The biggest Sea Ray is now the SLX 400?

mobocracy

Active Member
Jun 29, 2014
541
United States
Boat Info
310 Sundancer
Engines
350 Mag & Bravo III
And the biggest Sundancer is now the 350?

I saw a brokerage ad for recent (2018, I think) 460 DA and got to digging and looked at the Sea Ray web site which I hadn't visited for a while and was surprised that the largest Sundancer is now the 350.

I knew that they were getting out of the L-class boats, but I didn't realize they were getting out of the 40-ish Sundancers, too. I would have thought that maybe the 40s were going through some kind of design refresh, but the 460 DA in particular seemed to be already more a less a peer in styling/setup as the Carvers/Cruisers of the same size.
 
It looks like Sea Ray is only offering 27 different models. If you eliminate those that in which the only difference is propulsion type - stern drive versus outboard - they are down to 16 offerings. And that’s without saying the 350 Sundancer and 350 Sundancer Coupe are the same.

Quite the reduction from years past.
 
Going to the Javits Center boat show today. From what I understand, the 400 SLX OB is stunning.
 
It is very disappointing the direction Sea Ray has decided to go. One would think the 30'-50' range would have been their most popular size ranges. All you see are those size Sea Rays ll over the Great Lakes. Hopefully someday they will build a low to mid 40's size Sundancer again.
 
It is very disappointing the direction Sea Ray has decided to go. One would think the 30'-50' range would have been their most popular size ranges. All you see are those size Sea Rays ll over the Great Lakes. Hopefully someday they will build a low to mid 40's size Sundancer again.

I'd love to see the inflation-adjusted prices of the "old" 400/42/44s vs what they would go for now.

The base price on the web site for the 350 Coupe is $433,000. I don't know about you, but I find that kind of breathtaking for what you get. Some recent boats which I've thought look like upgrades to me are something like the Benneteau Swift Trawler 47, which I think was around $850,000. I mean it's almost double, but it seems like (more than) double the boat, too, or at least double the usage potential or more.

My guess is the people who could afford a new 400+ Sea Ray are capable of spending a lot more, and those who used to be able to afford something like this have dwindled into an unsustainably small market.
 
I noticed that Sea Ray easily had the largest booth on the NY Boat Show this weekend. Also, the vast majority of boats on display were outboard powered. It was a vast difference from the last time I went to the show, which was 5 or 6 years ago.

Another major difference was the size of the show. It felt 1/3 to 1/2 smaller than the last time I went. Instead of the entire upper floor, there was another event concurrent in the big southern space. I went specifically to look for boat security options, with a side objective for specials on general boating merch. There were far fewer vendors than I expected with only a since vendor with any type of boat security. No davit guys. No general boating merch. No novel boating solutions. The Newport show I went to last year was way more interesting. I don't know if this is an overall trend, but it was not as exciting as shows in the past.

As far as Sea Rays specifically, I think the most interesting boat is the SLX 400 with the fold-out terrance / platform. My biggest issue with outboards is the lack of swim platform space. Having the side fold out solves that problem. However, it doesn't work if you have a boat rafted on your starboard side.

The trends on Sea Rays I HATE is the dash with the fully integrated Simrad MFDs. They seem to be fully integrated so you effectively can't choose your own electronics. The smooth, shiny plastic dash looks like it can't easily be cut for your own gear. And what happens when the unit dies or is obsolete in the future? There's no easy upgrade path there since MFD sizes change frequently. Same with the Fusion radio being so integrated into the dash. It may look sexy, but the long-term boater in me says NO.
 
The trends on Sea Rays I HATE is the dash with the fully integrated Simrad MFDs. They seem to be fully integrated so you effectively can't choose your own electronics. The smooth, shiny plastic dash looks like it can't easily be cut for your own gear. And what happens when the unit dies or is obsolete in the future? There's no easy upgrade path there since MFD sizes change frequently. Same with the Fusion radio being so integrated into the dash. It may look sexy, but the long-term boater in me says NO.

I think all electronics upgrades are actually harder in practice. Upgrading my 2007 310DA's OEM NorthStar 6000i and ancient VesselView involves a complicated patch/replace of the dash panel thanks to the differing cutouts, an in-hull transducer that's probably not compatible with any new MFD, etc.

My guess is for day use the current integrated Simrad MFD probably isn't that big of a deal. I also wonder if you were buying new how hard it would be to get the boat without any MFD at all so you could drop in the MFD of your own choosing, since chances are the VesselView functionality is probably NMEA 2K to the MFD.
 
I think all electronics upgrades are actually harder in practice. Upgrading my 2007 310DA's OEM NorthStar 6000i and ancient VesselView involves a complicated patch/replace of the dash panel thanks to the differing cutouts, an in-hull transducer that's probably not compatible with any new MFD, etc.

My guess is for day use the current integrated Simrad MFD probably isn't that big of a deal. I also wonder if you were buying new how hard it would be to get the boat without any MFD at all so you could drop in the MFD of your own choosing, since chances are the VesselView functionality is probably NMEA 2K to the MFD.

