An Extraordinary Motor Yacht

The 51'11", 48,500 lb. twin diesel Carver 506 is extraordinary, as motor yachts go. Because of a fully-enclosed, all-weather bridge and aft deck design, Carver has managed to pack in working and living space that many 65' yacht owners long for. Add to this a stylish design, beautiful cherry cabinetry throughout, and well-though-out layout, and you have a real winner -- at least for our purposes.

We purchased the 506 new in March, 2002 from Blackfish Marine, in Vancouver, BC, to serve as the Southern California office of our consulting firm. After 6 months of outfitting and shakedown in BC, we ferried the yacht to Los Angeles and installed it in Marina del Rey. At sea, it performed well, and we routinely turned in dawn-to-dusk runs of 18 knots, or better. And in the slip, as our remote office, it immediately proved its merit. The addition of computers, a wireless broadband Internet link, a cellular telephone base station, and other similar amenities enabled us to service our L.A. clients far more effectively that we could previously, commuting from our San Francisco Bay Area headquarters. The only thing we lacked was a built-in office.

In future posts, we will share with you what we learned about this vessel as an example of a high-end, American production yacht, what Carver got right, and what they got wrong. We will occasionally digress a little as we share the experience of the yacht as a frequently-used office.

Please note that all posts were written after October 2005, but are dated chronologically to match when the events described actually occurred.