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Nearly everything displays the Marquis logo (the Carver “wave” is all but extinct), giving this the feel of a custom yacht. The stainless steel work, particularly around the anchor and in each aft cockpit corner—all done in house—is a work of art. And not only can those corner line-handling stations have warping winches—they’re optional—but the bins for the lines have spigots inside to make rinsing them easier.
The attention to detail here is impressive, my favorite example being in the master head. Hull No. 1 has a midship tub flanked by his and hers (hers being significantly larger) facilities. To give each side more privacy, the shower doors’ glass changes from clear to opaque at the flip of a switch.
One thing that hasn’t changed in the last year is the styling of Nuvolari & Lenard. The two boats are clearly related, but the 65’s added length gives her more pleasing proportions. When I say she stopped crowds on Collins Avenue, I don’t exaggerate, and the two most common comments that I heard were that the boat had to have been built in Italy (that distinction actually belonged to Carver’s 63 Nuvari, which was berthed directly behind the 65) and that she must be around 75 feet long.
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The 65 will not be mistaken for another yacht, and that unique look belies a major engineering achievement. Believe it or not, her entire deck and house, including the sole, is a single piece—and it’s the product of a mold that’s quite an accomplishment. It has eight major pieces and another two dozen or so small ones to allow for all the three-dimensional surfaces. The unibody is noteworthy for the engineering, but it’s more important because it obviates leaks and squeaks and significantly reduces torquing. To make sure, the 65’s hull also has its own deck to which the deckhouse bolts and bonds, so it, too, is a much more rigid structure than conventional designs that depend on a separate deck to keep the hull from flexing.
As for that feel that you’re on a much larger boat, credit goes not only to Carver’s space planning, but also to its use of 3D CAD that allowed engineers to create full-scale models of all major living spaces and create 6’8” headroom nearly everywhere. Carver designers admit that much changed after they were able to walk around these plywood mockups. But nothing substitutes for Midwestern ingenuity. Take the dining table directly across from the port-side galley. Rather than narrowing it to allow a workable centerline passageway, Carver made it full-size and fashioned rails that allow it to slide out on its pedestal when it’s needed and slide back against the wall when it’s not.
Of course, compromises were inevitable. You won’t find 6’8” headroom in the engine room, accessed via a watertight transom door and passing through the crew quarters. Still, at six feet, it’s hardly cramped, and once you’re inside you find impressive details like sight gauges for each 600-gallon saddle tank, powerful supply and extractor fans, underwater exhausts with muffled bypasses, a centerline workbench, and a lack of clutter, thanks to separate spaces outboard of the crew quarters for gensets, watermakers, A/C compressors, and other gear.
A standard CCTV system monitors the V-drive diesels, 1,350-hp MTU 12V 2000s on our boat. Volvo Penta D-12s, rated at 715 hp each, are standard, presumably to keep the base price down. Indeed, while a lot is standard on the 65 (including a hydraulically raised and lowered swim platform), a lot is optional, including most electronics, the aft bridge sunpad and seat, and most surprising, the hardtop, without which the boat would frankly look unfinished.
The 65 isn’t perfect. I’d say the beautiful aft cockpit table is about half the size it should be for dining, and I didn’t care for the photo-effect burl on the pilothouse helm station—especially compared to the fine joinery everywhere else. But it’s damn hard to find much wrong with this boat. Carver’s second-generation Marquis can compete with any production boat in the world. Makes you wonder what the third generation will bring.
Carver Yachts
(920) 822-1575
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This article originally appeared in the May 2004
issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.
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