features and accommodations of a motoryacht built overseas – but this boat has the ironclad warranty protection and readily accessible service of an American builder.

Surprises abound, from the 570’s fine cabinetry to its convenient pilothouse layout to its big, comfortable staterooms. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the 570’s long-distance capability: It is truly worthy of the name “Voyager.”

“This boat was specifically designed for the person who wants to enjoy serious cruising — not just for someone who just wants a waterfront condo or a boat for occasional short trips,” explained J.R. Means of Bayport Yachts, the Carver dealer in Newport Beach and San Diego, California. “People are using this boat to go to Acapulco.”

The 570 Voyager Pilothouse has an impressive 600 to 1,200 mile cruising range, depending on your cruising speed. That gives it close to the cruising capability of a trawler, along with all the advantages of a planing hull – the biggest one being a top speed of nearly 31 knots.

Ticket to Ride
We tested the 570 Voyager Pilothouse off Southern California’s Newport Harbor, on a sunny winter day with flat-calm, glassy seas. Bayport Yachts provided our test boat, which came equipped with a pair of 635 hp Cummins QSM-11 diesels and the Cummins EDD electronic control system – both of which are especially popular options.

A few days earlier, a storm system had pounded the area, dumping 2 inches of rain over a two-day period. Means had been out in the middle of it, aboard a smaller Carver 530 Voyager Pilothouse, making his way through 12 to 18 foot seas. Admittedly, there were some white knuckles on the wheel when the 530 took a wave across its beam (which might have rolled another boat), but the boat made it back to port safe and sound.

That was only one of many times the larger Carvers have proven themselves, Means said. He was once in a hurricane off Puerto Vallarta aboard a Carver – and while Means wouldn’t recommend that you try the same thing, his Carver rode out the storm like a champ.

In our test of the 570 — on a much nicer day — we cruised at 25 knots (at 2,000 rpm) and reached a top speed of 30.5 knots (at 2,350 rpm). We reached plane quickly, at around 20 knots.

Throughout a variety of maneuvers, including hard turns and offshore speed runs, the 570 gave us a stable, solid ride. It handled responsively, and had a tight turning radius for its size. Our 570 was a dry-riding boat that produced minimal spray in even the hardest turns.

During our offshore test, we stopped the boat dead in the water and sat in one spot for a while, to see how stable things would remain. We experienced only minimal rocking movement.

Controlling Interest
We ran the 570 from the boat’s big flybridge. Here, we enjoyed a comfortably upholstered helm chair with arms, adjacent to a settee with room for up to three people. A console with a sink, a cutting board, a Norcold refrigerator, an ice-maker and a Jenn-Air barbecue is nearby – and an additional L-shaped settee and round table is aft. Farther aft, there’s a deck with space to carry an optional dinghy and davit.

The flybridge dash was equipped with a full set of repeater gauges and controls, a control panel for the boat’s optional QL bow thruster (distributed by Volvo Penta), a Ritchie Power damp compass, an ITT Jabsco searchlight system, trim tabs and upgraded EC-200 Commander controls, which had a nice overall look and feel.

LCD screens for the optional Cummins EDD electronic data display (positioned both at the flybridge and in the pilothouse) gave us all the information about the power plants we’d ever want to know – and then some. For instance, we could instantly see that we were burning 1.1 gallon of fuel per hour at 6.5 knots, we got updates on the engine oil pressure and temperature, and we even got updates on the transmission oil pressure and temperature. We got accurate-to-the-single-digit rpm levels and much, much more.

The EDD switch panel offers two switches marked “Cruise 1” and “Cruise 2” that allow you to set pre-programmed cruise speeds — and hold them. It’s like having a car-style cruise control for your boat. We particularly liked the “slow idle” switch, for effortlessly maintaining no-wake speeds while cruising through the harbor.

An engine synchronizer system was also included, as standard equipment.

The same controls are also provided in the pilothouse, a few steps down from the flybridge. This roomy control center offers an excellent 360 degree view from the UltraLeather-upholstered helm seat – which adjusts six ways at the touch of a switch.

The dash itself was inspired by aircraft design, and it practically wraps around the skipper. All controls, switches and gauges are conveniently placed for easy access and readability. Triple windshield wipers – with washers and defoggers – improve the view in sloppy weather. Red halogen illumination is provided for night operation.

An L-shaped settee – also upholstered in buttery UltraLeather – is to port. A sliding door, to starboard, provides easy access to walk-around sidedecks.

Room to Relax
The main saloon is abaft the pilothouse, a few steps down. One of the first things we noticed about it is the area’s generous use of American cherry wood joinery and trim. All cabinets are crafted of real wood inside and out – not particleboard or composites.

Aft, there’s an L-shaped convertible settee to port, adjacent to a high/low table. To starboard, there’s a console with a television and VCR, and a second settee, adjacent to a faux granite Karadon countertop.

Forward, our test boat featured a Harman/Kardon component stereo system that plays through Bose surround sound speakers. Overhead, 14 halogen spotlights provided abundant illumination – in addition to the boat’s big full-view windows.

Our test boat’s U-shaped galley, on the other side of the Karadon counter, offers Sub-Zero under-counter refrigerator and freezer units, a double sink, a Princess three-burner range and oven, a cabinet-mounted Black & Decker coffeemaker and a built-in Sharp microwave/convection oven. The galley area has a hardwood floor and ample cabinets for storage.

Forward, a companionway leads below decks to the boat’s three staterooms.

The guest stateroom, forward, offers a queen-size island berth with an innerspring mattress, two full-height cedar-lined hanging lockers (one is shared with the third stateroom), storage drawers, shelves and stereo speakers. Our test boat had an optional TV/VCR.

It is adjacent to a guest head (shared with the third stateroom), with a Vacu Flush head, a sink and vanity and a stall shower.

The smaller third stateroom, abaft the guest cabin, has upper and lower bunk-type berths, storage drawers and another optional TV/VCR.

Aft, the full-width master stateroom comes with an over sized queen-size berth with an innerspring mattress, a five-drawer dresser, three cedar-lined hanging lockers, an optional washer and dryer (in its own locker), a stereo system and an optional TV/VCR. It has an en suite head with a tub and shower stall, a separate head closet and a vanity with sink.

The interior is elegantly appointed, but the exterior is equally nice – and it means business. The 70 square foot cockpit is large enough for sportfishing, offers beefy stainless steel cleats and hardware, and is protected from sun and weather by the aft deck. The overhead has integral lights, and other nice touches on our test boat included a transom shower/washdown system, docking lights and a Glendinning Cablemaster for the shorepower cord.

The sound-insulated engine room, accessible through a hatch in the cockpit sole, is surprisingly large. Subflooring is a skid-resistant aluminum grid, and halogen lighting brightens up the entire area. There is full access to all engine components, batteries, wiring and the boat’s optional 15.5 kW Kohler generator. The area is protected by a Fireboy fire extinguishing system.

One of the best features of this new boat – and other Carvers — is the builder’s training program for its service people. Once a year, technicians from dealerships throughout the country come to the Carver facility to learn the techniques for repairing every component of Carver yachts – from woodwork to counter tops to engines.

“The goal is to standardize the service – providing a Lexus-type service experience,” Means explained. “No matter which dealership you go to, you will be treated the same — and the repairs will be performed to the same high standards.”