A Wanna Be

Pirate Lady said:
and i aint kidding, all the guys on here know of the Middle River marinas i speak of, but every day as the wife and i take our lil 250 out for a ride, we go past Cutters and every day i see 40 - 54 Sea Ray dock queens that have not left their slip all summer. Hey, if their intentions is to have a summer home more power to them, but i like to 'go boating'. so absolutely nothing against all the fine peeps on here with really nice big SeaRays (ya, jealous), but i just observe a lot of peeps that went 'one too big' on their boat. Peter Principle?
Click to expand...

No offense taken, we only put 210 hours on ours over the past year.
Of course, a large part of that was relocating from Ft Lauderdale and going through the Bahamas, Exhumas and the Keys
 
Boats are like cars for fuel. The bigger the more they use. We have two SUVs they get 15 to 18 MPG we have a 2.4 L car that gets 35MPG. We have several boats the SeaRay burns 55 GPH at 22 knots and 6GPH at 6 knots, the dinghy burns 1/2 GPH at 10 knots. The Jetboat burns 1.5 GPH at 6 knots and 15 GPH at 30 knots. Size and high speed cost more to run. With the SeaRay we spend 20K US a year on average to store, maintain and run. The dinghy we spend $50 a year. The Jetboat 3 to 5K US a year. This year the SeaRay cost 5KUS to store, we did not use it due to virus.
 
Operating costs are why I wanted to stick with a single engine boat. Both the fuel and the mechanicals. Of course, I went out an bought a single engine diesel for $400k +; so maybe the math didn't work out?

But seriously, my objective is to keep things simple. We want to cruise a whole lot more; I know I would get worked up seeing 32 GPH on my screen. I was happy seeing at 19 GPH going 28 MPH over the summer. I also want to keep the annual engine costs down, even though I did all the maintenance this year. Twins would increase my workload / maintenance time, or increase my costs. This is factoring into my next boat being a single straight shaft, or a twin IPS drive.
 
BillinPA said:
Hello all, new guy here.

I just sold my 2002 Maxum 2700 SCR and will be looking for a 2005-2008 Searay 340.

Excited!, but wondering will I be able to afford putting gas into 8.1’s? I have a friend that owns a 2008 350 and she gets 1/2 a mile to a gallon.

we like to travel around the Chesapeake Bay, but will I become a dock queen?

The Maxum was a single 6.2 with an 90 gallon tank. No issues with gas costs.

Thanks everyone!!!!!
Click to expand...

Hey Bill,
Welcome to CSR. There is certainly a lot of good information here. There are also a lot of different opinions!

As you go up in size, fuel consumption certainly changes. I say changes...it may go up, it may go down. This is both due to the way you boat, and the way the boat likes to run.

Our boats have grown as our family has. We started in our first Sea Ray, a 280DA, when my girls were 3 and 5. As time went by they needed more space, and some with privacy! When we moved to the 300DA, we were actually looking for an '03.5 to '05 340DA. We couldn't find a good one but did find what was essentially a brand new 7-year old 300, so we jumped on it and ended-up really liking it.

As life went on, both our budget for fuel and our tolerance for spending on fuel (you get desensitized to it over time!) increased. There was a time when fuel cost was a legitimate factor, and there is absolutely no shame in that. As it turns out, however, we don't really spend that much more on fuel now in our 44DB than we did a decade ago in our 280DA.

We operated our 280 more like a speedboat, 30-40mph everywhere we went. If our anchorage got too rough (which can happen easily in a 280), we moved. We planned long trips with the destination in mind moreso than the stops en route. If out at anchor or on a mooring ball and the weather turned rainy we would get on-plane and head to a nice marina with good restaurants near by.

I found running at hull speed in cruisers like the 280 or 300 not very enjoyable. They tended to wander, and wakes, waves, and swells affected them a lot. The 300 was better than the 280, and the 340 would be better than the 300 in these regards. There wasn't a lot of advantage to going slower either. The 280 was 1.9MPG at hull speed, 1.6MPG at 30MPH, and 1.3MPG at WOT/41MPH. There was a bit more of an advantage in the 300, with the equivalent numbers being 1.9, 1.3 and 1.0. The 44 is a totally different situation altogether with 4 or 5MPG possible at hull speeds that are faster than the 280 or 300 hull speeds, 1MPG at around 10 or 11MPH, and once you are doing 13MPH you had may as well go as fast as you want because you will get 0.6 to 0.7MPG all the way to WOT.

