Newbie to Sea Raty 89 340 Sundancer

[Keith the Cop]

Finally made it to the Sea Ray family. I recently purchased a very nice 89 340 Sundancer. My 1st question is where would one go to get replacement windshield spline for the front windshield. All 3 sections have shrunk. The boat used to be kept in a covered marina and I have concerns like my last boat of leaking through the windshield.

Thoughts?

KTC

 

[Quint4]

Love those late '80s era 340s...welcome.

 

[Keith the Cop]

Thanks for the welcome. My parents hav lived onthe water my whole life and my wife and I started our boating this year with a 88 260 Imperial. Why I waited til I was 39 is beyond me!

But we agreed we love it and we looked at boats in our marina and really limited ourselves to the 88-89 340 Sundancer. With 2 kids its perfect. I was fortunate enough that I got my boat http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...0372873685&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK:MEWAX:IT when the winner welched on the bid. I paid $15K. I surveyed and other than a really good cleaning & a tune up, my major issues are a rusted rudder strap and the water pump onthe generator drips. Knock on wood I hope thats about it.

All total with getting it to NY, Im about $18k in. I used www.uship.com. $1250 from Pasadena MD to Long Island, NY. Although its still not here yet. Im trying to be a patient man, but I cant wait to get crackin on bringing the boat up to my speed.

Happy to be in CSR!

 

[giveortake]

How many of you purchasing boats really extend their search beyond the local water ways they plan to use the boats on? Seems pretty expensive to me, but this could obviously be a geographical/need issue depending on location and desire!

In MI we got lots of boats! For those of you map challenged, that would be the state that looks like a mitten surrounded by large blue area's

That aside, I have the same issue with my remote mid section windshield leaking. Having never owned a larger vessel until recently, my thoughts are fixing a windshield leak should cost about as much as a stick of gum. Rest assured I wont pay hundreds! Will deal with the drips until I investigate how to fix it for $5 or less.

 

[Keith the Cop]

I did comb the Long Island, NYC, Tri State Area as well as yachtworld and every craigslist for a bit before taking the trek down to MD. Most of the clean 340's I looked at ranged in the $20-30K range. While the market has dropped, people who paid big bucks for them not to long ago really refuse to take a bath. I respect that. In fact a fella is listing a 1985 340EC for $10500 on our local craigslist now. Seems like a good deal, but you have to like the extra wood in the cabin and the few extra years. This boat had all the bells and whistles and is very clean. If it was in NY and I didnt have to pay the transport I would have felt a lot better. The survey, short hauling & laying up for transport always sucks. But ts part of the game. We all hate spending it, but I still feel pretty good about my price. Alot of boat for a decent price

The fella who owned the marina said clean it & sell it for $30k. Tempting to try and make a few bucks, (if even $5k) but I know the family will enjoy this one for years. That makes it worth any price.

 

[JeffMendenhall]

I could not agree more. I just bought a 1987 300 Dancer for 10K from a dealer who took it in trade last March. I looked at book value and it was about 19K with options; looked at like boats selling around the US and they were listed from 18-30K. I bought it in VA and moving it to the Baltimore area. There are plenty of deals out there right now; I waited till I found what I wanted at the right price. A couple hundred to truck it 90 miles and I am a happy camper. I looked within 200 Miles of the DC area, and found plenty of deals. Surprisingly to me was the amount of boats in dry dock that have been sitting for 3-5 years, but who knows what lurks behind the scenes on those. It is great to be a boat owner again, especially a 30 footer!!

Happy boating all
Jeff