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Model profile · for Great Loop buyers
Carver 4207 Aft Cabin
The published record on this model and what owners report, with the
questions worth asking while a boat is still a listing. This page covers the model.
Every boat still needs its own homework.
A roomy aft-cabin boat whose published clearance is over the Loop's limit. Measure her with everything down before anything else, then check the original aluminum fuel tanks.
The Carver 4207 Aft Cabin is a two-stateroom motor yacht built from 1985 to 1991. The PowerBoat Guide lists her at 42 feet with a 15-foot beam and a 3'6" draft, and gives her clearance as 20'0", which is over the Loop's 19'6" limit. Other figures, including one attributed to Carver's brochure, run as low as 16'6", and no source says what any of them measures. Most were built with gas engines. She carries 400 gallons of fuel, and owners warn that the original aluminum tanks fail.
How to read the tags on this page.
CLAIMstated by one source, not yet confirmed
QUESTIONopen, and settled by looking at the boat itself
Sources are linked where published.
Air draft
QUESTION
The published clearance is 20 feet, over the Loop's 19'6" limit, and other figures run as low as 16'6"
The PowerBoat Guide lists 20'0" of clearance and doesn't say what it measures. A poster on YachtForums quoted Carver's own brochure at 16'6", and listings for two 1989 diesel boats, which may be the same boat, also say 16'6". A 1988 boat with a solid hardtop and an integrated radar arch is listed at 18'. One owner on the same forum wrote that she's taller than 15 feet and lower than 20, and that hundreds have cleared the Illinois River bridges. Some boats have hardtops and some don't, so two 4207s can stand at different heights. Until this boat is measured, the 20-foot figure has to be treated as possible.
src:
PowerBoat Guide (2016 ed.); YachtForums (2017 to 2018); Westwind, Curtis Stokes listings
Your move: Measure from the waterline to the highest fixed point with the antennas up, then ask what folds and measure again with it down. Over 19'6" with everything down means she can't make the Loop as she sits.
From owners
CLAIM
The master stateroom air conditioner failed with a Freon leak
An owner of a 1991 4207 reports that the master stateroom air conditioner developed a Freon leak and was replaced, at about 3,500 engine hours.
src:
Owner report: Charlie McVey, 1991 Carver 4207 (Oct 2026)
Reading the boat
CLAIM
Built 1985 to 1991, with two layouts and no lower helm
The PowerBoat Guide dates the 4207 Aft Cabin to 1985 through 1991, when she was the largest boat Carver built. One layout has a U-shaped dinette across from the galley. The other drops the dinette for a bigger head and a larger forward stateroom with an island berth. The guide says a lower helm doesn't appear to have been an option, so she's driven from the flybridge. Listings often call her just a "Carver 42".
src:
PowerBoat Guide (2016 ed.), Carver 4207 Aft Cabin Motor Yacht
Your move: Check which layout the boat has, and read the year off the hull identification number.
Draft
CLAIM
About 3 feet 6 inches of draft
The PowerBoat Guide lists 3'6" of draft on a shallow keel, comfortable for the Loop's shallow stretches. Listings run from 3'6" to 3'8".
src:
PowerBoat Guide (2016 ed.), Carver 4207 Aft Cabin Motor Yacht
Your move: Confirm the loaded draft with the seller, since fuel, water and gear add to it.
Fuel & range
QUESTION
What does she burn at 7 to 8 knots?
She carries 400 gallons per the PowerBoat Guide. Holding back 10% leaves 360. To cover the 250 miles from Alton to Paducah, she needs better than 0.7 miles per gallon, so a burn under about 11.5 gallons an hour for both engines together at 8 mph. We found no measured burn for the 4207 at any speed. One owner on Boatered guessed 2 to 3 nautical miles per gallon at 7.5 knots with the Cat diesels, and called it a guess. The guide's figures are planing speeds: 13 to 14 knots with the gas engines and 20 knots with the Cats.
src:
PowerBoat Guide (2016 ed.); Boatered, May 19 2010
Your move: Ask for a fuel-flow reading for both engines at 7 to 8 knots on the sea trial, or an owner's fuel log at that speed.
CLAIM
The original aluminum fuel tanks are a known failure, and replacing them can mean pulling the engines
On YachtForums in 2023, a longtime poster said the original 4207 tanks are thin and poorly installed and will fail, calling it a historical Carver problem. Another said moisture gets trapped under aluminum tanks and corrodes them, and that replacing them can mean taking the engines out. The buyer who started that thread found a leaking tank on a 1991 4207 during the purchase and walked away.
src:
YachtForums, "1991 4207 aft. Cabin" thread (Mar to Apr 2023)
Your move: Ask whether the tanks have been replaced, and get the invoice. If they're original, have the surveyor inspect them and price replacement into the offer.
Leaks
CLAIM
The salon windows are known to leak
On the same 2023 thread, a longtime poster said the 4207's salon windows were leakers, and the buyer reported that the windows on the boat being considered showed signs of leaks.
src:
YachtForums, "1991 4207 aft. Cabin" thread (Mar 2023)
Your move: Look for stains and lifting veneer under the salon windows, and have the surveyor run a moisture meter around them.
Hull & structure
QUESTION
Is the aft deck core dry?
A former 4207 owner on YachtForums wrote about replacing rotted core in most of the aft deck. Another poster warned that older Carvers were built on the light side and can have delamination, tabbing and rot problems in wood-cored parts. That's one boat and one general warning, so treat it as a place to look.
src:
YachtForums: "Carver 4207" thread (Jan 2013); "1991 4207 aft. Cabin" thread (2023)
Your move: Ask the surveyor to sound and moisture-test the aft deck and flybridge, with a core sample if the readings are high.
Systems
CLAIM
Three air conditioning zones: find out which units are original
Listings show three reverse-cycle zones, for the aft cabin, the salon and the forward stateroom. One 1989 boat's listing shows a new 16,000 BTU aft unit installed in April 2021, at about 3,000 engine hours.
src:
Westwind Yacht Sales and Curtis Stokes listings (1989 boats)
Your move: Ask the age of each unit, and run all three on heat and cool during the sea trial.
Engines
The engines research is part of the full profile inside the
product. It covers factory options, tested performance and the engine-specific
questions in our members' dossiers, and it travels with every dossier and survey brief
built on this model.