- Oct 6, 2006
- 12,155
- Boat Info
- 1996 450DA
- Engines
- 3116 Caterpillars
Here are a series of miscellaneous observations and impressions that did not seem to fit in the other photo oriented posts on Yacht Expo. Remember, I was a guest of Sea Ray, and I do not speak for them. These comments are strictly my observations and impressions based on spending the better part of 4 days at Sykes Creek.
What Impressed Me the Most?-
Without question, the Sea Ray employees that I met at Yacht Expo were the most impressive part of a very memorable trip. These folks are seriously dedicated to doing a good job. Customer satisfaction isn’t just something they just talk about in Monday morning meetings. It is in their DNA, they are serious about it and everything they do is driven by the need for you to be satisfied with their products.
Having spent 25+ years in a labor-intensive industry doing major productivity improvement projects, I have a decent eye for employee morale and attitude. In the face of an industry wide slow down, the Sea Ray employees I met were exemplary. All were happy and positive about the company and their products. Everyone was polite and courteous had a smile on his face.
These dedicated folks are exactly who I want to build my next boat.
Quality-
The overall quality, as well as the fit and finish, on the boats I saw was superb. These were not boats built just for the Expo either. They were regular production boats destined for dealers or that were borrowed back from dealers for Yacht Expo. One boat, the 410DA, was already sold and the customer allowed Sea Ray to use it at Yacht Expo. Every seam was evenly caulked, every door fit perfectly, all the gaps in every piece of cabinetry was even and matched its opposite side, every finished wooden component was perfect and every gelcoated part was smooth and blemish free with no print-through.
The Sea Ray employees have every right to be proud of the boats they are building.
That isn’t to say that new boats are problem free. However, I’d be willing to bet that 99+% of the problems a owner encounters with his new Sea Ray will be from purchased components like engines, drive systems, heat/air conditioning, electronics, instrumentation, and other vendor supplied items that Sea Ray installs in the boats when they are assembled, not from the work done by Sea Ray employees when they build the boat.
One of the questions I am regularly asked in PM’s on the CSR site is what year do I think are the best production years for Sea Ray boats. My usual answer has been the mid- 90’s to mid 2000’s, but now I have revised that response. The boats being produced today are the best ones yet.
Technology in manufacturing has become the friend of the customer. These boats are better engineered and more precisely and consistently built than previous models. Even though the bigger boats are built by hand, the fit and finish of the parts is better because the parts are more consistent. The hulls are better designed so they are stronger and lighter weight than ever before. The build quality is so precise now that once a prop is adjusted for a particular model, no further tweaking by hull is needed. They take them out of the box, put them on the boat and they are right every time.
The end result is that we are now able to buy stronger boats with significantly better performance. When I bought my first 40 ft.+ Sea Ray in the late 80’s, 16-18 kts. was about average and we thought a 20 kt. boat was screaming. Now Sea Ray isn’t happy with a boat unless cruise speeds are in the 30 kt. range or more.
Factory Management-
I never saw a manager giving directions to employees. I never once saw a group of employees standing around talking with each other. Everyone knows their job and does it.
The average tenure is probably 15 years+ and even with layoffs in a slow economy, you don’t get that average service age with poor management, bad selection or unclear direction.
Building boats can be a messy, dust generating process, but you can literally eat off the floor at Sykes Creek. In fact, that is where they held the closing night dinner for 500 of their best customers, dealers and Sea Ray top management…….right in the middle of the production floor. By the way, I arrived early and took my tour on Wednesday and Thursday mornings while the plant was in production, not after it had been cleaned up for Expo.
There Are Reasons Today’s Boats Are Expensive-
We all continue to wonder about the ever-increasing prices of new boats. My belief is that Sea Ray has identified “their customer” as a wealthy executive or professional who is far more interested in weekend or day use of his boat in local waters for entertaining than for traveling or cruising. If he does cruise, he expects to do it at 35kts and be in the slip in time for cocktails. Today’s customer is far less interested in the access to his fuel filters and seacocks than being able to operate his boat with the push of a button, a tap on a touch screen or the twist of a joystick. Demand for features, not function, is what drives the standard equipment list.
