questions about 290 dancer 1997

AFD

AFD

Active Member
Jul 29, 2012
1,250
Boston Harbor/Falmouth Ma
Boat Info
1997 Sundancer 290 The fat beam version
Engines
twins.
Starboard 5.0 alpha 220HP
Port 357 alpha 275hp
4HP Yamaha for Dinghy
My wife and I are going to look at one we found on craigslist but I have a quick question or two. the one we are going to look at has the forward facing arch but the owner says he is sure it is a 97. the archives on Sea rays website shows that the 97 has the rear facing arch and older hull design. the 1998 shows the beam at 10'2" but the 1997 shows 9'6" beam. what am I actually going to look at?
we aren't going to look at the boat until tuesday but i just wanted to know what to look for. aside from the normal things to look for, what should i look for that is specific to the 290 of this model?

thanks everyone.
 
i was going to take a picture of the HID but i'm not going to look at it until tuesday. was there a 1997.5 model? or did the arch not start to point forward until 1998? also it does not have a bow pulpit...mystery...
 
Thanks. The sea ray archives shows a completely different boat and layout for the 97.the website shows one that looks like the 94-95 model and I'm just trying to figure out what I am going to look at. My wife and I just walked away from a month and a half long process of buying a 270 chaparral that was turning out to be a nightmare buying process through a broker that kept pushing things further and further back and we are both really excited that this dancer came on the market in our price range.
 
When you look at the boat, you can easily tell the model by looking at the last 2 digits of the HIN#. The 9th and 10th digits tell the actual date of manufacture. THe HIN is the upper number on the right side of t he transom.
 
97 was the crossover year. You could get the old style with the rear facing arch or the new style with the forward facing arch.

Does it have a generator and A/C? Those are two of the best options on my boat.
 
I don't know yet as the description is pretty small and i didn't want to seem like i was asking too many questions over email, but with my luck and the asking price i doubt it has either. i'm not really worried about it though, I don't usually use ac anyway, just sleep with a fan and my dogs don't even hang out in rooms with ac, they would rather bake as long as they have water. they will most likely be on the boat just as much as we will. our planned trips down the cape we would be anchoring and most likely camping on beach or traveling to my families house and if it got unbearable sleep in the house. not saying i wouldn't love to have ac and genny but not crying if it doesn't have it. will use the boat for day trips mostly, i have a pool and hot tub and a great bed at home. :)
 
i'm begining to notice that...not much to read and no "official......" page for that model
 
magstang1 said:
97 was the crossover year. You could get the old style with the rear facing arch or the new style with the forward facing arch.
Click to expand...

Agreed...'97 started as rear facing arch identical to my '95. Model was '94-'97

'97-1/2 changed to forward arch like Mag's. Completely different boat
 
magstang1 said:
When you get yours, we can start one.
Click to expand...

that would be a really boring thread for other people to read but you and I would love it if i get this one.


am i the only one that looks at the same ad on craigslist over and over again and start to imagine myself and family and friends spending time on it and the adventures we will have? I wish this guy would just email me back so the bride and I can set up a time for tomorrow...
 
I scoured the country and almost bought a boat sight unseen from New York because I was so anxious.

Move slowly and methodically. These boats pack a lot of stuff in a small package. If it's optioned out, you will have a lot of systems to check. Take pictures, even of the things you think are insignificant. That extra thru hull fitting may be the tell tale of wether you have a generator or not. Things like that. Come home, do a little research and go back with a fine tooth comb.

You're not going to get it all on the first visit. Make a "to do" list so you don't get overwhelmed and waste a visit.
 
my wife and I have been looking for 2 years now since she finally confessed that she doesn't like my little 170 and actually wants to have a life on the water...great problem to have i know, a wife that wants a boat. my entire childhood and teenage years were on the water with family boats, my grandparents have had several at a time and even now in their 80's they still have 2. actually 6 if you count sunfish, rowboats and dinghy's.

