Sea Ray 36 SB VS. Meridian 341 SB Looking for opinions

M

Marc DeNardo

New Member
Sep 16, 2018
5
Boat Info
2005 Rinker 300
Engines
Boatless
Hi folks, I'm new here, Hello! I'm in the market for a new to me boat. Our last boat was a 2005 Rinker 300 express. I have narrowed my search to 2 boats with gas engines that are somewhat similar and in my budget. The first is a 2007 SR 36 SB and the second is a 2006 or 2007 Meridian 341 SB. The sea Ray has 8.1's weighs 22k and has a beam of 13'. The Meridian has 6.2s weighs 18k and has a beam of 12'6". I live on the south coast of Massachusetts where the sea's are usually 2'-3' and can build to 4' quite easy. Which boat would handle better for me? which boat would hold it's value better and which boat would get better fuel milage and by how much? Thanks for your imput, Marc
 
Without question, all other things being the same, I would take the heavier and wider beam Sea Ray. You mention handling in 4 ft seas. Meridians in my experience bounce around a lot more than similar sized Sea Rays. If you want an easy way to see a difference, go to a local marina on a windy day and look at the boats as the move around in their slips. Meridians are like Silvertons in the way that they blow around. Sea Rays don't move around near as much because of their weight. Fuel usage would probably go to the Meridian. Lighter boat, less fuel. As far as holding value, I'd again say Sea Ray is the winner.
 
I might be new to this forum but not to forums, snarky is not my choice for you.
 
scooper321 said:
Wow. A little snarky with just your second ever post, aren’t you? Welcome to CSR. Buy the Bayliner... I mean, Meridian. Then join their forum.
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He did join our forum. And we helped him instead of roasting him.
 
Marc. A really nice 36 SB at our yacht club was just put on the market. Has bow and stern thrusters also. I'll provide details if you are interested.
 
Looks like it'll be local to me, sure let me know.
Thanks!
It doesn't take long for these ---- ---- to lash out, does it? Every forum's got em.
 
Marc DeNardo said:
Looks like it'll be local to me, sure let me know.
Thanks!
It doesn't take long for these ---- ---- to lash out, does it? Every forum's got em.
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No lashing. A guy joins, asks a question with post 1. Doesn’t get the response he’d like so 2 days later he posts a sarcastic “thanks for responding” follow up with post 2, to bump it up. If I misread your intents, my apologies. But stop a look at it again. I don’t think my interpretation was that unreasonable.
 
The only reservation I'd have regarding 36 Sedan Sea Ray is the electronic switching/control system. Call me old fashioned but I'd rather have a regular switch and circuit breaker instead of a multiplexed low voltage switching system. Search this forum and I think you will find there have been a couple issues with the E-plex system.

Edit: Just want to add that all for a living I spend my days dealing with complex wiring systems and multiplexed communication between modules. It's not that I'm afraid of the systems because I do understand them however, the last thing I want to deal with when I'm on leisure time is a multiplexed system acting up. On a boat I want to just push a button and whatever it is just needs to simply work.
 
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'07 and '08 are the only years with multiplex - sea ray eliminated it for '09 and up - both of the boats in question are slow and thirsty with gas engines - look for a pre meridian 3488 or 3788 bayliner command bridge with diesels - same boat as the 341 and 381 meridians respectively and can be had cheap - and for those that like to trash bayliner, the yachts of this era had NOTHING in common with the bowriders and cruisers except for (unfortunately) the name
 
Marc, I have a 550 Sedan Bridge that I've owned for 8 years. Four years ago I helped a guy take his new-to-him Bayliner 58' boat from, Seattle to Stockton, CA. His boat was about 2' longer and 1.5' wider than mine but seemed to bounce around in the rough seas a LOT more than mine does.

One day I asked what the dry weight of his boat was and, while I don't recall the numbers now (4 years later) I was surprised to find that his boat weighed about 10,000 pounds less than mine. When we were in a 6' sea on his boat I felt like I was riding in a cork when compared to how mine felt.

There is a reason why SR's are heavier than the Bayliner/Meridian boats and I believe much of it is in the weight of the hull. I did notice when we were in his engine room and I was helping him change out his Racor filters, I could see the sun shining through his hull. You don't see that in a SR.

I'd suggest you spend some time on both boats in a heavy chop to see which one you prefer the ride of.
 
Marc DeNardo said:
Hi folks, I'm new here, Hello! I'm in the market for a new to me boat. Our last boat was a 2005 Rinker 300 express. I have narrowed my search to 2 boats with gas engines that are somewhat similar and in my budget. The first is a 2007 SR 36 SB and the second is a 2006 or 2007 Meridian 341 SB. The sea Ray has 8.1's weighs 22k and has a beam of 13'. The Meridian has 6.2s weighs 18k and has a beam of 12'6". I live on the south coast of Massachusetts where the sea's are usually 2'-3' and can build to 4' quite easy. Which boat would handle better for me? which boat would hold it's value better and which boat would get better fuel milage and by how much? Thanks for your imput, Marc
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By 360 SB did you mean 360 DB? I don'y believe there is an SB in Sea Ray's lineup.
 
I used to have a Silverton 392. Because of the its large amount of canvas and the windy conditions in the San Francisco Bay Area it was very hard to control and to dock due to the flat bottom. I sold it after a few months.
 
You'll find more votes for Sea Ray here...it's a Sea Ray forum.
If you're serious about the Meridian...have your survey person double..no...triple check..the stringers. A neighbor boat to mine, he had a buddy that last year got a used Meridian of the same vintage you seek. He had issues with vibrations, the yard mechanics went to realign the engines, and noticed the stringers were giving way...found them rotten! That Meridian has been up on stands collecting dust since then, poor guy stuck in a law suit involving prior owner and survey guy, of course that's going no-where so he's into his second lost summer with that big loss of money and no boat. I think of the poor guy every time I pull into the marina or leave..as I see that boat right there. His whole family out of luck.

There's another Meridian a few more slips over in our marina, quality wise..seems OK otherwise. I know the reputation of heritage out of the not very well like Bayliner...but as another poster above mentioned...the newer ones aren't bad like the 80's 'n 90's Bayliner. Those cheaper snap together boats bundled with Force outboards for dirt cheap.
 
Isn’t there a big issue with L-class structural failures at the moment? Just sayin.
 
Ididntdoit said:
First I've heard of this - do you ave a source of this info you can share?
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No, not really. Can’t recall if I heard it from a guy the works at Regal, or if I heard it at FLIBS last year? Sorry. Something about stringers popping off the hull.
 
threads like this always confuse me....

almost all members on this forum own Sea Rays....we spent a lot of time weighing all options and other makes of boats before deciding to buy a Sea Ray....

why would anyone think they can come to a prominent 'Sea Ray' forum and think the members are going to take their time and effort to justify our decisions to buy Sea Ray boats...of course the majority of us are going to recommend buying a Sea Ray over other brands...to do otherwise would imply we were negligent in our decision making process before buying our boats and have 'buyer's remorse' wishing we would have bought another brand....for me personally nothing could be further from the truth...I spent a GREAT amount of time researching boats and looking at boats before deciding on Sea Ray...

to the OP, I would suggest joining both a Sea Ray forum and a Meridian forum and read all of the archived post you can relating to both boats....you can even ask specific questions on each forum about the boats....then you can make an educated decision for yourself...

but please don't come on a Sea Ray forum and ask us which brands of boats we like best and recommend buying.....that's just silly....

cliff
 
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