Post Boat Show review...

[Gunn]

So I visited the Annapolis in-water boat show this past Saturday. It was my first time to a boat show. Beautiful day. Having an in-water show was pretty cool, and I'm assuming is where they dealers show off their larger boats, since there were not many of the size and style we went wanting to check out. I wanted to see the bowriders and smaller cruisers in person. Specifically the 240 Sundeck, 250SLX and 240 Sundancer.

The Sea Ray dealer at the show had a 260 Sundeck (smallest of their selections, with the 496HO engine), and a 260 Sundancer.

After viewing a couple other bowriders and then moving onto the cruisers, my wife and I were both sold on the notion of an express cruiser with the mid-berths. Just seem to make so much sense over a cuddy for not much more $$$. And for similiar reasons, the 26' length seemed to be where the best bang was compared to 24'.

I must say, we were both disappointed in the 260 Sundancer's cabin. I *really* wanted to love the SeaRay. I feel a good amount of brand loyalty. I love my current little boat and I know the quality is there. We ended up with the top three being the Larson, Maxum and SeaRay, all at 26'.

The SeaRay's look great on the exterior. But the mid-berth is the worst of all we looked at. Not much room or headspace and the shape of the berth and stairs give privacy to be had there. And the cost was around 30-40% more than the others.

We rated the Larson Cabrio 260 the best of the bunch. Great cockpit and cabin layout. Huge amount of room in the mid-berth. Nice large area in the engine compartment. Great looks overall. And at a cost we think we can afford (with some minor lifestyle changes), someday. :wink: with heat/air, radar arch, etc. I had never heard of Larson boats previous to the show.

We also liked the Maxum 2600SE. Very simliar to the Larson. I actually like the cockpit layout a bit better, had a nice double helm seat the swivelled 90 degrees. But it has only one engine choice that would seem to be underpowered for me. And it only looked good with a colored hull.

Anyway, anyone have thoughts on these brands, and other thoughts on the fall boat shows in general? Anyone else visit the Annapolis show?

One question we came away with was, what do people do with this size of boat?! I assume we could cruise the Chesapeake Bay anywhere we wanted in a variety of non-stormy conditions. What about even bigger water? What can this boat handle? That's not something they put in specs...

It was a good time! And hey, we made it out without buying anything!!

 

[PMvdb395DA]

Sea ray put also their boats in a catagory, so that you can see what your boat can handle.

Sea Ray put this in the boat manual of the type of Sea Ray.

You can ask in witch catagory the 260DA is...

It doesn't tell what the driver can have...........

Maybe some 260 or 240 owners can tell you what they can or can't do with their boat.

Peter.

 

[sbw1]

[quote="PMvdb395DA"Maybe some 260 or 240 owners can tell you what they can or can't do with their boat. Peter.[/quote]

Peter, It's been a few years since I've owned a 26 foot boat but I can tell you that quite a lot can be done on a 26 footer. We bought a new 26 SR Express in 1979 and put several thousand hours on it. We cruised all over Lake Michigan on it and had it in big water several times with good results. It would run a rough inlet very nicely and we crossed Lake Michigan on it one time, taking it to Chicago from South Haven, Michigan. It was small but worked very well for us unitl we had our second child. We moved up to a 30 foot SR Express.

This winter I was working on my boat at the marina. A brand new Larson was sitting on a trailer next my boat. It had just come back from the February boat show. I looked it over and was not terribly impressed. The name tags were starting to come off and several other things about it looked cheap and poorly designed. I asked the marina owner about Larson and he said it's a "price boat." They sell a few of them every year. Not trying to put the product down, but do some serious critical comparisions and look closely at the details of how boats are put together before getting too sold on any brand.

Have fun shopping.
SBW

 

[slack250]

I believe it's a quality issue. Maxum is owned by Brunswick, which owns Sea Ray, as well as Bayliner, Baja, Meridian, Hatteras, Boston Whaler, etc. As you can tell from the brands, the quality varies drastically! From what holds the hull together, to the equipment packages, electronics, vinyl, fabric, hinges and door pulls. It all varies, as with Bayliner you can get a much larger boat for the same price of a Sea Ray but the quality just won't be up to par. It's sometimes difficult to look at a price, then see the different boats you can get into for that price, some big some a bit smaller. You have to look down at the costs of maintaining them, fixing the "cheap things that are destined to break", etc. Also, you have to look at resale value, better brands, meaning better quality will most always have a higher resale value.

 

[CSR_Admin]

The chart that details what a boat can handle is weird. The body of water has nothing to do with anything, wind speed is all you need to worry about. A calm day offshore is much nocer than a day on the bay with 40 knot winds. As long as you pick your days a 26 Sea Ray can take you virtually anywhere the fuel capacity will allow.

 

[Bridog]

Sea ray put also their boats in a catagory, so that you can see what your boat can handle.

Sea Ray put this in the boat manual of the type of Sea Ray.

You can ask in witch catagory the 260DA is...

It doesn't tell what the driver can have...........

Maybe some 260 or 240 owners can tell you what they can or can't do with their boat.

Peter.

The 260DA is a "B" category. This is what the boat can handle but NOT what the boat is designed for.

 

[Dave S]

Since I just bought a 260DA, I will try and answer a few questions. As far as comparing it to other boats, I will be the first to admit we didn't do that. We got an outstanding deal on this boat and we only have one full service dealer on our lake and that is Sea Ray. The other brands that are sold in and around our lake lack adequate service facilities and for that reason alone I wouldn't consider them.

We boat on an inland lake where the size of the boat is not as critical from a weather standpoint. If I were going to be boating in lots of big open water, I would probably select a larger boat with a wider beam. As far as interior accomodations go, its mainly just me and my wife so the 260DA is fine for us. Sure a larger cruiser would be nicer but bigger costs more too. As far as the mid berth goes, they are all a compromise from what I remember in looking at various brands at our last boat show. The 260DA midberth is adequate for us.