we have seen many boats inside and out and have spent probably $1,000 in fuel just driving to see all of the ones that pass our internet search criteria over the past 2 years. She brings a notebook and pen and we start taking pictures only if we are going to consider it when we leave. if she doesn't like it right away she will point out some arbitrary issue like it's the end of the world and I get the hint that "we should pass on this one". this process has taken a lot of weekends and afternoons, we have only went back for follow up visits on 3 so far and the most recent one we took a 3rd look but something just wasn't sitting right with us both about the history on the last one and a feeling like we were getting "yessed" to death by the broker so we just decided a week ago to walk away. too bad too as it was a beautiful chaparral 270 signature. we have a surveyor all lined up that we have met and feel very comfortable with and we had to cancel our offer and survey. thankfully he didn't charge us for cancelling as we gave him plenty of notice. we told him that we are still in the market but weren't too confident that we would find the right boat anytime soon as this has been a long disappointing journey so far, he even offered to give us a call if something interesting came up that he knew about...i guess that happens from time to time if your a surveyor.

the only reason i'm getting this excited is because she keeps asking me to show her pictures of the same ad too. of course i leave the tab on my laptop available offline. she has even told her parents that this is probably the one just from the pictures and that isn't like her to be impulsive...thats my job.
 
So, I went and looked at the 290 today with my wife. some minor things that aren't great news...
almost no canvas. i knew that going in but it's still going to be a $$$ hit.
the boat was bought by a boat club and used for one season. the "weekend captains" as the owner put it couldn't handle the boat as they were used to using much smaller, narrower boats and there was one person that hit a dock and put a scratch in the hull. it appears minor and easy to patch and is well above the water line.
no hot water heater. it aparently leaked so it was removed.
good news there is under 300hrs on the new twin 5.0l v8's. it has been maintained by the boat club's private mechanic and the entire boat is spotless. the wiring alone is meticulously routed and it is the cleanest repower i have seen in a while.
I asked the owner if he would be willing to split the cost of putting the boat in the water for the sea trial and he laughed and said "I would never ask anyone to pay for a boat they might not buy, If you bring a surveyor here i know you're serious about possibly buying. i'll put it in the water for you" someone in the dry dock stole the anchor for it so if we buy it i will be looking for a replacement for the front. does anybody know what came on these from sea ray and will fit the factory front rollers?
the front vent motor was replaced but now will not work.
needs one wiper arm and one wiper motor...the one without the arm works.
needs a ton of bulbs...some lights wouldn't work some would, every system that is one the boat works though as far as i could test. water pump, macerator, all the faucets, pluged in a light and all the outlets worked.
love all the space on the boat and was surprised at all the storage and that the couch pulled out into a bed and all the cushions were there.

all in all it was a nice boat that needs an anal owner to get back to amazing. that might be me as the wife loved all the space.
we shall see in a few days the survey will be done, just working out a schedule now.
 
Canvas won't be as bad as you think. I replaced everything on my boat for under $4k. Camper top, aft curtain, Bimini, sunshade, visor, storage cover, boots... Everything. Contact Great Lakes.

I can get you the specs from my anchor. You might be able to look them up on the Sea Ray website.

Most of the light fixtures are festoon bulbs and mine had corroded contacts when I bought it. A little clean up on the contacts fixed them right up.

The hot water heater will be expensive if you replace it. I haven't used mine yet and wouldn't miss it if it were gone.

I never use my wipers either. I've only had spray over the bow once on this boat. We were running home pretty hard into a storm blowing in.

It all seems like minor stuff... If the price is right.


Edit:

Just in case you haven't found it yet,

http://www.searay.com/boat_graphics/electronic_brochure/company1729/1C1_27_74DERNWP3954.pdf
 
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asking is $18,000. Crazy i know. the owner was very confident with the boat condition and said that he tried to sell the boat last year and got it ready and in the water for a sea trial and the buyer never showed up and never responded to emails or phone calls so it came out of the water and got winterized again. all maintenance records on the new motors as well. all new vinyl a few years ago and it's beautiful. have all the eisenglass but no bows, has some small strips of canvas that we found but we couldn't figure out where they went because there were only a few of them and they could fit anywhere. the water heater IF we get one will be about $300 as i'm finding them online and i can easily install it myself off of the port engine, no biggie. the only problem for me is it doesn't have a trailer. I need to be able to take this thing home and don't want to pay to move it over and over again if i decide i want to work on something or even just make a custom table or all of them custom i would just drag it home and work on it. the admiral and I are undecided if we want to even bother paying for a slip this year as the season is so short for us with all the weddings we have to go to.
 
you and I just might have to start that "official page"

and thanks for the link but i knew about that site and have referenced a lot of my info from it. i used it for my little 170 when rebuilding the dash panel.
 
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