Buying a Sea Ray

[Swimparent]

Hey Everyone,
We are looking at a 1995 Sea Ray 300 with v-drive, twin mercruiser engines. The boat looks to be in excellent condition and we are having it surveyed this Saturday. We will keep the boat at our dock and need canvas covers. The original covers are not with the boat so we will need to buy them. We also want "stand-up" canvas so we can travel completely enclosed if needed. Does anyone have an idea how much a complete set of canvas covers will be?
Also any information on this boat year and model would be appreciated.
Thanks

 

[rcknecht]

Hey Everyone,
We are looking at a 1995 Sea Ray 300 with v-drive, twin mercruiser engines. The boat looks to be in excellent condition and we are having it surveyed this Saturday. We will keep the boat at our dock and need canvas covers. The original covers are not with the boat so we will need to buy them. We also want "stand-up" canvas so we can travel completely enclosed if needed. Does anyone have an idea how much a complete set of canvas covers will be?
Also any information on this boat year and model would be appreciated.
Thanks

E-mail or call:

KELLI RENDFELD
CANVAS SOLUTIONS

CUSTOMER SERVICE​

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PH 423-884-6761 EXT 232​

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FAX 423-884-6410​

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WWW.GREATLAKESBOATTOP.COM​

​

They made the orginal canvas for the 300 DA... They are great people, and are located in TN, so you can probably save on shipping by picking up the canvas yourself... Ask them for the Club Searay discount...

 

[Southpaw II]

This could be either a Sundancer or a Weekender model; the Sundancer had the radar arch. Go to the Sea Ray website and click under "customer service", and then "archives" to see the brochures for the model you need. This will give you tons of info on the boat, as manufactured.

There are lots of sources for the canvas you need, and depending on if you have the frame, it could easily run $2,500. Good canvas will last a long time in your part of the country if you take good care of it. Buy local if you can to insure proper fit, and adjustments if you need them. As many boats as there are on Lake Guntersville, there should be a good canvas shop near by.

 

[Swimparent]

Thanks for the information everyone. This boat is a Sundancer. We had a 28 foot boat that we lost in the "Gravity Wave" this past April and have been looking for a replacement. Our previous boat the Didapper sank at our dock :-(. We have been limited to our ski boat this summer and can not wait to have the "Big Boat" back.

Would you have any concerns with a V-drive on the Tennessee River? We are located in the Goosepond area of Lake Guntersville.

 

[Southpaw II]

Thanks for the information everyone. This boat is a Sundancer. We had a 28 foot boat that we lost in the "Gravity Wave" this past April and have been looking for a replacement. Our previous boat the Didapper sank at our dock :-(. We have been limited to our ski boat this summer and can not wait to have the "Big Boat" back.

Would you have any concerns with a V-drive on the Tennessee River? We are located in the Goosepond area of Lake Guntersville.

Absolutely not. My dockmate has a '94 model that has the BIII drives, and these are great boats. Needless to say, make sure the boat comes out of the water for the survey to check all of the underwater stuff. Keep the V-Drives serviced. These will require less maintenance than the outdrives you are used to. This boat will be a bit slower, but will handle like a dream.

 

[Swimparent]

I am trying to post pics of the boat we are looking at. It is being surveyed Saturday and they are pulling it out of the water and also taking it out for a seatrial (or in our case, a lake trial). I think they are to have it pulled out and the bottom pressure washed by the time the surveyor gets there.


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[rcknecht]

The 300 DA has a common delamination on the swim platform and by the windless (if you have one). My 96' 300 had stainless steel elbows, which if this has the same, will most likely be good. Try to get the maintenance records because you raw water pumps go about every 4 years. The thermostats go at about the same frequency. One annoying thing on the 300 is the plastic water connections. I always carried spares because they seem to fail often. I had velvet drive transmissions, yours probably has the same. I would pay for a oil sampling of the transmissions. I had metal in my oil when I sold my 300, and had knock $5K off the price because of it... Picture looks nice. We loved our 300, put over 500 hours on it in 5 years.

 

[garryowen]

forgive me for asking; what is a gravity wave and how does it swamp and sink a boat?

please educate me.
thank you, gary

 

[mwph]

Swimparent - Call Signal Point Marina for your canvas issues. There is a woman that actually lives on her boat there while doing the best canvas work around. I called her last year & she was too booked up at the time.

I hope all goes well on the boat. I actually boarded that boat a few months back, (I am at Alred Marina too.) As for the V drives, there are plenty of V drive boats on Guntersville, both at Goose Pond and down on the south end where we wre.

Sorry about your boat last April. Were you at The Yacht Club? That storm missed my boat by less than a mile.

I'll PM you Signal Point's & The Canvas Lady's phone numbers later tonight. Welcome to CSR!

 

[Swimparent]

We keep our boat at our dock in Scottsboro. I will post some pictures of it being raised.

Do you know anything about this boat? It looks very clean. I was down there yesterday.

