Sea Ray vs....

ironexecutioner

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Aug 9, 2009
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I am very interested in purchasing a boat. I was pointed toward the Sea Ray models. My purchase of a boat would be with the intent of watersports (mainly tubing, perhaps skiing and wakeboarding) and leisure use. Not a big fisher.

I am concerned with maintenance. I have heard many people say that after the purchase is when the expenses add up. I am curious as to what I could expect in this area. I don't mind spending money, just like to be prepared. I am going to use it primarily in fresh water, but would like to know what kind of a difference it would make if used in salt water from time to time?

Am I looking at an appropriate boat for my wishes? What other boats/models would be recommended for what I want, perhaps that have good track records in regards to reliability? How do Sea Ray boats compare to a yamaha or seadoo? I am aware that I will probably receive a bias based on the forum, and that is fine. If you can be unbiased thats great but if at least provided with facts and a bunch of opinions I should be able to weed out bias.

I know this is a loaded post but I have wanted a boat for years and want to take the steps to pulling that trigger.. In an Educated fashion.
 
It all starts with how much you're willing to spend, then how big of a boat you may be interested in, etc. Sea Ray has a huge line of boats that will meet your needs, and they have been building them for years, so the entire price range is available.

Start here: http://www.mynextsearay.com/Page.aspx/pageId/7725/Sea-Ray-Boat-Brochures.aspx

Then go here: http://www.yachtworld.com/core/list...ncyid=100&city=&pbsint=&boatsAddedSelected=-1

I don't know your region, but I picked 2002 - 2006 17' - 23' boats. I imagine you're looking for an open bow, inboard/outboard driven boat. You will have to pull the outdrive every year. Annual maintenance ran me about $600 on this type of set up plus a little more on occassion for replacing parts which wear out every 3 or 4 years. That ran another 1 - 3,000 every few years. You'll need insurance. I imagine you'll be on a trailer, so you'll need a good tow vehicle. The trailer maintenance was more of a pain to me than the boat mx, but I always ran in salt water. Occassional salt water use will not slow you down a bit. Wash well after use, and rinse the engine out with fresh water by installing "ear muffs" on the outdrive and connecting it to a hose. You get the idea.
 
Hi

This tends to be the kind of question that it would take a book to answer.
It is a bit curious the two alternatives that you suggested "Yamaha and Seadoo" as I wouldn't really see them as competing for the same market. SeaRay like most other major boat manufactures, eg Baylinner, Four Winns, Monterey, Sealine etc. all "buy-in" most of their fittings..engines, drives, steering, engine controls, electronics etc from a small handfull of generic suppliers. Virtually all inboard versions will use the same Mercruiser or Volvo hardware meaning that in terms of reliability there is not really a lot to differentiate them. These are based on well established very reliable engines typically large GMC car based units. I don't know what Yamaha do for gas engines but I would imagine they are quite specialised and there will be little scope for third party parts. I have found with their outboards they have an infuriating habit of "deleting" parts and I've ended up having to get parts manufactured for them (this is not the case with American built outboards). If you can do your own maintenance, and it's not that difficult with a standard Mercruiser or Volvo stern drive, then the annual servicing costs are trivial....oil, filters etc.
If it's an older boat you're considering then there few "DON'T TOUCH" items...top of the list...BMW, Merc "L" drives and some of the early Mercruiser Duo prop models. I've had eleven boats to date with various engine/drive combinations and in my opinion, as far as the boat's concerned the new asking price is a fare indication of build quality with Bayliner at the bottom and Searay at the top (excluding Riva, but that's serious money) but, with the exception of the above, it would be a bit daft to consider anything other than Mercruiser propulsion particularly if you are USA based.

I'm sure others will have differing opinions.......light the blue touch paper and retire to a safe distance.
:grin:
 
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After boating in salt water exclusively for 20+ years, I can tell you that if you do plan to use the boat in a coastal area with any regularity, you will be money ahead to invest in a Sea Ray, as opposed to primarily lake boats. The choices Sea Ray makes on vinyls, canvas, gelcoat, purchased components and fasteners means that you will have a boat designed for the toughtest enviornmental conditions instead of one made to sell at a given price point. What this means to you is less maintenance and a higher resale value.

