Need advice from Boston area captains

P

Paul_A

New Member
Oct 28, 2013
6
Boston
Boat Info
310 sundancer
Engines
Gas
Hi,

i am on the market trying to decide if it would be a good option to get a 310 or 320 sundancer, i think about years 1999-2002, prior to 2003 model change and also think about $40k-$60k price range. Is it a realistic thing to expect to find a decent boat in acceptably good condition in such price range? Does it make sense to extend search into older boats, back to 1995 or would it be asking for too many problems?
also, is it really a good choice of a vessel for Boston harbor area and occasional trips from Boston to cape cod? Or is this boat way too small and fragile to cruise into deep water out of the bay area?

Purpose of the boat will be 100% family recreation, kids are 8 and 4 yr old so we think it would be nice to get it to go between harbor area islands, do some fishing, nothing extreme. But looking on boatstrader it is not clear what is the deal with prices as i see all boats claimed as 'ready to go' but prices differ a lot. What is now a 'usual' price level for such vessels? Is it realistic to find a freshwater kept 310 or 320 in around Boston? Is there here anybody who owned such a boat and had issues with it? Is it strong enough to survive our noreasters?
I just started research/shopping so sorry for a lot of such silly questions but i guess it is exactly what this forum is for, right?

Regards, Paul
 
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Paul_A said:
also, is it really a good choice of a vessel for Boston harbor area and occasional trips from Boston to cape cod? Or is this boat way too small and fragile to cruise into deep water out of the bay area?
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The 310 and 320 are plenty big enough to boat as far from Boston as your wallet will allow. There will be days during the season that you will not want to venture out of the harbor, but you'll have more days where you can go out to Provincetown, up to Salem and Marblehead, Gloucester and Rockport, and even Portsmouth. That size boat will get you to Nantucket no problem if you hit a good high pressure system. Don't get me wrong, there will be some discomfort at times on even clear days, but the boat will handle it fine. You will need to become a master at predicting the weather.

Paul_A said:
Is it realistic to find a freshwater kept 310 or 320 in around Boston?
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Not likely.

Paul_A said:
Is it strong enough to survive our noreasters?
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At the dock, yes. Out at sea, no.
 
X2 everything JV II says. Plus stay away from a boat with outdrives in salt water. Make sure the motors are fresh water cooled. BTW the age of the boat is not what determines whether or not you will have problems, it is the condition and how well it has been maintained. Get a good survey done.
 
hottoddie said:
X2 everything JV II says. Plus stay away from a boat with outdrives in salt water. Make sure the motors are fresh water cooled. BTW the age of the boat is not what determines whether or not you will have problems, it is the condition and how well it has been maintained. Get a good survey done.
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Thanks, it is all good info.
What i need to know i guess are how exactly 310/320 boats in 1998-2002 years had motors optioned. I have heard several times it is very important to have fresh water cooling system to avoid corrosion - was it a standard option or an aftermarket modification?
do all those boats have same 7lt motors or are there different options to choose from?

Also, as a next step of the search i am trying to decide now of what location for boat would be more entertaining for a family outings - to keep it close to Boston harbor area or somewhere near Cape Cod like near to sagamore bridge area. Too many questions, probably, but it is a very new topic for me.
 
Paul_A said:
What i need to know i guess are how exactly 310/320 boats in 1998-2002 years had motors optioned. I have heard several times it is very important to have fresh water cooling system to avoid corrosion - was it a standard option or an aftermarket modification?
do all those boats have same 7lt motors or are there different options to choose from?
Click to expand...
I can't help you here, but the information in available online. You just have to spend a little time searching.

Paul_A said:
Also, as a next step of the search i am trying to decide now of what location for boat would be more entertaining for a family outings - to keep it close to Boston harbor area or somewhere near Cape Cod like near to sagamore bridge area. Too many questions, probably, but it is a very new topic for me.
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You don't have to go far at all. Even within Boston Harbor, you will find some entertaining spots for your family like:
World's End, Steamboat Wharf Marina in Hull, Hingham Shipyard Marina, Spectacle Island Marina, George's Island, and a number of hidey holes and fishing spots.
Venture a little further and you will find Salem and Marblehead 30 minutes north and Cohasett and Scituate 30 minutes south.
Still, further than that and in about an hour you will be in Plymouth. Shoot across Cape Cod Bay from there and you will be in Provincetown in 45 minutes.
Head north of Marblehead and in another 20-30 minutes you will love Glocester and the Anasquam river, especially if you like the show "Wicked Tuna."
All of the ports I mentioned have nice restaurants and shops. My favorites for the most bang for your fuel buck are Salem, Plymouth, and Provincetown.

