Demise of the 340

300 replaced with 310. 320 replaced with 330. 340 will be 350. Sea Ray goes back and forth between odd and even number classifications every 5-7 years or so.
 
Look for the styling to be similar to the 310 and 330. "Rumor" is the 260DA will be replaced with a 270DA after this year as well. It's supposed to be a wide beam boat.
 
The present style 340 is a really nice looking boat. Too bad for Sea Ray, why do they keep messing with a successful style?:huh:
 
Only thing we'd change is adding a walk thru windshield & stairs in the door to allow center bow access which would negate the need for side walkways thus allowing the top deck & cockpit to widen ~ 12".
 
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What are the engineers thinking about, going through the windshield to go forward may seem like a great idea, but what about access to the side of our boats, using a mid cleat without taking down canvas, cleaning and waxing I think they should leave the boat alone, I read that it the most popular model.
Just my humble opinion
Steve 04
 
I so dont get the center windshield thing.... U absolutely need full Gunnel access on a boat bigger then 30 feet IMHO.... LAck of gunnel just makes everything hard...

And yes the replacemnt 34 will be a 350..

Rob
 
I agree the new 350 will have both - the latest fad - I also agree that a walkaround is convenient/necessary - when I had my 280 I often wished I had that access for the reasons mentioned
 
why not have both? what's the big deal? not only does it allow access to the foredeck that is much less trecherous, but it creats much better ventilation for those sweltering august days when you are going through the no-wake zone. SR seems to be resistant to this convenience. if i'm not mistaken, the new 330 is the first 30+ with it.

the 90s 330 became the early 00s 320 and is now the 330 again.
 
Yes I think both is good too - I'll probably miss the walk through with our move to the 300 - but I wont miss the "crawl in" aft cabin!
 
The idea of no side decks and a walk thru windshield came from:
a.) small boat engineers being promoted to the sport yacht factory
b.) trying to make more room in the salon and rear compartment areas to pacify customers,
c.)all of the above.

You pick one.

Having handled larger boats for a number of years in most all conditions, I wouldn't give up access to the side decks no matter how sexy or cool the new look is. For me it is a matter of safety and access to where I need to be.

As far as Richard's comment about messing with good designs, it is true........the best boats ever (80's 300EC, DA and WE, the 80's 390EC, 450DA, wide body 370EC, and maybe a few more) were gradually eliminated because molds wore out, styles changed and buyers interests and demands changed. But, there is an upside......we now have a new crop of buyers/owners and a bunch of new boats (new 2001-2003 500DA, 52 DA, 44DA,) that may challenge those mentioned above as "best evers". I guess time will tell.
 
I agree with adding a walk-thru, and I agree with keeping the walk-around, but I think the walk-around should step up to a wide fore-deck without the walk-around continuing the entire length of the bow.
 
A question for you proponents of the side walkaround.

From what I observe of the 320s and 340s at our Marina, the side walkaround is near impossible to use from the cockpit area when the camper canvas (or rear canvas enclosure) is in place. Do you think that Sea Ray should take this into account and maybe design a side panel with a pass thru opening that could be easily unzipped so you could step out to the walk around like you can when you have an open cockpit?
 
One of Sea Ray's best ever solutions re foredeck access was the line of Express Bridge boats (e.g., 1998-2003 450EB). Although the gunwales are narrow, they are adequate for the number of times that require mid-cleat access.

IMHO, an Express Bridge makes the foredeck much more useful. In fact, we enjoy entertaining in the bow seating arrangement, ala a bow rider. How many other designs provide three separate but more than adequately comfortable outside areas - bow, bridge and cockpit - each of which can accomodate upto six or more people?
 
I cannot agrue the popularity of the EB design, all I'll offer is that a side deck is useless if it takes both hands on grab rails to use it. When we secure the boats in our marina for a storm, I always try to avoid the EB's for that reason......you cannot carry extra lines with you as you walk beside the deck house.

As far a Dave's question, that is the reason I always favor and recommend using aftermarket or local canvas shops for aft enclosures......you build them the way they need to be, not in a way tha makes them cost efficient or in order to meet various manufacturing criteria. A well and properly done aft enclosure enhances access to the side decks instead of hindering it.
 
Snapping and unsnapping the canvas to get bow access would be a pain in my eyes. Access to mid cleats is key...


Rob
 
Dave S said:
A question for you proponents of the side walkaround.

Do you think that Sea Ray should take this into account and maybe design a side panel with a pass thru opening that could be easily unzipped so you could step out to the walk around like you can when you have an open cockpit?
Click to expand...

No, a side panel walk through doesn’t seem needed to access the walk around. We take these panels down upon arriving at the boat and typically don’t put them up until we have everything secured before leaving the marina.

What I would like to see and have contemplated doing is what some custom canvas shops do. That is, make the side and rear panels roll up and secure to the top using either ties or Velcro straps. This would be very convenient and solve some stowage issues as well, but don’t know how this practical this would be running through a 3’ chop on the bay.
 
So ..............side walkarounds ............and an opening windshield............ and easy access to the side walkarounds thru the camper canvas ought to be number one on Sea Ray's design requirements. It seems to me all these different choices would give everyone what they need given there are many different requirements for docking and handling lines.

Since the newly redesigned 330DA seems to provide the opening windhield and the side walkaround, then it's a pretty fair assumption to think the replacement for the 340DA will do the same.

330da.jpg


And since Sea Ray has not provided an aft bimini and an enclosure on the current 340DA then they may not provide one for the replacement model either. So custom canvas can be made to provide the extra protection a lot of people want and an owner with some foresight can have a canvas maker provide a side panel that can be easily opened to get to the side deck.
 
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I agree with a side access panel for a camper canvas, but with the stock arrangement, there's only a couple of snaps off the port side that are required to loosen for access to the walk-around. We unsnap them, then tuck the canvas under the grab handle. It takes less than 30 seconds and is quite convenient.
 
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