Good luck and enjoy shopping.......its fun.
 
You can't compare Sea Ray to Yamaha or Sea Doo- that's apples and oranges- or rather, jetboats to I/O's.

Jetboats are fun, but aren't for the serious watersports enthusiast. The more traditional skiing/boarding boats are straight inboards- like MasterCraft:

http://www.mastercraft.com/

and Nautiques by Correct Craft.

http://www.nautiques.com/

The Sea Ray sport boats- I/O powered- are a good compromise for skiing/leisure use.
 
It depends(Grin)
Yes it really is a loaded questions and a big waste of time until you tell us more about what price range you are thinking, how big and type of water, etc, etc.
Like some body else already said the jets boats you mentioned are a totally different type of boat than the Sea Ray sport boats.
Need more info before you can really get good answers.
As to the cost for maintenance again, it depends. Are you going to do it yourself? How many hours are you going to be using it a year, where are going to be using, etc, etc.
 
Wow thanks guys. More response than I have gotten on any other forum! Really appreciate it. Ok well I am unsure on price range... Probably 12-20k. I would probably use it primarily in fresh water with some use in salt water. I'm really concerned a prolonged salt water use will cause a large cost increase down the road in maintenance. I didn't realize I was comparing two different engine types. I am really just exploring different brands people mention in hopes to narrow it down. Could you explain the difference in the two engines with pros and cons of each? I am probably looking for something in 20' range give or take a few. Probably no more than a 7/8 seater. I plan to take 3 weeks off each year to use it while also using it periodically aside from that. I would like to learn to do some of the maintenance myself but want to go off of the assumption that I do none of it myself so I am prepared for a "worst case scenario".... I think that's most of it, if I missed something let me know! Again, thanks!
 
I know someone who wants to sell there sailboat:thumbsup:
 
I recommend a 220 Sundeck, as it was our previous boat (first boat). Excellent boat. You should find some great deals on them.
 
How long did you have ur 220? Did you use it in fresh or salt water? What was max speed? What year was it
 
Using a Sea Ray in salt water is not a big issue at all. Wash it off. Rinse the engine. It's not an issue. Don't waste any more brain cells on it.

Depending on the engine, these sport boats are fairly fast, usually in the 40's if not higher. It's fun to go wide open for a while, but usually, you'll probably cruise around 30. You can go to yacht world dot com, select "advanced search" from the "boats" pull down menu, choose Sea Ray, 22', and begin to see what's available.

Ironexecutioner, where do you live? Midwest? NE? SE?

Help me help you.

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/list...ncyid=100&city=&pbsint=&boatsAddedSelected=-1

My search for 22' Sea Rays in the $12,000 to $20,000 range did not yield much. Maybe something a little smaller to start would work. I'll search up to $25,000 in the smaller range to see what you can get (Offer $18,000, pay $20,000).

Much Better: http://www.yachtworld.com/core/list...=100&city=&rid=&pbsint=&boatsAddedSelected=-1
 
Have you thought about what you're going to tow it with?
A twenty two foot boat + trailer + gear will be the wrong side of two tons. I appreciate that you have a much better choice of large cars but that would be more than any UK marketed saloon car could tow (that includes things like the Crysler C300 and tha Cadillac GTS). If you go over about twenty foot then it's likely you'll need a utility vehicle to pull it.:smt001
 
Check out the JD Powers web site for the awards for best boats in various category segments. I don't know all the models in each segment, but the ones that I'm familiar with track well with the results from the JD Powers surveys. I've always liked Regal and Sea Ray as far as quality i concerned. Buy a one year old Sea Ray so that you'll get the balance of the warranty, lower purchase price and access to the braintrust in the CSR forum to help keep those maintenance costs down!

http://www.jdpower.com/Boats/ratings/small-runabout-(16–19-ft.)-ratings
 
How do Sea Ray boats compare to a yamaha or seadoo?

Both the above choices will erase any hopes of wakeboarding, this I can help with. None of the jetboats give any kind of decent wake at all, and in fact there is a thread or two on wakeboarder.com regarding people's disappointment that these companies are even trying to sell these now with towers!

