First post. Hello

L

Luvinlife

New Member
Oct 4, 2015
11
Rhode island and Massachusetts
Boat Info
2001 Monterey 218 sports cruiser
Engines
Volvo penta 5.0 gl
Hello Sea Ray owners. I am currently the owner of a 22 foot Monterey sports cruiser who boats in the Narragansett Bay and the coastal waters of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. My wife and I overnight quite a bit in our little cuddy and love every minute of it We currently trailer and overnight in coves. The cuddy is fine fior one night but not really suited for more than that or more than just the two of us. Our next boat will be a Sea Ray 260, 2003 or newer with the larger engine if possible. We will berth her somewhere in the Narragansett Bay. We hope the Sundancer will open us up to longer stays on board, allow my daughter to stay if she wants and open us up to further destinations like Block Island and Martha's Vineyard. I grew up on my dads Sea Ray 26 over nighter and have great memories. Hope to find my boat by next season. Loving this site and looking forward to being a Sea Ray owner soon!
 
Welcome to the forum. There is an amazing wealth of information here. Good luck on your search.
 
Welcome to the forum and all things Sea Ray. My wife and I started our overnighting on a cuddy as well and then moved to a 26' and realized we made a mistake the first night. The 260 Sundancer is a great boat but in my opinion is only slightly larger than your cuddy. We have close friends that had on '06 260 and neither of the beds allowed them to sleep together due to the size.

I know others will chime in and tell me I'm full of crap but all I'm saying is for the money you are looking to spend there are many Sundancers that are a bit bigger and will give better accommodations. Maybe take a look at the 280. My point is, you don't want to make your purchase and find out that you wish you had gone just a bit bigger.

Regardless.... Welcome!

Shawn
 
Thanks for the words of wisdom Shawn. The reason I was drawn to the 260 is the single engine and it lower cost to own and operate versus twins on a 28 footer. I like that the 260 has a good sized holding tank and decent fresh water supply versus the porta potti and hand pump sink on my cuddy. I use my boat a lot, logging in excess of 100 hours a year in the short New England season. That said I appreciate you sharing your experience and I would love to hear from others who have stepped up from a cuddy.
 
Hello and welcome. My brother in Florida has a 260DA and never overnights on it because it is too small. He is shopping for the next one. I too am eyeing up things for our next boat. I was leaning towards 280s or.290s because of engines and width, maintenance ect. The admiral likes 310s because of the extra room. I've been prowling around CSR enough to believe that if you think it might be too small, it probably is.
Cheers and good luck.
 
As you can see, I'm not alone in my thoughts. The 260 is a nice "Day" boat. I really feel you will not be that happy and since you do spend a lot of time aboard you might just skip the 260 and go straight to your "Next" boat now.

Don't be too afraid of twins. There are so many advantages that outweigh the small amount of negatives. Keep in mind that beam is everything. a 280 or 290 may only be a foot or so wider than the 260 but that width runs the length of the boat. What about something like this? http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/200.../South-Portland/ME/United-States#.VhIjQOFdGUk

Remember....if there is one thing boaters like more than spending money on their boats, its helping other boaters spend their money on their boats.

Shawn
 
The Admiral and I spend many nights on the hook in our 260. For the
two of us, it is great, economical fun. For three, too tight. We have a gen mainly for the AC and hot water and have stayed as many as 4 nights in a row out. We are looking to move up in the next few years, but she has been and still is a blast.

Bennett
 
Wow I am surprised at how many owners feel the 260 will be too small. I was thinking that it would be a huge step up from "camping" in our cuddy and get us into the marina lifestyle economically. I spoke to a guy who stays with his friend 3 nights in a row often and he felt he used his boat more than most of his marina friends because of its economy. I will use mine a lot and not tied to the same dock. Most of the time it will just be two of us. Lots to consider. Does anyone just keep their 260 and stay happy with it? I dont want to make a mistake here.
 