One of the other reasons to select a Sea Ray is resale value and ease of reselling. I am not saying other brands don't have good resale but it might be more difficult to resell a Larson than a Sea Ray.

And the overall fit and finish and other details on the 260DA was another reason we liked it. It is a quality built boat with excellent styling to boot.

 

[skolbe]

I have had a 260 for 4 years and the mid cabin is tight but, I sleep on it every weekend. Compare my 6 year old 260 to a 3 year old Larson and you will understand why Sea Ray charges a premium. The 260 is a well built boat.

 

[jrirvine]

Anyway, anyone have thoughts on these brands, and other thoughts on the fall boat shows in general? Anyone else visit the Annapolis show?

It is a given that asking for opinions regarding Maxim and Larson in a Searay Club forum will of course provide a wealth of open minded and unbiased reviews!

That said, I also recently compared many boat brands including Crownline, Regal, Fourwinns, Rinker and a few others. After a brief visit on each my impression was always the same and that was “hey this is not a Searay, why am I even hereâ€. Seriously, three other brands are able to compete in our exclusive league and they are Doral, Cobalt and Cruisers. The Cobalts are exceptional in any size but did not have a design that competes well with the 300 Sundancers, which is what I was looking for. The Cruisers are well made but the smallest is a 280 so if you have decided on a 260, this is not an option. Doral is absolutely worth a serious look, but will most likely be priced higher than Searay. It can be a difficult decision trying to balance price, value, service, resale, previous brand experience and budget. The best advise is try not to make a purchase that compromises any of these variables, so that a year or two later you are still satisfied with the product.

You mentioned cruising the Chesapeake Bay, which is also my area. On most days we have a 1-2 ft chop and it is rarely much calmer than this and can of course be much worse. The 260 will handle this but you will definitely be able to feel the chop. The 280 would provide a much better ride, as the beam is wider and is available with twin engines.

 

[Nehalennia II]

Oh dare to Dream.....dare to Dream. I would really love to upgrade to the 240DA. We do it all with our 230 OV. 4 YO twins, a 13 YO daughter and 16 YO Son + the Admiral and I we pack it in :smt017 :smt009 , get cozy and Love to boat. Right now this is what we can afford. The Midberth would be ideal for us & allow the big kids to have more of a cozy spot than our fold down sleeper seats :smt021 or the twins sleeping alongside us :smt089 . Maybe 2008 :thumbsup:

 

[JeffM]

One question we came away with was, what do people do with this size of boat?! I assume we could cruise the Chesapeake Bay anywhere we wanted in a variety of non-stormy conditions. What about even bigger water? What can this boat handle? That's not something they put in specs...

Gunn, We've had our 260 on the Chesapeake for 2 years and are very happy with it. We've been out mostly in "non-stormy" conditions with the 1-2 chop mentioned above, but have also been in significantly larger seas. Although I was nervous, the boat handled it quite well.

Overnighting with our family of four (including two teenagers) is a bit tight but it works. We love cruising in her.

I can't comment on the other boat brands, but to compare quality and workmanship you might look at some 2- to 3-year old versions of the boats you are interested in and compare how well they've stood up to a few seasons of usage. You'll have to consider how well the boats were maintained, but you ought to be able to get a feel for which are better built.

Jeff

 

[Sea Ray 300]

One thing to look at is the weight of the boat.

When we went shopping for a 30 footer, we noted that similarly equiped, the Sea Ray was 2000 pounds heavier than the competition.

That must equate into thicker fiberglass and a heavier structure throughout.

Once we had our new Sea Ray on the open water, we really appreciated the solid feel. Much more secure feeling.

 

[Bridog]

Gunn, That Maxum you mentioned shows 5 different engine choices. But that tubular radar arch has got to go. I dont think you can compare a Sea Ray cruiser to a Maxum or Larson. Maybe those dealers slipped something in your drink when you weren't looking :wink:

 

[Gunn]

Thanks for all the comments guys, much appreciated and understood. I didn't figure to get an unbiased opinion here, but I was just hoping to again "see the light" about SeaRay's. You all make good points. I now understand that the difference in these brands and price points can be equated to, say, GM's line of vehicles... Cadillac, GM, Geo kind of thing. I will say though that on first impressions and initial looks, all of these boats were on par with one another in outfitting.

You're right though on that Maxum boat; that is one radar arch I would NOT upgrade to!

And thanks for posting that A/B/C/D rating; I have never seen that before.

I've never made any major purchase new; I am one of those that lets others take the depreciation hit first...though it is very tempting looking at these beautiful boats.

We're dreaming of course at this stage. I still need a go-between upgrade between the little 175 and the cruiser class.

Thanks again,

 

[WFYB]

I believe the single most important criteria to consider after settling on a feature set is the selling dealer and service. As we all know boats require plenty of service and a great boat can be reduced to boating misery if the dealer provides lousy after sales service. IMHO, MMax and Searay are simply outstanding. MMax acts as my advocate when necessary and Searay is not timid about stepping up to the plate when needed. So if it's a 26 ft boat you want check around and see how the various dealers support after the sale, then allow the best dealer to weigh heavily in your decision.

 

[RT 240SD]

We gandered around annapolis as well. The only boats I really liked were the large Sea Rays, the Cruisers were interesting... the 36 Chris Craft Corsair (379k out the door), the Rivas and the Admiral wants a Fleming 55.

We went looking for something along the lines of the 290SS, but they never have those kinds of boats laying around the shows. Maybe I'll just wait few years and see if I can get the 240SD on top of the Fleming 75 as my dingy.