The i/o engine and design of the sport model boats offer great wakes for wakeboarding and as well for the other watersports, but can be trimmed to go out into larger bodies of water for cruising. For example, on Winnipesaukee, you wont see any towboats out during the week as they get beat up pretty good, so an i/o is a good all around boat for sports and cruising.

Thus why we ended up as well with the SR as it gave us more versatility.
 
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Here is my bit of advice as I was in a similar place myself a few months ago. I looked at Yamaha, Sea Doo, Bayliner, Sea Ray and a few others. I was looking for a boat in the 18-20' range that I could fit into my garage and i was completely green to boating. Granted my search was based on new boats, but I was open to whatever good deal I could find. First off, the Bayliner was nice and the price as nice as well, but... did some research and decided to stay away. The Sea Doo I was the most disapointed in. First, the SE that I looked at was pretty plain-jane as far as interior style. But the thing that sealed the deal for me NOT to with Sea Doo was the fact that they came with a 1 year warranty. Oh sure, you could buy an extended warranty, but it just said something to me about their product. Especially when most manufactures include at least 5 year coverage and of course you can add an extention onto that for a price. As somebody mentioned earlier, JD Power & Assoc. named the Sea Ray 185 sport the top in its class. As far as the powertrain goes, consider this; if you ever need to have the Sea Doo serviced (& I could be wrong) but I think you would need to take it to a Sea Doo dealer VS. getting service on a Merc/ Volvo which can be serviced by just about any marina/boat shop. I'm not saying that you need to buy a Sea Ray (although I love mine) I'd just watch out for ANY company that doesn't stand behind their product.

By the way, I ended up with a used '07 185 Sport W/Tower/trailer & goodies for $17,500, so look around. :thumbsup:
 
I live in the MA. And I plan to tow it with a V8 Explorer. So that isn't so much of an issue. I am going to look at the JDPower site. Thanks for that recommendation. I went to a local sea doo dealer today and didn't feel anymore wise to that purchase. I inquired with him about Jet skis also and asked which his preference would be (they sell yamaha, sea doo and kawasaki jet skis) he said "the best one is the one with the most hp imo" ... i wont be buying anything there..
Using a Sea Ray in salt water is not a big issue at all. Wash it off. Rinse the engine. It's not an issue. Don't waste any more brain cells on it.

Depending on the engine, these sport boats are fairly fast, usually in the 40's if not higher. It's fun to go wide open for a while, but usually, you'll probably cruise around 30. You can go to yacht world dot com, select "advanced search" from the "boats" pull down menu, choose Sea Ray, 22', and begin to see what's available.

Ironexecutioner, where do you live? Midwest? NE? SE?

Help me help you.

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/list...ncyid=100&city=&pbsint=&boatsAddedSelected=-1

My search for 22' Sea Rays in the $12,000 to $20,000 range did not yield much. Maybe something a little smaller to start would work. I'll search up to $25,000 in the smaller range to see what you can get (Offer $18,000, pay $20,000).

Much Better: http://www.yachtworld.com/core/list...=100&city=&rid=&pbsint=&boatsAddedSelected=-1
 
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What do you feel the quality of the sea doo is short of the wakeboarding issue? It does not seem to be terribly lower than the Sea Ray on the link from JD's website. Would you advise against the thought of starting with a Sea Doo and upgrading to a Sea Ray as some time goes on? Just curious.

Also, should I be concerned by the obvious power difference that appears to be between the Sea Doo and Sea Ray? The sea doo looks like its commonly 255+ where for example an 09 185 sport is 190 hp.
 
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I'm sure somebody with a scientific explanation will chime in, but I'd guess the issue of wakeboarding (where the wake is everything) the whole propultion of the jet drive vs. a prop may have something to do with it. Not to mention the design and shape of the hull have a lot to do with how the boat creates the wake as well. Anybody?
 
Another issue I read while doing my own research was that even though the Sea Doos have the better clearance in the water, they suck up trash into the intake. When that happens you have shut it down and get it out. This could be anything from vegitation to a plastic walmart bag.

As far as the horsepower goes. I can't honestly answer that as I have never operated a Sea Doo or Yama jet boat to compare to my 190hp, but I can say that I haven't yet said to myself "Dang, if I only had more power".
 

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