It looks like Sea Ray is building at least some of the switching and control functions into the Simrad MFDs. It might be hard to get one without it and install your own. I didn't see a separate Vessel View panel. I agree that some of the older Sea Rays also didn't have very good dash design for adding your own electronics gear. All the swoopy / segment dash layout of the 90's and 2000's didn't lend themselves to it.

Frankly, that's one reason I love my current boat - a very simple flat layout that lets you customize it as you want. I noted that some of the other brands I visited at the show had clean dash designs that allowed you for add your own electronics with relative ease.
 
It looks like Sea Ray is building at least some of the switching and control functions into the Simrad MFDs. It might be hard to get one without it and install your own. I didn't see a separate Vessel View panel. I agree that some of the older Sea Rays also didn't have very good dash design for adding your own electronics gear. All the swoopy / segment dash layout of the 90's and 2000's didn't lend themselves to it.

Frankly, that's one reason I love my current boat - a very simple flat layout that lets you customize it as you want. I noted that some of the other brands I visited at the show had clean dash designs that allowed you for add your own electronics with relative ease.

Do you suppose that the Simrads in use on these boats have custom firmware for Sea Ray specific functionality, or is it just a case of Sea Ray using NMEA 2000 enabled switching that the Simrad would support out of the box?
 
Do you suppose that the Simrads in use on these boats have custom firmware for Sea Ray specific functionality, or is it just a case of Sea Ray using NMEA 2000 enabled switching that the Simrad would support out of the box?

I think it's a bit of both. It looks to me like they are using standard switching protocols, but also have some custom firmware that enhances it.

I found this image from the SLX 400 page. It shows some of the lighting controls with custom graphics on the Simrad screen. Incidentally, these screens are also used to display gauges as they would on a Vessel View screen. Simrad also makes the smaller Vessel View screens like the 5 inch one I have on my boat; this is just a scaled up version.

A Garmin device can also interface with the smart switching protocols, but would not be as integrated. It could show gauge data as well, assuming there is an N2K integration on the boat.

image.jpg
 
Do you suppose that the Simrads in use on these boats have custom firmware for Sea Ray specific functionality, or is it just a case of Sea Ray using NMEA 2000 enabled switching that the Simrad would support out of the box?

I looked at mfds to replace a Volvo display this fall. At that time I noticed Simrad had dedicated Merc screens. Makes sense since there are thousands of Merc powered Smartcraft boats out there. That said, Volvo has contracted Garmin for their “Glass Cockpit” displays. These are only available from Volvo at a significant upcharge (200%).

So I’m kind of on the fence about customized displays because it turns out our Volvo engine software is not supported by the new displays. So there is a real risk that a customized display may not be available in the future as in my case. The Volvo display that came with our engines is no longer available and the current offerings are not backwardly compatible.
 
I looked at mfds to replace a Volvo display this fall. At that time I noticed Simrad had dedicated Merc screens. Makes sense since there are thousands of Merc powered Smartcraft boats out there. That said, Volvo has contracted Garmin for their “Glass Cockpit” displays. These are only available from Volvo at a significant upcharge (200%).

So I’m kind of on the fence about customized displays because it turns out our Volvo engine software is not supported by the new displays. So there is a real risk that a customized display may not be available in the future as in my case. The Volvo display that came with our engines is no longer available and the current offerings are not backwardly compatible.

I've had a bunch of conversations with car people in the last year as we've discussed how idiotically integrated automobile infotainment head units have become with cars, and how it's nearly impossible to replace them due to the car's head unit being a menu interface if not an outright control system for vehicle specific functions.

In these conversations I kept saying cars should be like boats, with a standardized information protocol like NMEA 2K, so that replacing a head unit could happen without losing control functionality.

It looks like it's going in the wrong direction, and boats are imitating cars, with overly integrated electronics that will be obsolete.

I think it's a bit of both. It looks to me like they are using standard switching protocols, but also have some custom firmware that enhances it.

I found this image from the SLX 400 page. It shows some of the lighting controls with custom graphics on the Simrad screen. Incidentally, these screens are also used to display gauges as they would on a Vessel View screen. Simrad also makes the smaller Vessel View screens like the 5 inch one I have on my boat; this is just a scaled up version.

Now it makes sense. It's more or less an upscaled VesselView with more native Simrad functionality.
 
Now it makes sense. It's more or less an upscaled VesselView with more native Simrad functionality.

Yep. The vessel view panel I have actually says “Cummins”. It’s main use is for engine data, but it’s actually a fully featured MFD that can support maps and trip planning. The back side says Simrad. The Simrad one above is just larger version. By the way, mine is not on a Sea Ray.
 
It’s tough being a SR fan these days. A multitude of other brands offer what SR used to build.
 
I've rafted with outboard boats on both sides. Just need to align them a bit more carefully.

I think the reference was to the SLX400 and its unique fold-down stbd side. If it's extended, another boat cannot tie up to the stbd side. That said, I'd be a-okay with this since, when in a raft up, I prefer an end spot anyway. :)
 

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