If you are relatively thin and well under 6' tall, the 260DA berths may suffice for a while; however, moving up to a 280DA will also provide a smoother ride in choppy waters with a less "tippy" hull. Also, when you move into overnighting, you begin to need more storage and the 280DA (and larger models) offers a lot more. The 280DA has a table with bench seating in the cabin that converts to a third sleeping area. This was a big selling point for me when moving up from a 240DA.. we use that table constantly for meals, laptop use, and just keeping out of each other' way. I have the single 8.1 which has proven to have plenty of power for our usage although twins would obviously provide more maneuverability.. we do just fine and save on maintenance costs with the single 8.1.
 
Last edited:
Luvinlife said:
Wow I am surprised at how many owners feel the 260 will be too small. I was thinking that it would be a huge step up from "camping" in our cuddy and get us into the marina lifestyle economically. I spoke to a guy who stays with his friend 3 nights in a row often and he felt he used his boat more than most of his marina friends because of its economy. I will use mine a lot and not tied to the same dock. Most of the time it will just be two of us. Lots to consider. Does anyone just keep their 260 and stay happy with it? I dont want to make a mistake here.
Click to expand...

IMHO...this is purely a matter of personal preference. Could we keep our 260 on the trailer and be able to boat anywhere we want to forever and enjoy it-certainly could. However, we feel that we can afford to move up financially and want more room. To me, really no different than wanting a bigger house with more space. With bigger not only comes better, but also more expensive. The one thing I do think about is the advantage of being mobile as we currently are. Living inland on lakes and being "lake bound" is a concern that I am pondering. Of course there are options there too, but again, options cost money.

Enjoy the search and learning.

Bennett
 
we have a 250. haven't spent the night on it yet but have hung out in the cabin with just the 2 of us. we have a full camper enclosure so i would think most of our time would be hanging out up top but for the times we are down below it is adequate. we have taken short naps in ours. the one thing that i don't like is having to remove the table top when we need to convert it to a bed. trying to find somewhere to store that heavy thing is a pain. i would like to get something bigger in a few years but for now i am happy.

things i wish i got that i didn't: windlass (its a pain climbing up front with no walk-through windshield), AC, gets pretty hot in the summer, different camper top. ours comes down to the top edge of the windshield. i'm 6'0 tall and have to sort of hunch down to see through it. i have seen many boats with the eisenglass section above the windshield. that is on my list to get done. not sure how important any of that is to you but thought it might help
 
We have the camper top with eisenglass above the windshield and it is great, though a pain to erect. We leave the V-birth made into a bed all of the time. We eat, watch TV, read, etc most of the time in the cockpit. Without AC, it would be miserable in summer. Walk through windshield and no windlass-I am used to it now.

Bennett
 
We have the windlass, but I most always go up front to make sure the line feeds properly, and to tweak the anchor and test the bite. As far as spending time on board goes, we do several nights in a row on our 270, it is a 1990 so a bit older than you are looking for, but very roomy for a 27' boat. We trailer it, and it has separate dinette and V-berth. We eat either above deck, or in the morning will both sit at the dinette and have coffee if it's cool or rainy. We love the boat, and the ability to trailer to other locations. Soon to be down South near Bennett.
 
I would definitely want the full higher profile camper top. I think the 2003 and newer all have the radar arch and the top attaches to it and is pretty tall. AC is a nice to have in New England but not needed most nights. We stay often on the cuddy and a small fan is adequate. My wife and I spend most of our time under the camper top with the back panel off until we turn in fir the night. I would think we would do the same on a bigger boat. Looking forward to the step up!
 