And, those features come at a cost. For example, look carefully at these 2 photos:
Instead of a single shore power entrance, this particular boat has dual shore power systems for both 120VAC and 240VAC. Both have 85 ft. cables instead of the usual 50 ft. cable. This saves the owner from dealing with extension cables and y-splitters/combiners.
Here is another example of added standard features. This boat has split air conditioning systems which cost more and are more expensive to install. They are placed so the compressing unit is behind the main bulkhead and only the air handler is in the cabin area in order to reduce noise. Here are 3 compressing units located in the engine room (this model actually has 5 compressing units, the other 2 are outboard of the other engine):
And, here is one more:
These are extra Veem props. Sea Ray is using Veem (imported from Australia) now on larger boats because their performance is better. The cost is, however, about $3000 more per prop than Federal props.
Is It a Sea Ray or a Meridian?-
The answer is “Both”.
Yacht Expo is for the boat brands that fall under The Sea Ray Group. Sea Ray and Meridian and have common management, but their marketing functions are separate. Both Sea Ray and Meridian products were displayed. The Sykes Creek facility also makes some of the Meridian line. The products are similar, but different. The same personnel who make Sea Rays also make Meridians. It is impossible to train the same personnel to deliver 2 levels of quality, so you will see the same high quality people at work on both lines of boats. The Meridians have their own design and it is different from the engineering and design used on Sea Ray boats. The Meridians are less expensive and there are reasons that is possible. The Meridians employ different construction techniques that allow for a little lighter lay-up schedule, whereas, the Sea Ray boats are more robust. The Meridian line also uses lighter and more economical components than Sea Ray. You will find lighter doors, polycarbonate cabinet doors instead of wood, lighter cabinet hinges and closures, and lighter weight soft trims. You will also see some cabinet and compartment interiors lined with a molded plastic liner on Meridians, where Sea Ray cabinet interiors are finished.
Seeing both lines of boats displayed has caused me to make and adjustment in thinking. I have come to realize that Yacht Expo was for lines under the Sea Ray Group, not just for Sea Ray boats. Each has its place, its own customer base and its own intended use.
Finally, the quality of the Meridians I saw at Yacht Expo are completely different that those I recall in the early days of the Meridian brand prior to 2009 They have the typical Sea Ray fit and finish and now provide a real value for those whose boating location and style they match.
Merritt Island-
The Merritt Island factory, Product Engineering and Development (PD&E), the Sykes Creek factory and the Cape Canaveral factory are all located next door to each other on Sea Ray Drive in Merritt Island Florida.
I was disappointed to learn that the Merritt Island factory has been completely closed and the property has now been sold to an automotive chassis component maker.
The Cape Canaveral facility was built with enough ceiling height to allow for the manufacture of 70ft. and up boats, but it was never opened. The woodshop for making and finishing interiors is located in part of the Canaveral space.
Zeus vs. Conventional Inboard or V-Drives-
Over the last couple of years, my opinion was that Sea Ray was putting a lot of eggs in one basket when they designed several hulls for only Zeus pod drives. I think there are a lot of potential buyers who have enough experience in boating that they will be hesitant to buy a Zeus powered boat because:
a. They don’t feel they need joystick docking,
b. They are concerned about the added risk and maintenance of having exposed gear cases under the water,
c. They already experience unsatisfactory dealer performance in servicing simple and non-complex Mercruiser products and are concerned about trusting an already questionable dealer service department with even more complex drives and related systems.
At Yacht Expo, we were told that Sea Ray is now going to make conventional inboard power the standard offering on some hulls and will offer Zeus drives as an option. I think that allowing buyers to choose v-drives or Zeus is a very smart move on the part of Sea Ray and is one that will be eagerly accepted by the customer. My bet is that sales volume will go up and not very many buyers will pay extra for Zeus and joystick controls.
Cool Ideas-
JMS
For those with conventional inboards or v-drives, Sea Ray is offering a new Joystick Maneuvering System (JMS) as an option in some boats for 2012. This is a system developed by ZF Marine Electronics that combines regular transmissions, and a bow thruster with joystick control. For people who want precise handling around the dock but who don’t want Zeus or Axius, then JMS might be an option. There wasn’t one installed on any of the test boats so I have no idea how well JMS is going to work in the real world.
