I hate to ask this but...

Isle of Mann

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Sep 23, 2021
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l'm in the market. Currently have my eye on a 1999 330DA Sundancer EC. What does DA stand for?
 
Thanks to all of you. wyrman your picture made the hair on my arms stand up!
 
When Sea Rays started gaining popularity in the 80's there were two flavors, EC and DA. The EC (express cruiser) which did not have an aft cabin and had straight inline drives. The DA (sun dancer) had the aft cabin and the engines had v-drives. Both boats had slightly different layouts comparatively. In the 90's all boats became DA's.
 
Is the Sundancer still considered an express cruiser?
 
Is the Sundancer still considered an express cruiser?

Depending on the year, as mentioned pre-90' there were two models EC and DA. Sundancer is a Sea Ray term and pretty much all Sea Ray's that aren't bridge boats are sundancers and/or also express cruisers. Express cruiser is a category the industry in general uses, and pretty much why Sea Ray started calling their boat's Sundancers, except for their bridge boats which coined the phrase sedan bridge back in the 90's. Before Sea Ray every boat with a bridge was pretty much a sport fish. Then in the 2000's they started to meld into those terms and only fishing boats (with tower) were sport fish and the same type of boat not being setup for fishing (no tower) was a sedan or sedan bridge or convertible. The brokers started mixing terms as they saw fit and now it's more or less what ever you call it or what category the boat fits in. You tell that by looking at the adds in magazines and online boat sales sites.
 
When Sea Rays started gaining popularity in the 80's there were two flavors, EC and DA. The EC (express cruiser) which did not have an aft cabin and had straight inline drives. The DA (sun dancer) had the aft cabin and the engines had v-drives. Both boats had slightly different layouts comparatively. In the 90's all boats became DA's.


That isn't quite true.......The 410 Express Cruiser was still being produced in 2004.....straight shafts no V drives. Those of us with Express Cruisers really appreciate the large engine rooms and space to work on the mechanicals.
 
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That isn't quite true.......The 410 Express Cruiser was still being produced in 2004.....straight shafts no V drives. Those of us with Express Cruisers really appreciate the large engine rooms and space to work on the mechanicals.

Yeah, there were options that could be ordered, but most of the boats by then all had aft cabins which were v-drive boats. Yours was far and few between, but to your point, a much better engine room and better ridding boat for sure. I think some time around 2005/6 that wasn't an option any more and all boats had v-drives and aft cabins. @fwebster would be the right person to chime in on that. I never worked for Sea Ray, only worked on them. And yeah it changed again ~2012 when the new designs came about.
 
Sea Ray decided to drop the express cruisers because they lost popularity and were no longer selling. Once you get to about 40 ft, the straight inboard isn't much of an advantage and SR sales decided to no longer invest in 2 models of the same length. It is hard to generalize about this because one much consider the entire package……engine power, center of gravity, centerline to centerline distance between the shafts, bow rise, etc.

My first Sea Ray was a 390EC……with straight inboards, great boat, great boat to work on …..my next boat was a 450DA with v-drives and I don't see how straight imboards would improve any facet of our boatinglives and we ran the 450 for 25 years.

Sea Ray changed the express cruiser again with the 60/610 design. They are straight inboards and have tons of room everywhere and are great performers, but were at the top of the heap price-wise.
 

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