Welcome, and good luck with your search for the 260.
I really like the 260's of the vintage you're looking at. We know a couple who has one. They do overnight on it every once in a while, but every time they do they really wish it were bigger.
The upside is that it is a fantastic day boat, and the single engine and drive will be much less to maintain than twins.
I've got an older 300 Sundancer. It was a great family boat when my kids were little, and my wife and I just did a weekend on it by ourselves for the first time and it is fantastic for the two of us. After having the kids along for all those years, it felt like we had some breathing room when we were by ourselves.
That being said: We often talk about how nice it would be to have something with a seperate shower stall, genny, and a little more space in the cabin to hang out in when the weather doesn't cooperate.
Unfortunately, college tuition prevents that right now.
Morale of the story: No matter what you get you'll probably want something more, so just jump in wherever you can and enjoy it.
 
Luvinlif.... welcome... this forum has helped me a great deal.....a wealth of knowledge regarding Searay's.....
I am in agreement with the consensus, the 260 will give you growing pains very quickly..... Our 290 with the twins is perfect for my wife and I.....
any smaller would have been too tight...
BTW..... we love Narragansett bay.... Lots to do and see..
 
Welcome to club Sea Ray.

I was in a 22' cuddy that worked well for my wife and I for many years. We live in Florida and have all year to enjoy our boat. We took friends out but never stayed overnight because of the cramped conditions. After 12 years in the cuddy it was time to move up to the next boat. We wanted more space, amenities, and above all else air conditioning. None of the 26' Sundancers had a dinette. We didn't want to have to set up the table in the v-berth to eat or play cards and definitely didn't want anything spilled in our bed.

The next step up was the 280 Sundancer which had a dinette but was hard to find with a factory generator. We found a couple in the area but after going aboard found them to be a little cramped when we tried to move around in the cabin. Nothing we couldn't get used to but there was another consideration...a tow vehicle. My current vehicle was unable to tow the 280 so I would have had to upgrade my tow vehicle as well.

After considering the cost of the new tow vehicle, maintenance, and the fact I was not looking forward to driving a full sized 2500 pickup as a daily driver we started looking at 330 Sundancers and considering keeping the boat in a slip at the local marina. The 330 Sundancer had a wide beam which allowed us both to move freely around the cabin. Literally there was enough room to walk past each other instead of dancing around each other. The dinette was huge, the boat sleeps 6, had the generator and AC as well as a host of other amenities. We fell in love and bought a 330 last December.

We now entertain our friends on the boat and they love the space and their aft cabin when we stay out overnight. We now spend twice as much time on her, either on the hook or at the marina. There's no towing involved, no maintaining a tow vehicle, and no need to ever move up in size. I agree with some who have posted here that it's better to get the bigger boat now instead of starting smaller and then realizing you don't have enough boat. You owe it to yourself to at least investigate the larger boats. Take a walk through on a 330, a 280, and a 260 and see which one you feel more comfortable in and on.

Driving twins isn't that hard and if you don't spend all of your time on a plane the fuel cost isn't that bad either.

Good luck.
 
Don't be shy when you start looking at boats--have the owner convert the table(s) so you know whether it's quick and painless or slow and cumbersome, lie down in the bed(s) to see how they feel--so you can figure out how much you're gaining with a 260 and whether that's a comfortable place to be, physically and financially. (All the better if the admiral can join you....no 9 1/2 weeks style testing, of course, but you get the idea!) It may feel like paradise to you, or you may agree with the folks on here saying it isn't much different than what you have.

Somebody up thread made a great point about having more gear when you plan longer stays--that automatically eats some of the living space whether in the cockpit or the cabin. Since you've been boating quite a while, you probably have an idea of how much more gear you might have--whether it's one extra cooler, one extra bag of clothes, or whatever for you and the admiral, vs even more if you bring kids/another couple.

I went for the biggest beast I thought I could learn to handle in short order (and that I could afford considering fuel, slip, maintenance, etc.) and am extremely happy. However, in our lake family there are a couple of classic 250s, a couple of classic 260s, a 280, and a 290, all with single engines, and all of their owners are content, as well. All but the 290 owner have had their boats 7+ years and aren't planning to get anything different; this is the first season for the 290.
 
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