240 DA owners, do you overnight?

M

mikestein

New Member
Jun 5, 2007
129
Columbia, SC
We boat and camp. But we don't camp as much as we'd like because we can only tow the boat or the trailer, not both. So my question is: how many of you overnight on your 240 Sundancer? Is it big enough for a family of four? Or am I really just going to end up having a closed bow for storage? My kids really love the open bow, so I wouldn't give that up unless we actually could use the berth for overnighting. We currently have a 185 and the plan is to move up to either a small overnighter, or a larger bowrider -- say a 2001 230 or similar. Thoughts, suggestions?
 
Our last boat was a 23 foot open bow. The admiral didn't care for the porta potty and the difficulty with getting into the cubby hole. What we liked was the amount of seating and that we could pull the kids in the tube. The sundeck and the select are nice looking boats. I think you would pick one based on how heavy of water you deal with on a regular basis.

Our solution was the 24 foot DA. We lament the loss of seating but that is a minimal loss. Saturday we had 4 adults and three kids on the boat and it was okay. Of course most of the time the kids were in the water.

The 24 has an adequate bathroom (make sure to get the vacuflush or don't buy this boat) and it is a lot easier for changing cloths in the front berth. Plus I have found with late afternoon showers we get in the summer everyone heads below to nap or watch a movie.

Overnights. My wife and I (without the kids) make overnight stays usually at a marina so we can have the air on. We find it works fine for two of us but I would think it would get crowded with more than two adults and two kids. We are down to one 14 old teenager so we find ourselves boating alone more each year that passes.

The gulf gets rough so for us the extra boat is nice but not really necessary. If you aren't really into spending overnights on the boat and you can live with the porta potty then I would stick with the open bow. If you go for the DA model I would up the power to make it easier for pulling tubes and wake boards with the kids.

Good luck
 
for comparision I moved into the 240DA after having my 22SD for 2 years. the big reasons for me moving up was :

1. the SD hull was too flat and the Bay and Gulf are never flat; So I needed a boat with a deeper V entry on the hull to take some of the pounding I was getting out before I ended up in a wheel chair.
2. having had twins I need a boat that had a high free board and a place where the kids could get out of the FL Sun.
3. I wanted to stay out. I want the option to overnight and not have to go somewhere and come back in the same day.

this year so far I have spent 6 nights aboard (2 nights at Caladesi island & 4 at Tween Waters (125 miles south of Home)) and wish I had more time to spend on the boat. Now with that said I will say that there is a lot of difference in the amount of room an older 240DA has (2004 & Before) and the the new 240DA ('06 + (really a 22 foot boat)).the 2004 and prior are about 26 1/2 over all and have a more cockpit and cabin space both in lenght and height.

beyond overnighting there are things I like about having a cruiser beyond a Deck Boat. I have a refrigerator to keep things cold. I have the mid berth area where I can store toys and inflatables for the kids. I can take a hot shower with the heat exchanger on the boat before heading home so I'm not all Salty. I can stick kids below deck on the way home and let them crash, I can also get them and the wife down there in case we run into a storm.

It gives me the option of ignoring the weather and enjoying being out on the water.

with that said if I had the option and money I would go for a 280DA in a heart beat. to get more room below deck and spend more time on the water with the family.
 
Thanks for the great insight. What I'm thinking is maybe an early 2000s 240DA if we were going to try to get all four of us (two adults, a 10 year old, and a 5 year old) for overnight, and that would be snug. Otherwise I really need something bigger unless just me and my wife. I really do like the shelter aspect however. Do either of y'all trailer?
 
Mines behind the house on a lift and the dealership is about 5 miles via water. no reason to trailer.
 
Mike,

The '03 and newer models had factory air as an option. Obviously you would need shorepower in order to run the A/C. However, it seems as though you would be "camping" near one of the local islands on Lake Murray, which would make rule out most of May/June and all of July/August due to our low temps being around 80. If I were looking to make a move, I would go with a larger bowrider rather than a 240 DA.
 
SeaRide, great point about the AC. A nice 1999 230 would be perfect :) How about a trade? My 1998 185, a pop up camper and a dog for your boat?
 
NOT FOR SALE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!..........but my wife would like to see the 230 go in favor of a 260 or 280 DA. I would like a 260 SD.

However, what I can tell you with certainty is that a 230 BR or 240 SD both work very well on Murray.
 
My wife and I have spent 4 nights in a row on our 240. We also have a large Basset hound that never misses a trip. We stay in the dock at night, shore power plugged in. I have a portable room AC unit 7000 BTU that I vent out the aft port and drain into the bathroom. It is completly out of the way and only $250. We don't have the vaccum flush head so we pump out each end of weekend. So far things are great no problems. I installed a Flat screen TV on a swivel arm so we watch movies at night and in the mornings. I would have loved a larger more accommodating boat but we live within our means and didn't finace our boat.
 
I was going to wholeheartedly steer you toward a 240DA until Charley mentioned that you spend most of your time on Lake Murray. He's right about the temp and comfort level.

My wife and I joined the gang for July 4th festivities a couple of years ago. They all stayed in a rented house at night while the Admiral and I slept on the hook in the water.... it was miserably hot. We basically sweated to death until way after midnight until we got so sleepy that we finally nodded off before sunup. If you boat Murray and plan to summer there while sleeping on the boat, then A/C is an absolute must.
 
mikestein said:
I do see a bunch of 240 SDs on Lake Murray. I like the bowriders better though.
Click to expand...

You could always go for the 240 SD cruiser options.:lol: Everybody keep telling me I was turning my 240 Sundeck into a cruiser what with the shore power, full camper, inverter, etc, .... options I added to her.:huh:
 
At '07's boat show we were almost ready to pull the trigger on an '07 240DA. I was pretty excited. Then the Admiral sat in the port side "V" seating. She didn't like it. She said, while underway while sitting in either seat, she thought she'd bang her head on that side of the windshield. I sat there and agreed.
So, we punted and decided to look for the older 240DA's with the "L" shaped seating. This was tough as there didn't seem to be many on the market. What I did discover was that for not too much more than the used 240DA's , we could get a used 260DA. Well at half the price of the money we were going to spend at the boat show for the '07 240DA we bought the boat we have now....a 2000 260DA. (we've owned it since Dec with 94 Hours and now have nearlt 140hours).
I think we've slept on it 6 times, we have 6 year old twins and Love it.
I think your search for a early 2000's 240DA is a good one....just stay open for a 260DA, they're out there too and for not too much more money.

Best of luck.
 
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We've used our 240DA as a summer house for the past couple of years. To be comfortable we've got this boat with all the option that we liked (vacuflush is a must). On hot and humid days you may need a/c, we had carry-on, which worked fine. If you're asking is there enough room for 4, we had guest staying over night several times (total 4 adults and 2 kids), so yes there's room. Is it comfortable? It all depends on personal preference and of course people size. If you're 6'5" 300LB I don't think you'll fit in the head, so vacuflush is useless for you :))) you'll just need the cabin for yourself.
 
We also have the 2000 260, and overnight on it quite frequently. We have a six-year-old and a four-year-old who love the aft berth (crawlspace). We do not have A/C, so we actually prefer to sleep on the hook; it's usually cooler there than in the marina.
We have a pump-out-porta-potti; stay away - find a boat with a vacu-flush and real holding tank. It' is a little cramped in the cabin at night, changing, brushing teeth, etc, but if you have to trailer you won't be able to trailer a bigger boat easily.
Good luck, they're good boats.
 
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