New 320; what are the "must haves?"

Must Haves

Hello all, I am new to your forum but not to boating. I have experienced the 320 allbeit for a brief time last season when I owned one for 4 days. It had a hole in the hull from manufacturing and we swapped out of that boat after taking on large amounts of the Potomac River! We then upgraded courtesy of Sea Ray to a 340 DA.

We have similar options on both boats. Since I really like to hear boom boom, the optional MoMo sound system was a must and it is well worth the money if you don't want to change components later on.

We opted for the ice maker and in hindsight the extra fridge space might have been a better choice. Now we have to use the cooler for soda when we provision for weekend cruising.

SmartCraft system monitor is a wonderful tool, you can get RT data on what is happening with your boat, see where your rudders are, fuel consumption, etc.

The Systems monitor which I don't think is available anymore is a waste of extra money.

If you have kids, the drop down TV is a good idea in the aft cabin otherwise a waste of money.

The flat panel bulkhead TV in leiu of the standard TV is great. If you can delete the standard TV and get the cabinet space in the galley go for it. On our 320 the standard TV was left in and on the 340 it was deleted and we use the cabinet space for tall bottles!

Get the dash gel coated nickel option, it cuts down on the glare.

We had the V drives and depending on where you boat and how much extra money you have to devote to outdrive maintenance would determine which engine options to go for.

We also had them install a receptical for our gast grill on the swim platform and that works out real well.

Hope the info helps. I think I am fairly unique in having had a 320 and owning a 340. Most would jump a size or two instead but we really wanted the 320, they just didn't have any more with the MoMo sound!
 
Thanks for the post. Mine is dropped in the water next Friday - Sounds like Sea Ray really stepped up. But - wow a hole in the boat. It seems like the dealer would have realized that ahead of time. Was there a weak spot in the hull that eventually broke out?Thanks for the info.
 
Bingo Boyz, that audio system upgrade you were referring to is WAY overpriced for what it is. I agree that it does sound very good. For the money, it can be done better.
 
The boat was dropped in the water on a Tuesday or Wednesday before it was to be delivered to us that same week on Firday. It was never in the water before that since it just arrived at the dealership with the shrink wrap intact. We bought it end of June 06 and the manufacturing month was May 06. It actually was an early production 07 inside, since they had cherry wood cabinets and brushed nickel lighting fixtures inside which were not offered on the 06 models.

The hole was not discovered until the boat had water in the aft cabin. At first thought we looked at the shower sump, bone dry. Then we took the cushion off the aft bulkhead where the fresh water tank is located. Dry. Then we kind figured out that we had a leak from somewhere.

We took it out for an orientation run which lasted about 45 minutes to an hour. We drove it to our marina about 30 -40 minutes most of which is idle speed.

We spent the night on the boat at the dock and went out for 2 days on the hook about 10 minutes druve from our marina. While we were out, we noticed that the bilge pump would come on for just a few seconds, dump a bit of water and shut off. I never owned a Sea Ray before, so I thought, wow, this is pretty high tech!

We cruised back to the marina, 10 minutes and left the boat for about 3 hours. Came back to show her to some friends who just got back from a river/bay vacation and hadn't seen her. Went to show off the central vac, stepped into the lower level aft cabin into 3-4 inches of water

When the boat was pulled from the water, I looked underneath her and saw a tiny speck of white about the size of a coat hanger diameter. when a piece of wire pushed into the hole, kept on going we kinda figured out that that must be the hole!

I must say that the owner of the dealership was on my dock within 45 minutes of me calling the salesman on his day off (july 3rd) when we found the water in the boat. We were treated very nicely by the dealer and Sea Ray itself who obviously was involved. I likely wont buy another brand of boat or from another dealer since we have been treated so well.

As far as the sound system, to go and add something like the factory offering would entail many hours of labor and expensive components. Sometimes, it is just worth buying it from the factory.

We were trying to get a new 320 after the hole incident but none of the ones our dealer had, had the MoMo sound system. They all had the upgraded cabin sytem which does us no good since we spend most of our time out in the cockpit.
 
1. Radar/GPS. I have and like the Raymarine setup with 4KW Radome.

2. Consider AGM batteries. 3 per bank. Get AGM because it is a bear checking the water levels in the batteries.

3. Genset.

4. Sirius radio

Bountylb3.jpg
 
Custom made. It really does the job. When it is cold or rainy it turns the cockpit into a whole extra room.
 
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