The first pic is of her still mostly submerged, the 2nd is of her, Bill, and our son Thomas right before they towed her away....she looked pretty good, and the last is when they were just getting her pumped out.
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[Swimparent]

Hey Gary,
I am not sure that I know what a gravity wave is still. I just sure hope we never go through another one.
Sustained winds of 50-70 mph blew continuously for 12 hours. We were without power for a week. Houses destroyed and lots of big boats swamped in the Guntersville area. Our boat was backed into our dock and they think the waves crashed over our dock and filled her up and down she went. I am sure if you google it, you can find pictures. I would be very wary of buying a boat around here;-).

Our boat was taken for salvage by the towing company and she is back up and on our lake and looks great. We didn't want to buy her back....bad karma or something.

We were looking for a later model boat with a single engine but found this one and now we are buying an older boat with twin engines...go figure. I think the boat found us.

 

[garryowen]

thanks; when i read post, that is a term i had never heard of. would be hart broken if i found my boat as you folks did. will google as you suggested.


congrats on new boat

 

[Swimparent]

Spent 5 hours surveying the boat and doing a sea(lake)trial today. I don't think there is anything major wrong....going to talk to our mechanic here and see how much repairs are estimated to be. Brought the original owner's package home with us, so I guess we plan to buy it.
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[mwph]

Glad to hear! Sounds like the trial went ok. Mind if I ask who is doing your survey?

BTW it looks like you were standing 50 feet from my boat when you shot that second pic. You didn't see a 250 sittin on the bottom did ya? Either way we are going up tomorrow. I tell Rus to go easy on your wallet for that rainy day haul out.

Good luck & keep us posted.

 

[Swimparent]

A man named Bob Hunter did the survey. I am not sure where he is from, but as I understand it we put him up in a hotel in Albertville. I think he was travelling and may be from Rogersville (?). Liked him very much. He was very thorough and meticulous and is providing a written report.

While she was pulled out, the main thing he found was a scrape on either side of the bottom which goes through the gelcoat(?) but he said it was easily repaired and she has to have the bottom painted anyway so no big deal and also a blade on one of the props was out of true(?). As far as the sea trial, my ten-year-old and I stayed on land and sent our 20-year-old out with my husband. I figured he could handle the engine stuff and Katy could check out the stereo and other fun electronic stuff. With the two of them, Tom from the marina, the broker and Bob it seemed crowded enough without the two of us. As I understand it, it did not reach maximum rpm but that was probably due to several factors: the aforementioned prop, a minor linkage issue with one of the transmissions, 3-year-old gas, etc. The generator ran with a little prompting, all the appliances ran with the exception of the stove & vacum which are somehow tied together and is apparently not a major concern.

This boat is immaculate inside....I guess they have cleaned her up, but there are no rips in the carpet, the upholstery looks like a new boat, the only things cosmetically wrong are one of the "R"s is off of the small SeaRay near the radar arch (easily replaced they tell me) and a couple of knicks on the swim platform due to docking incidents (including a bent ladder that will need replaced). The engines only have 220 hours and the complete owner's package in the accordian type Sea Ray file is with the boat.

Of course she hasn't been registered for 3 years and I guess you take a big chance when you buy anything "used". At some point you have to trust your "experts" and just
jump ;-)

We plan to rename her "The Gravity Wave", but this time we are going to have a complete renaming ceremony. We think that might be what brought us the bad luck with the "Didapper." Luckily we are Presbyterian and have a boat-loving minister so he is game to do it

There were lots of beautiful boats at Alred and luckily for you----no mention and no sight of any boats on the bottom:grin:.

Russ put the boat back in the water for us and he is a very impressive young man. Seemed very mature, knowlegdable and very personable.

We like our mechanic here at Goosepond, so we will bring her home sometime next week I suppose or just drop her at Goosepond on the way back and let them go ahead and start working on her. Just as well we didn't bring her home today. It was a steady drizzle this morning up until 10 or so and then just seemed to get colder although I don't think the temperature dropped much. The canvas that was on her is ok I guess for a short trip for two, but we really are eager to get the stand-up canvas. Makes journeys in the cold and rain a lot more enjoyable.

Have a good trip up tomorrow---are you coming from Birmingham? and as far as the rainy day pull-out----$440. That plus the survey----almost have to buy it now;-)
We live right off the river in Scottsboro----makes a nice day trip. We will keep in touch and when the weather turns nice, cruise up and we will treat you to lunch.

 

[mwph]

Sounds great! I noticed some of the smaller issues you found with the boat. Yes, they did spend some serious time cleaning her up. I figured it would clean up well though. Man, it needed it!

Sounds like the mechanical/electrical issues you found may be due to the boat sitting for so long. I'd have a concern with a prop being bent & a "transmission linkage issue". I have to wonder if they are related & I would specifically ask Bob if he thought they were. Not to worry though. He will steer you right.

Bob Hunter may be from Russelville. I'm not sure. You are right, Russ can be very "personable" as you put it. Remember, he is "helping" sell the boat. That $440 haul out fee dosent sit well with too many people. But again not to worry, It had to be done.

Our drive to Guntersville takes about an hour, so not as far as Birmingham. In the spring we will make the trip to Goose Pond & take you up on lunch. Consider the offer extended for you here in Guntersville as well.

Again, congrats on the boat. Keep us posted as things develop.

 

[Cocktail Time]

Great boat, congrats