Common problems with sea ray 21 Laguna

Gledhill89

New Member
Feb 28, 2019
3
Boat Info
Sea Ray Laguna 21 centre console
Engines
Mercury 150 Efi
Hi Guys I’m off to go and view a 1992 21 Laguna centre console on Sunday it has a 2015 Mercury Efi on the back with 60 hours on the outboard.
The owner is describing the boat as being immaculate other than one of the scrubbers being knocked off by a fender. Just wondering what common problems I need to be looking out for please and any general advise would be great. Thanks in advance.
 
Don't know anything about them, but those are cool boats... good luck and welcome to CSR!
 
I don't think there are too many owners here and I've not heard of any inherent issues with the model. As with any 27 year old boat; soft floor, rotten transom and fuel tank would be things to watch.
 
I believe the user "Lucky's" (i think his name was Sean) had one - but he hasn't been on here much......Rusty would know all about them too! Hopefully He'll chime in
 
The boat sound amazing just heard some horror story’s about the underside of the deck rotting out anyone heard of this or is it rumours?
 
The Mercury EFI series are 2 stroke engines and were before 2015 (I think they ended that series in 2008) and horrible on fuel. I have a 225 EFI on my 206SS Gambler and can't loose sight of the fuel dock; great engine other than that.
Make sure they represent the engine correctly....
 
Think they swapped from the 2 stokes to the four strokes in 2011 for the 150 the smaller engines didn’t change untill 2015 I believe
 
I almost purchase the 24ft Laguna cc. Upon inspection I could see the screws fastening the cap to the deck along the inside of the bolsters were exposed and several had missed their target point.
I was shocked. All you had to do to inspect was open or look inside the rod storage areas along the gunwale from inside the boat and you’ll see all the screws.
 
When the Laguna line was first started, Sea Ray built them in the Merritt Island plant. That means the boats with a HIN # beginning with SERF or SERM were built by employees who also built the sport yacht line and knew how to build fiberglass boats.

Later, the laguna line was moved to an expanding Tennessee Factory.......I forget which, but the serial numbers would begin with SERR (Riverview), SERT (Knoxville) or SERV (Vonore).

I would have no problem with a Merritt Island boat, but would survey the heck out of a Tennessee model, only because the early ones made in the Tennessee factory were built by brand new employees with limited training on layup, gelcoat and assembly.

We have had several Lagunas in our marina in Florida and All I've looked at were typical Sea Ray build quality. I don't know where they were built but none have exhibited any "boat" problems. When you see them in the shop or with a mechanic on one it is almost always a "motor problem" because someone has hauled pump gas containing ethanol to the boat and fueled then out of a can instead of using marina gas which is non-ethanol, Valvetech fuel then let them sit in the dry stacks for 6-12 months.

As far as Rusty is concerned, he is enjoying his well earned retirement and this week is running an L650 up the east coast of Florida for an owner unfamiliar with the territory and inlets. He checks in on CSR every morning when he has internet access. He is fond of the Laguna, knows them extremely well and was, in fact, laying up the fiberglass in Merritt Island when the boats were produced there. He has one that he personally built in his back yard on a trailer about a mile from the Port Canaveral launch ramp. If you want to contact him, the best way is by sending him a PM on this site.
 
A friend owned a 1988 24’ Laguna. It was a great boat. We enjoyed many days of fishing on it.
I had the chance to buy an early 90’s 21’ Laguna a few years back. Was interested in it for my teenage kids at the time. I was slow to pull the trigger, missed out on it, and still regret it.
 
I have a 1994 24 Laguna SERV. Only minor complaints. Small soft spot stbd side near center console. The bulkhead under the deck forward of the center console had some rot. In addition I don't feel the wiring is properly supported. The boat is solid with those exceptions.
 
But of course I know good and plenty about Laguna's....I have one parked along side my house that I assembled in the Merritt Island plant back in the 90's. I also assembled the 24's and some of the 21's. Tell us what you found, both good and not so good. You can validate the HIN by looking on the stbd aft transom and read the HIN. Like FW says, you will also be able to determine which plant that unit was built at. I will make no distinction in quality of build between manufacturing facilities, but will say the ones built in Merritt Island were laid-up with fiberglass by the same guys who just completed a 40 and 45 footer the same day.....a wee bit heavy on the glass for a 24 footer, and that's okay. Made them tougher than train smoke......Tell us what you found so we too can enjoy that baby!

Rusty
 
I just restored a 91 21' from bottom up. Its tough to find problems in this vessel, and there is no real change in quality regardless of where built.

Fuel tanks are the main problem if left sitting in salt water. Very little wood below the deck line, so mushy deck, etc is an easy fix if you get the price right. If you can take pics of certain areas, I can let you know what I see. Def check transom for any hits, as they wont rot out.
 
Hello- I purchased a ‘91 Laguna 17’ last Sept and was just able to get it in the slip at end of last month. It has since become waterlogged. After some exploratory drilling the foam is soaked. What can be done?
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I am not certain that is foam. Those 17 are unicorns (great boats), but should be a cored hull. Capt. Rusty above would know better.

If cored, SeaRay has said for years that it should dry. First, you need to find where the water is entering from.
 
I really doubt that Sea Ray would core the hull on a 17 ft boat. There would be very little to gain in weight savings. The transom will be cored with plywood to give the factory some place to mount things like the trim pump, engine wiring etc.

In the photos shown in post #18, the foam shown in the hole in the floor of the compartment is expandable foam Sea Ray uses for sound deadening. If water gets to it, even though it is supposed to be closed cell foam, it will absorb a lot of water. About all you can do is to find a low spot in the hull and position the boat where any trapped water can gravity drain to the low spot then dig out all t he foam that you can and use a wet/dry shop vac to remove the water.

Once you think you get all the water out and you don't see any more appearing, clean and wipe down anyplace that hold water like t he bilge sump with acetone. Watch the area cleaned carefully with a strong light of some sort and see if water creeps back into the area. If you are lucky you may see a small void in the fiberglass where water begins to run back in. If you see such spot, you will need to grind out the fiberglass and repair the void.

I had this happen on a 390EC a number of years ago. The reason I have no hair now is because I pulled most of it out trying to find the source of the water under the floor. it took about 5 years, but we finally got the area between the floor and the hull dry.
 

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