Boat Review: 396 Carver Motoryacht

Boat Review: 396 Carver Motoryacht

Source: Boattest.com staff, Boattest.com

The Carver 396 Motor Yacht is a boat meant for coastal cruising. She is a strong, stable ride with quality construction and good interior accommodations for two couples or a family. With the 396, Carver has managed to combine great interior headroom with open spaces throughout and many standard features at an affordable price.

Carver Yachts has really jumped into the millennium with both feet by delivering a one-two punch for model year 2000. First, it introduced the all-new 506 Motor Yacht, and then it followed up with the 396 Motor Yacht. While the 396 is admittedly a scaled-down version of her bigger sister, she’s just 10 feet shorter overall but less than half the price! What do you lose in that 10 feet? Well, maybe nothing depending on your boating needs.

The 396 is all new from the keel up, and she incorporates Carver’s new exterior styling in her lines. While she’s based on the traditional aft-cabin motoryacht layout with owner’s stateroom fully aft and the guest cabin fully forward, she manages to combine great interior headroom and open spaces throughout while eliminating any hint of boxiness from her profile. This is due, in part, to her unitized aluminum construction.

Hidden behind the interior walls and forward window frames of the salon are rugged aluminum beams that are integral with the aluminum-framed decking structure. These beams are so strong that even at steep angles they provide ample support for the flying bridge deck above the salon, and at the same time they virtually eliminate any rattling or swaying underway. This interior strength allowed Carver’s engineers to add curves and rake to the profile of the 396, and I confirmed this solid feel underway during sea trials at the 1999 Detroit Boat Show.

As an aft-cabin motoryacht, the 396 is well suited for empty nesters who enjoy coastal cruising with another couple or grown children. Everyone will appreciate her watersports amenities, with wide integral swim platform, deck box, and hidden telescoping swim ladder. You gain access to the aft deck via a curved, molded-in stairway with a good handrail, but the yacht has a curious walkway along her stern that needs some explaining. I got my answer from Carver’s marketing manager Tim Schmitt. “The walkway is there primarily for easy dock access,” said Schmitt. “If you tie up to a fixed pier starboard-side to, this allows you to walk easily from the port-side aft-cabin door, across the transom, and then on up to the dock which may be at a high level.” One quick demonstration by Schmitt and I was sold on the idea.

Back aboard, the aft deck is permanently covered with a fiberglass hardtop providing 6’8” headroom and Carver’s left it open for your furnishings. But in keeping with what Carver describes as its “Great Room” design theme, the aft deck is also open to the flying bridge so guests can talk easily with everyone up at the helm.

It’s three molded steps up to the bridge, and here you’ll find a curved lounge for four adults along the portside, with a centerline pedestal helm chair and portside companion chair. The helm itself is fully forward, and I appreciated both the tilt-wheel steering and wide dash panel which has plenty of room to flushmount electronics. With a forward helm such as this you’d expect great visibility ahead, but oftentimes you lose visibility aft—not so on the 396. Carver has cleverly installed a Plexiglas window panel between the radar arch and the hardtop to maintain climate control at the bridge and good visibility aft, and when it’s time to back into the slip simply open the portside transom door and you can almost see the end of the swim platform from the helm position. In short, the 396 offers excellent visibility all around.

The Great Room theme continues below decks as well, as the main salon and galley down are all open for conversation and easy walk-through traffic. The salon itself features an UltraLeather sofa for two persons which pulls out to make a double bed, across from a large L-shaped lounge for four adults that has two built-in recliners. Between them a lift-out panel in the sole provides good access to the powerplants—which were twin 454 MerCruiser Horizons on our test boat—and it was an easy reach to the dipsticks and optional Kohler 8.0kW genset mounted forward.

Like the 506, the 396 also maximizes interior space in the salon by raising the exterior sidedecks to eye level. This not only increases useable floor space, but it also permits a two-tiered window arrangement which provides plenty of natural light for an open feel. That, combined with the three large windows forward will keep the horizon in sight for your belowdecks guests at all times.

A single step down and forward leads to the L-shaped galley to port, and here you’ll find everything you’ll need for week-long living aboard, including three-burner cooktop, convection/microwave oven, separate refrigerator and freezer, and great cabinet stowage. While there is no separate dining area on the 396 in which to serve your fare, a standard hi-lo table in the salon does double duty during both the cocktail- and dinner hours.

Fully forward is the guest stateroom, which would qualify for the owner’s stateroom on many similar-sized yachts. It’s completely private thanks to a sliding cherry wood door, and this stateroom features a semi-circular island double berth with two access steps on either side, along with good cabinet stowage both above and below the berth. Interestingly, Carver has divided the en suite facilities, with a shower compartment to port and a separate head compartment to starboard, both good-sized and with ample cabinet stowage. This arrangement keeps the head compartment dry at all times, which is a very welcome touch.

Fully aft, the master stateroom has its own island double berth, but this one has full walk-around access and end tables with stowage built in on either side. A second TV/VCR is an option here, but standard equipment includes twin cedar-lined hanging lockers, exceptional drawer stowage, a removable escape hatch at the transom, and direct access to the head with separate shower stall and seat. So given this two-stateroom, two-head layout, you can see why the 396 makes a perfect cruising platform for two couples on an extended coastal voyage.

I say “coastal” because with 330 gallons of fuel aboard running through a pair of 380-hp gasoline inboards, her cruising range is somewhat limited at 244 miles. Still, at best cruise of 24 mph that’s about 10 hours of running time, which should be more than enough for a good day’s work during a delivery or long-range cruise.

Underway, the 396 has a slightly bow-high running attitude, and I found she performed best with between 1/8- and ¼-tab down. She demonstrated a smooth and solid ride underway, and I was most impressed with her near-instantaneous roll recovery sitting still in a beam sea of two- to three feet. Yet, her overall performance was a bit sluggish and her sub-30-mph top end means she’s best suited for those boaters who value quality construction and interior accommodations more than speed.

With a base price of $240,000 and a realistic away-from-the-dock list of $260,000 or so, Carver’s new 396 Motor Yacht will continue to fill the need for an aft-cabin cruiser at an affordable price point which has been Carver’s forte for years. So even though this “Great Room” yacht is new from the keel up, the overall philosophy that brings the 396 to you is as established as the company itself.

The 396 offers spacious accommodations.

The master stateroom has an island double berth with end tables and stowage built in on either side. There’s a removable escape hatch at the transom and direct access to the head with seperate shower

The “Great Room” theme continues below decks as well, as the main salon and galley down are all open for conversation and easy walk-through traffic.

Private guest stateroom

The forward guest room is very private thanks to a sliding cherry wood door. Carver has divided the shower compartment to port and the seperate head compartment to starboard.

Boat Specification: 396 Carver Motoryacht

Length Overall            40′ 7”

Dry Weight                 28,100 lbs.

Beam                           13′ 11”

Fuel Cap                      330 gal.

Draft                           3′ 6”

Water Cap                   100 gal.

Deadrise/Transom       N/A

Bridge Clearance        18′ 0”

Max Headroom           6′ 10”