Going beyond Plymouth or Gloucester brings you to more fun and adventure, but it requires more time to plan and enjoy. I'd say, you need at least 3 days and more like 5-7 to make it worth the trip. Then you might have to wait out the weather, so you need to have flexibility on both ends. It is a good idea to do those longer trips with layovers planned so you can see more towns and have the option to rest overnight if you are out in sloppy seas.
 
I have done all my boating on and around the cape and is a perfect place for boating. It has everything you can want including the warm waters of the south side of the cape. That being said I am sure there are plenty of great places to boat north of the cape into the Boston area. I think the most important thing is to not make it too much of a project to get to the boat. Mine is 35min away from my house but we are on it all weekend every weekend so I am not worried about commuting home each night. If you are looking for day usage, keep it as close to home as possible in order to enjoy ith as much as possible. Otherwise it will become more of a chore and not as much fun.
As far as fresh water boat, don't be afraid to look outside the local area. Boats around boston and the cape are salt water boats and we all know what that does to boats. I wanted a low hour fresh water boat so I looked mainly in NH and Great Lakes as well as elsewher around the US. I ended up buying a boat from lake Mead Nevada but it was the exact boat I wanted so it was worth the hassle. It cost me $7500 to have it transported back to the east coast but even with that cost, I still paid about $15k less than what I would have paid for a same year boat with more hours and they would have all been salt water usage so I was way ahead of the game. It took me 6 months to find the exact boat I wanted but was worth the wait.
 
My phone is on the fritz so I'm going to keep this short. I grew up on the water boating the cape and Plymouth with occasional outings with friends nd family in Boston harbor. First, don't be terrified by outdrives in salt. Hundreds of thousands of boats are salt water only and raw water cooled. Is it ideal? No but wasn't a deal breaker by any means for me. Just think, if you have some mechanical ability and have a place to keep it you can maintain it yourself and it is surprisingly inexpensive. For a boat. And best performance and fuel economy (doesn't really exist on a boat) comes from outdrives...is it worth it to you? I can pull an outdrive and have it on my bench in 10 minutes if I have to or drp it off to a mechanic for repair. Vdrives are very robust but you need to pull the motors and shafts to work on them for the most part thankfully they rarely need service from what I hear.
Fresh water kits are available for almost every engine but cost a pretty penny, makes winterizing super easy though.
As said before, keep it as close to where you live as possible for the most enjoyment. Wife wanted to go to green harbor because we have friends that live down the stret until I told her there was absolutely nothing to do by boat in the area. Boston harbor has tons of islands and if you want to go south you have to go around Hull anyway so pick a marina that is close to you and has the most of what you want out of it. Good luck getting into a marina this year though. I called in august to get into Hingham Shipyards and am still on the list. Marina bay is nice if you like living inside a DJ booth at a club until 2am every night and weekend night feel like living on MTV's jersey shore if you are on the west docks. Or if you like having jets fly over your head all night. Aside from that our dock neighbors were awesome, amenities were great, food was amazing but we have a baby due any day now so it won't be where we want to be next year. When I get to my laptop, ill explain why we should have gone with the 310-320 range but I do love my 290 and Boston harbor just offers so much more than the south shore. Sometimes you just don't want to go far to have fun and Boston harbor has everything close by. Btw we have no problems going offshore in our 290. Sea rays are great boats and very safe if as long as you know what you are doing.
So much for keeping it short
 
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Thanks for all responses, it is very helpful. Is there a web site where i could see lists of all options and combinations for those 310/320 boats made 1998-2002? For some reason i only get reviews and specs for new boats when i google it but i want to see and compare only those years i can afford to buy.
 
Jeremygavin said:
I think the most important thing is to not make it too much of a project to get to the boat.
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:)
guilty as charged, you got me here. I have a tendency to turn any hobby into work-like project, it is true, but it usually pays off - doing your homework right helps.

speaking about marinas - how much time ahead will i need to reserve a spot? Also, what do you guys who have boats in Boston area do for winter? I assume 310/320 boats should be stored on land, they cannot be left in water in our climate? Is it typically same marina that takes care of winter storage or a separate facility one is supposed to find? If it is a separate facility - how do you deal with reserving your spot for next season?

as of location - i live in natick, so it is about of 1.5hr to cape and 30min to boston. So travel time is a factor here for sure but bigger factor is what would be more intersting for kids and cape water is warmer, so that is why i was thinking about cape area for location. Are there any good marinas in there not too far from rt6 or sagamore bridge that are not so crowded and can provide year long service so i would not have to deal with this problem every season? Or it does not really work this way ?
 