In the 44, there's nothing I like better than dialing-in a speed of 8 or 9MPH, pointing the bow into the horizon, and chilling out knowing I am consuming less than 3GPH, getting better than 3MPG, with a range approaching 1000 miles. I can still get up and go 30MPH if I want to, but seldom feel the need to. In smaller waterways, we are bound to slower speeds to be considerate with our wake.

Now I know you aren't moving to diesels, but some of this would still be true for us with a 340DA vs a 2700SCR. We would likely do less moving from spot to spot, the journey would be more comfortable and less rushed, and weather would be a little less of a factor.

In rough weather, I believe you will find the 340 has a sweet spot that is more efficient from a fuel perspective than the 2700 with a single, although I am speculating here.

The next evolution for us with respect to fuel consumption is about convenience and capability. I don't want to have to fill up often. An efficient platform with large tanks that would take me thousands of miles is very attractive. So as we look for our next boat (which may or may not happen...I have been on a lot of boats between 40 and 65 feet lately, old and new, and really love our 44), fuel consumption is still a factor. If you want to go to the southern Caribbean, you should definitely ask the question about fuel consumption because you need to.

Best of luck, I hope this is helpful.
 
I can understand..
Started with a 1997 Larson 27’ (fantastic boat) upgraded to 1995 SeaRay 400EC because of a growing family.

Yes, fuel and maintenance is a lot more with a bigger boat.
Diesel engines will save you on fuel burn but, that’s a discussion for a different thread.
Older vs newer may or may not save you $$.
Maintenance is key..
DIY is a huge advantage if your so inclined. I couldn’t afford anything that floats, if I wasn’t my own mechanic.

Bigger is really a completely different style of boating.
I do miss having a top speed of 40kts, cruising @27kts and getting nearly 2mpg...vs 30kts / 20kts cruise getting .5mpg
But, now weather doesn’t really hamper us nearly as much on Long Island Sound.
Living aboard for days on end is fun and easy. Carrying a sizable tender, couple of kayaks along with all the inflatable water toys is nice.

I would definitely suggest not over extend yourself for a toy..there’s just no way to justify a boat. It’s very rarely an investment that pays off!
It’s memories you’re buying with the expenses involved in owning a boat of any size.
 
Last edited:
Welcome Bill - We did exactly what you are doing 5 years ago. We moved up to our 06 340 (with outdrives) from our 02 Maxum 2700SCR. We loved our Maxum and she definitely treated us well. Our 340 with outdrives gets 1.1 MPG with water and fuel @ 75%. When we run our annual trip from the middle Potomac up the Chesapeake to Annapolis, St Michaels, Herrington, etc - I always change the plugs and fuel filters before we leave, and fully loaded with 3 adults, tons of food, drinks, etc and full fuel tanks we get 0.9 MPG. Rough seas will drop that to 0.7. We cruise @ 32 MPH, tabs slightly engaged and outdrives trimmed out just a touch.
We love the 340, she is perfect for us and maintenance is of course more than the Maxum, but I do most myself and enjoy that as well as using it. If you go with the 340, you will not be dissatisfied. Best of Luck.
 
Funny anecdote if you allow me, a number of years back I was at marina gettin my 268 ready for spring launch. Was blocked next to a small fishing style boat and the gentleman and I were workin our boats on a fine sunny day. He said to me “I had a boat like that, really enjoyed it. Then the kids grew and the grandkids grew, and I kept gettin bigger boats until I realized there was no boat big enough. Got up to 40+ footers. So I sold the last one, bought this little boat and go out by myself and never been happier”. And THAT my friends is a true story about boats.
 
I think he meant space not gas, but as I sit at this bar with wife with a $60 beer tab so far, I agree. I just contracted today to have $1500 canvas work done, so yes, gas is pittance.
 
Pirate Lady said:
I think he meant space not gas, but as I sit at this bar with wife with a $60 beer tab so far, I agree. I just contracted today to have $1500 canvas work done, so yes, gas is pittance.
Click to expand...
Yup, so is $1500 for canvas work and the $1,300 I just paid for fall fluid changes, winterization of the engines. Like I said before, the only boat expense I love paying for is fuel. It means I was using the boat. (and maybe the $ spend on those little upgrades too)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,120
Messages
1,426,612
Members
61,037
Latest member
wojozobl
Back
Top