Current or Former 360DA Owners Please...

Skipno6

Member
Apr 25, 2018
47
West Michigan
Boat Info
360 Sundancer 2002
Engines
Mercruiser 8.1S Horizon
I’m new to this forum and hope to secure a boat for this this season. We’ve been looking at 2003.5-2005 340s w/8.1s v drives and now, also seriously considering the 360DA with the same power package and model years. Any former 340 owners move-up to a 360? Did anyone have the same consideration before buying a 360? Should we hold out if we find a beauty? Why so much negative talk about the past marketing and sales of 360s and potential future resale issues? What’s the real story? Thanks for your insights!
 
I can't answer your questions about moving up from a 340, my circumstances were different when we bought our 360. We had a buyer for our 330 and I went looking for a boat to replace it. It was the in the midst of the financial crush of 2008 and I found a beautiful lightly used 360 on the east coast that the owner needed gone. We used the boat for 5 years and traveled extensively around the Great Lakes and Canada with it and really liked it. We offered it for sale when my wife retired because she wanted to live part time on a boat and wanted the more open layout that a express boat does not offer. It sold for the same money we bought it for to the first person that looked at it. In respect to the enjoyment it brought us and the dollars and cents of it, it was probably the best boat I have ever owned. Good luck with your search.
 
Thanks much, we’re getting closer to our decision...a 360 certainly may be it, but depends on availability and condition, etc., besides the deal of course! Glad to hear you did alright on your sale, 5 years later. It seems like both the 360DA and 340DA owners really love their boats...or loved them as they said goodbye and moved up.
 
Most people either bought the 340 or the 380 of that vintage - the 360 was a "sandwich" boat - that said it was a great boat, and ultimately replaced by the (dimensionally same) '06 up 38da.......the 360 gave you the "kinda" separate shower and the private forward stateroom......performance is fine with the gassers, but it is thirsty
 
Anyone know of differences...if any...in the 2002 360DA vs. 2004? I think ‘02 was the first year they launched it, correct? Thanks!
 
I was looking at the same range and years of boat. I ended up going bigger (410), but what I liked about the 360 over the 340 is the 360 is the first boat that has a freezer in addition to the fridge (and a separate freezer at that). The other issue was that somewhere around 2001/2002 model year, the helm electronics pod moved from a small square to a large vertical rectangle that I think has a lot more possibilities for electronics upgrades if you are planning to do that.

The downside was that there just are not a lot of 360's around as most people opted for the 340, or moved up to the 380. Performance wise, all three will be roughly the same, but the cruise speed will be slightly lower each time you move up 2 feet, but generally burn the same amount of gas per hour. I budgeted 32-34gals/hour at cruise for the twin 8.1's.

I think you could get any of these boats 340-380 for about the same amount of money, a little newer nicer 340, or a little older/dated 380 or a 360 somewhere in the middle. I opted for bigger and more beam but older, and refurbish to my liking.
 
Thanks much...those 360DA features certainly are ‘value adds’ to me as well. And, it seems like all of these freshwater boat models are commanding at least higher asking prices for 2003 and up. I don’t think we can go wrong in securing a 340, 360 or 380 as our first boat!
 
Don’t be afraid of a well maintained salt water boat. These boats are built to take the salt, but maintenance is an issue. If the engines are in good shape, the rest can be cleaned up pretty easily.

I missed a beautiful 2003 380 in a covered slip ( rare in FL) before I bought this boat as the owner accepted an offer the night I flew in to look at it. It was immaculate and sold for $87k.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
112,950
Messages
1,422,861
Members
60,932
Latest member
juliediane
Back
Top