Sea Ray 450 Sundance liveaboard

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Dan4577223

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Mar 15, 2021
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Good evening all I think I’m about 12 months away from purchasing my first Sea Ray. I would like it to be something I could eventually live aboard after retirement I’m gravitating towards diesels, would the 450 Sundance give me the ability to cruise slowly and save fuel for longer distance but be able to advance the throttles for express cruise? I guess the better question is, is the model a good mix of all worlds? Travel to an island in moderate seas then maybe do the great loop? Looking forward to hearing everyone’s thoughts.
 
You do not want a Sundancer as a live a board. It’s a dungeon. Get a sedan bridge with a proper door, windows. I love my dancers but live on one, oh hell no. It’s a basement.
 
You wanna know about live a board, here goes, it ain’t fun, it ain’t romantic, and it ain’t cheap. We have a bunch at our marina and I hear the stories. Where you doing laundry? With the homeless at the corner laundromat? Groceries, every day cause you don’t have nuff storage for more than a day. Pets, forget it. Clothes, get a storage space. for a couple hundred a month cause boat don’t have nuff space for all your wife shoes and clothes. Want kids over for holiday dinner? Go Olive Garden. Get the picture? If still not convinced ask me about ice covered piers crawling to your car. The only people that live a board Nice are in Cruising World magazine that daddy left them a 50’ blue water cruiser with a massive bank account. The rest are vagrants bums who are one day from sleeping on a heated vent in Manhattan. Sorry if the truth hurts.
 
I would love to live aboard. In St Lucia, not in the states. Had couple on my pier with 2 sedan bridge boats 1 kid, cat, dog, wife got pregnant in fall, put her foot down. Sold both boats moved to apt, had enuff boat living.
 
Can you live with an 11 gallon hot water tank, cause wife and I can drain our 60 every morn with HOT LUXURIOUS showers. You really wanna live like that?
 
Dan4577223 said:
I guess the better question is, is the model a good mix of all worlds? Travel to an island in moderate seas then maybe do the great loop? Looking forward to hearing everyone’s thoughts.
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Everybody's idea of what is big enough or the right kind of boat is to live aboard or spend extended periods of time aboard are different. The 450 is certainly a fine boat to do the loop on or spend longer periods of time on. We chose a sedan bridge to do extended cruising on for the reason of a less feeling of being confined and better natural lighting. She can be working in the galley and see out into the cockpit and we can sit at the dinette and see almost 360* out the windows. But many choose an express style, which is not much different than those who live on a sailboat, and there are a lot of liveaboard sailboaters. Your call.
We like the option of being able to trawl along at 8.5 to 9 kts when we are traveling alone (retired- no need to hurry and miss anything) as well as run up on plane for weekend getaways when traveling with our sundancer friends that have to be back at work on Monday.
No boat is perfect, compromises have to be made. It's been 4 years since we've done our loop and we continue to cruise long distances and stay aboard for weeks at a time and haven't traded our Sea Ray for a trawler yet and have no plans to.
 
Pirate Lady said:
You wanna know about live a board, here goes, it ain’t fun, it ain’t romantic, and it ain’t cheap. We have a bunch at our marina and I hear the stories. Where you doing laundry? With the homeless at the corner laundromat? Groceries, every day cause you don’t have nuff storage for more than a day. Pets, forget it. Clothes, get a storage space. for a couple hundred a month cause boat don’t have nuff space for all your wife shoes and clothes. Want kids over for holiday dinner? Go Olive Garden. Get the picture? If still not convinced ask me about ice covered piers crawling to your car. The only people that live a board Nice are in Cruising World magazine that daddy left them a 50’ blue water cruiser with a massive bank account. The rest are vagrants bums who are one day from sleeping on a heated vent in Manhattan. Sorry if the truth hurts.
Click to expand...
 
Pirate Lady said:
Enough said, think about it.
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141631853-little-boy-with-a-car-toy-got-lost-in-a-forest-in-black-and-white.jpg
 
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Thanks all for the responses. Yes I’m sure it’s not always the paradise you think it’s going to be but that’s why I’m doing some research ahead of time.
 
Everyone is different. I'm pretty sure I couldn't do it unless it was 60+ feet moored in paradise with big windows to see out of. And even then my wife would leave me. However my father, ex-air force F2 pilot, lived his last 12 years on a 37' sailboat in San Diego harbor and was never happier. He didn't mind living 'in the basement' and the marina's shower and and wash facilities were very nice and secure. Not once did he have to battle ice to get to the club to go dancing 3 nights a week.

So it all comes down to the person. Don't right it off based on how others have coped but be realistic on what your area provides and what your weather conditions are when it's off season. If you get a dancer and hate living in a cage then just move up like most of us have done many times.

Good luck. Sounds exciting.
 
my3sons said:
Everybody's idea of what is big enough or the right kind of boat is to live aboard or spend extended periods of time aboard are different. The 450 is certainly a fine boat to do the loop on or spend longer periods of time on. We chose a sedan bridge to do extended cruising on for the reason of a less feeling of being confined and better natural lighting. She can be working in the galley and see out into the cockpit and we can sit at the dinette and see almost 360* out the windows. But many choose an express style, which is not much different than those who live on a sailboat, and there are a lot of liveaboard sailboaters. Your call.
We like the option of being able to trawl along at 8.5 to 9 kts when we are traveling alone (retired- no need to hurry and miss anything) as well as run up on plane for weekend getaways when traveling with our sundancer friends that have to be back at work on Monday.
No boat is perfect, compromises have to be made. It's been 4 years since we've done our loop and we continue to cruise long distances and stay aboard for weeks at a time and haven't traded our Sea Ray for a trawler yet and have no plans to.
Click to expand...


I appreciate your perspective...several have mentioned that being in a Seadancer for long periods will be uncomfortable and inconvenient. We traveled in a pop up RV with 3 kids for a month every summer, we now have a proper RV with walls but still go every summer for about a month sometimes longer (like last year when we had to quarantine). The small space doesn't bother me and this boat will mainly be just me and the hubs. I do really want diesel engines though. We are not in a hurry so i think we will wait until the Fall time frame to see if the market has slowed any. We definitely want to do the loop. Cheers!
 
Dan4577223 said:
Good evening all I think I’m about 12 months away from purchasing my first Sea Ray. I would like it to be something I could eventually live aboard after retirement I’m gravitating towards diesels, would the 450 Sundance give me the ability to cruise slowly and save fuel for longer distance but be able to advance the throttles for express cruise? I guess the better question is, is the model a good mix of all worlds? Travel to an island in moderate seas then maybe do the great loop? Looking forward to hearing everyone’s thoughts.
Click to expand...

I am glad you posted this, we are also in the market for a SeaRay, maybe waiting till the Fall hopefully the market turns into a buyers market. We are several years away from using ours for more than 3-4 weeks at a time but super excited to use it for a couple of weeks at a time and some long weekends next summer (assuming we find one) :) We are looking at 380s though. Good luck and happy boating!
 
Hey didn’t mean to turn you off to the boat lifestyle. Sorry if gave bad advice, we have a lot of liveabords at marina, they all have sedans, just passing advice.
 
Cop is right, depends on area, SD like his dad I’d have a sailboat, pet gator, Ferrari, and call me Sonny, MD in winter, No ain’t doing a dancer, just me .
 
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