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look up sandwich marina. it is very small and i'm assuming very overbooked considering it's location and distance from any other marina.
cape water is warmer but usually only on the south side which is no where near sagamore anyway. the problem with having the boat over an hour away is if you forget something or there is a minor emergency either with the boat or home you will always be at the other one. i'm not aware of the facilities at sandwich marina if there are any but i know hingham shipyard, marina bay, tern harbor. all have facilities with mechanics and service that can maintain everything for you with just a phone call but it will cost you. actually i think at hingham shipyard you would need to use your own mechanic but 3a marine service is literally across the street and have been in service since the 1980 i think.

In the Boston harbor area there isn't usually a waiting list according to the woman i spoke with at Hingham shipyards in august. she said it is a Banner year for them and they have never had a wait. I was at Marina bay this year and there were empty slips in a bunch of spaces. the growth at Hingham has been high since all the shops and Condos went up so i'm not surprised by the big push and limited space. I live in Abington so Hingham is closest to us and also has other things to do and stores on the way as well as a trader Joe's in the same parking lot that will make a huge difference when trying to eat on the boat. I was all pizza'd out after this season because it was so easy to get and free delivery to your boat. Pizza was easy to say and eat after a long night of drinking on the boat. inthe south shore there will deffinately be a waiting list, Plymouth has moorings that have a 7+ year waiting list. Falmouth has a 10+ year waiting list. these are just the ones i know of. Plymouth does have a small marina with a mechanic service on site but i know they are expensive as i just talked to a friend of mine about it 2 days ago. he has a 34' bayliner that he lives on in the summer in Plymouth harbor.

don't let any of this discourage you as there are a lot of little things to get used to but you will be able to handle it and every year the big things will turn into small things or nothing to worry about at all. I have only had mine in the water for a little over a month before we took it out to focus on the house renovations this year after a 2 year search for the right boat. there were a lot of little things to learn but most of it is already smoothed out for next year as long as we can get into Hingham like we want.

start making phone calls and asking around at some of the marinas. I think i called everyone from Plymouth to Charlestown that even owned a boat when i was in the market just to ask questions. everyone at every marina was more than accomodating and i even had Tern harbor in Weymouth holding a slip for me just in case we closed on a boat in July even though i didn't ask them too. it's a large but close knit community you are about to enter and just about everyone is out to help.

good luck
 
Don't forget Cape Cod traffic, that would be a huge turnoff for me. Plenty to do in Boston and if you just wanted to go out for a few hours or do maint. on boat during week it an easy drive.
 
Paul_A said:
Hi,

i am on the market trying to decide if it would be a good option to get a 310 or 320 sundancer, i think about years 1999-2002, prior to 2003 model change and also think about $40k-$60k price range. Is it a realistic thing to expect to find a decent boat in acceptably good condition in such price range? Does it make sense to extend search into older boats, back to 1995 or would it be asking for too many problems?
also, is it really a good choice of a vessel for Boston harbor area and occasional trips from Boston to cape cod? Or is this boat way too small and fragile to cruise into deep water out of the bay area?

Purpose of the boat will be 100% family recreation, kids are 8 and 4 yr old so we think it would be nice to get it to go between harbor area islands, do some fishing, nothing extreme. But looking on boatstrader it is not clear what is the deal with prices as i see all boats claimed as 'ready to go' but prices differ a lot. What is now a 'usual' price level for such vessels? Is it realistic to find a freshwater kept 310 or 320 in around Boston? Is there here anybody who owned such a boat and had issues with it? Is it strong enough to survive our noreasters?
I just started research/shopping so sorry for a lot of such silly questions but i guess it is exactly what this forum is for, right?

Regards, Paul
Click to expand...

Welcome Paul! You've come over from Rennlist, right? I'm BartN over there who suggested this forum.
 
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If you want the warm water of the cape but less of a drive and avoid the bridge traffic if the cape then try some of the marinas in the wareham/onset area. You have access to buzzards bay and the vineyard is a short run through woods hole but you are of the highway before the bridges so no cape traffic to worry about. Probably an hour drive from Natick down 495. I also think waiting lists are shorter over there than on cape. I am in Falmouth harbor and there has been some movement in the last few year and last year new people got slips without waiting. I know there are slips out there to be had if you look for them.
 
I was referring to moorings in some of the "ponds" in Falmouth as that was all I knew about. My grandparents neighbor offered them $5,000 for the summer on one of our moorings and more on the families dock. Don't spend much time in Falmouth harbor.
 
AFD said:
I was referring to moorings in some of the "ponds" in Falmouth as that was all I knew about. My grandparents neighbor offered them $5,000 for the summer on one of our moorings and more on the families dock. Don't spend much time in Falmouth harbor.
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Hey, not sure if you had any luck finding a boat boat but I was you last fall. I ended buying a 2000 310 with 350 mpi horizon (FWC) with 3540 hours on them. I bought it on mystic lake in Medford so while it was used on the ocean, it lived in fresh water. I decided to keep it on buzzards bay to be closer to the islands. It's about an hour from my house.
 
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