Carver 396 Motor Yacht, Specs, Engines and Used Buying Guide

Why brokers list the Carver 396 Motor Yacht as a 41/396

If you have seen the Carver 396 Motor Yacht advertised as a 41 footer, or searched 41/396 and wondered what the numbers mean, the answer is in Carver's own spec sheet. The model name says 39, the length with the integral swim platform is 40 ft 7 in, and brokerage sites round that to 41. A 2001 boat in Fort Lauderdale and a 2003 boat in Texas are both listed as 41 ft Carvers, while a 2000 boat in Missouri is listed at 40 ft. They are the same design.

Carver introduced the 396 for model year 2000 with a launch pitch aimed squarely at people who found aft cabin boats frumpy. Its brochure compared a traditional aft cabin to buying your first minivan and promised sweeping curves, elliptical windows and the most spacious 39 ft motor yacht ever introduced. Carver at the time was a Genmar Holdings subsidiary building motor yachts from 32 to 53 ft in Pulaski, Wisconsin.

The raised walkdeck trick and the great room it created

The design idea that defines the 396 is the raised walkdeck. By lifting the gunnels and side decks, Carver could push the cabin sides out to the full 13 ft 11 in beam instead of stepping them in for a walkway. Salon, galley and dinette then become one open great room, and a two-tier window system gives seated guests and the cook in the sunken galley a view out.

The trade-off is visible from the dock. The 396 is tall and boxy for its length, with an 18 ft bridge clearance including the arch, and some buyers never warmed to the styling. Inside, though, 6 ft 10 in of cabin headroom and a full-width saloon are why the boat still sells. Carver also offered an ES, or extended salon, version on later boats, and a lower helm package that added a third stateroom.

Two staterooms, two heads and split bathrooms

Below, the 396 is a two-stateroom, two-head boat that sleeps four, or six with the optional convertible furniture. The aft master has a queen-size innerspring island berth, generous storage and its own head with separate toilet and shower compartments. The forward guest cabin also has a queen-size island berth and a split head with separate shower and water closet, which is an unusual luxury on a guest cabin in a 40 footer.

The 2002 brochure describes UltraLeather Flexsteel salon furniture, a love seat with an available sleeper and twin incliners, and cherry bulkheads and cabinetry with a high-gloss finish throughout. Many of these boats have now had at least one soft-goods refresh; original fabrics after 25 years are a negotiating point, not a selling point.

A protected aft deck and a six-seat bridge

The aft deck is about 73 sq ft, protected by standard wing doors, a hardtop and weather cloth molded into the deck. An integral stairway leads to the command bridge, which has an L-shaped lounge for five adults, a centerline helm for visibility, and a self-draining wet bar with sink and storage for a refrigerator or icemaker. The integral swim platform has its own stairway to the aft deck and a retractable boarding ladder.

For cruising couples this layout is the reason to buy an aft cabin: the aft deck is a covered outdoor room above the water, the bridge gives sightlines for docking, and the master is far from the forward guests.

Gas or diesel, and what changed over the years

Carver offered the 396 with twin gasoline inboards as standard and diesels as the upgrade. Early boats list the MerCruiser 454 Mag MPI Horizon and Volvo 7.4Gi gas engines, with Cummins 330B and 370B or Volvo TAMD63 diesels. By the 2001 option sheet the big-block gas engines were marked while supplies last, with 8.1 liter MerCruiser and Volvo engines arriving, and later sheets list Crusader 8.1 MPI, MerCruiser 8.1S Horizon and Volvo 8.1Gi. The same hull, sold later as the Carver 39 Motor Yacht, offered a 370 hp Volvo D6 with electronic controls or a 440 hp Yanmar.

We have not found a published test of speeds or fuel burn for this model, so we have left those specs empty. Fuel capacity is 330 gallons in welded, baffled 5052 aluminum tanks. As a rule, diesel boats are worth more, cheaper to insure and better suited to the Great Loop or coastal passages; gas boats suit lakes and rivers where hours stay low. Ask for engine hours, oil analysis and exhaust riser history either way.

How Carver built it

Carver's spec sheets describe a solid fiberglass hull bottom with Knytex substrates and a vinylester barrier coat, composite-laminate hullsides, decks and cabin tops, a molded fiberglass stringer system, and fabricated aluminum floor frames on stainless stanchions. Engine mounts sit on reinforced stringers with gusseted angle-steel plates, and the cabin top uses an integral aluminum truss. Running gear is conventional: Aquamet shafts, manganese bronze struts and rudders, dripless shaft logs and hydraulic steering.

Systems were generous for the class. Later boats list a three-zone 35,000 BTU reverse-cycle air conditioning system, a 10 kW generator, five batteries, two chargers and two 50 amp shore connections as standard, plus three 1,500 gph bilge pumps and an automatic FE241 fire suppression system. Options included a bow thruster, central vacuum and a tender package with a davit.

• LOA with platform 40 ft 7 in, beam 13 ft 11 in, draft 42 in
• Bridge clearance with arch 18 ft
• Weight with fuel and water 28,100 lb (2000 sheet) to 29,500 lb (later sheets)
• Fuel 330 gal, water 100 gal at launch and 90 gal later, holding 72 gal

What a used 396 costs and what it costs to keep

Recent listings bracket the market well: $109,900 for a 2000 boat, $109,999 and $125,000 for two 2001 boats, and $149,000 for a 2003 example. Our estimated range for 2000 to 2003 boats is about $95,000 to $155,000, with the best diesel boats at the top.

Annual costs of roughly $15,000 to $32,000 cover a 42 ft slip, insurance, haul-out and bottom paint, twin-engine service, generator service and canvas. Freshwater boats from the Great Lakes and inland rivers often present better than saltwater boats of the same age, but still need the exhaust and cooling system checks below.