Sunroom
The Sunroom main cabin area is a stroke of genius on the 610DA. It has sliding glass doors that separate the cockpit from main cabin area thus creating a climate controlled “sunroom” as well as a way to keep dripping wet bathing suits and sand out of the cabin. Too bad it is only available on the 610.
Magnetic Door Catches
I forgot which boat is it was on, but Sea Ray/Meridian is using a magnetic door lock/catch on some models. It looks and works just like a conventional door lock except that there is a magnet that literally snatches the latch into the strike plate and door facing. There is no doubt whether it catches when you close a door with the magnetic lock. The latch slams into place and the door is secure. Unlatching and opening it is just like opening any other door.
LED Courtesy Lighting
I noticed a little dime-sized shiny things near the cockpit sole on several larger Sundancers. They were LED courtesy lights. Sure beats the heck out of those old Perko incandescent lights about the size of a coffee cup.
iPad App’s and Controls
Sea Ray is partnering with a vendor (I forgot the company name) to market iPad applications for controlling various components on the larger boats. The application displayed at Yacht Expo was limited to controlling the A/V equipment on the larger boats. My opinion is that the potential for touch screen interfacing is almost limitless, so I suspect this system will eventually be offered thru Sea Ray dealers and may even be backwards compatible to earlier boats.
Puzzlement?-
Finally, no trip like this would be complete without some unexplained event:
Marine Max salesmen all wear hard-sole dress shoes to Yacht Expo…….the purpose of which is to board and show boats to customers all day for 2 days. I watched one poor guy put on and take off a pair of lace-up wingtips as big a Boston Whaler Sport about 25 times in one afternoon. Go figure, since the dress code for Yacht Expo is casual and, since every one on earth can identify a MM salesman on sight, we didn’t need the shoe differentiation to tell who is the salesman and who is the boat buyer.
What Impressed Me the Most?-
Without question, the Sea Ray employees that I met at Yacht Expo were the most impressive part of a very memorable trip. These folks are seriously dedicated to doing a good job. Customer satisfaction isn’t just something they just talk about in Monday morning meetings. It is in their DNA, they are serious about it and everything they do is driven by the need for you to be satisfied with their products.
Having spent 25+ years in a labor-intensive industry doing major productivity improvement projects, I have a decent eye for employee morale and attitude. In the face of an industry wide slow down, the Sea Ray employees I met were exemplary. All were happy and positive about the company and their products. Everyone was polite and courteous had a smile on his face.
These dedicated folks are exactly who I want to build my next boat.
Quality-
The overall quality, as well as the fit and finish, on the boats I saw was superb. These were not boats built just for the Expo either. They were regular production boats destined for dealers or that were borrowed back from dealers for Yacht Expo. One boat, the 410DA, was already sold and the customer allowed Sea Ray to use it at Yacht Expo. Every seam was evenly caulked, every door fit perfectly, all the gaps in every piece of cabinetry was even and matched its opposite side, every finished wooden component was perfect and every gelcoated part was smooth and blemish free with no print-through.
The Sea Ray employees have every right to be proud of the boats they are building.
That isn’t to say that new boats are problem free. However, I’d be willing to bet that 99+% of the problems a owner encounters with his new Sea Ray will be from purchased components like engines, drive systems, heat/air conditioning, electronics, instrumentation, and other vendor supplied items that Sea Ray installs in the boats when they are assembled, not from the work done by Sea Ray employees when they build the boat.
One of the questions I am regularly asked in PM’s on the CSR site is what year do I think are the best production years for Sea Ray boats. My usual answer has been the mid- 90’s to mid 2000’s, but now I have revised that response. The boats being produced today are the best ones yet.
Technology in manufacturing has become the friend of the customer. These boats are better engineered and more precisely and consistently built than previous models. Even though the bigger boats are built by hand, the fit and finish of the parts is better because the parts are more consistent. The hulls are better designed so they are stronger and lighter weight than ever before. The build quality is so precise now that once a prop is adjusted for a particular model, no further tweaking by hull is needed. They take them out of the box, put them on the boat and they are right every time.
The end result is that we are now able to buy stronger boats with significantly better performance. When I bought my first 40 ft.+ Sea Ray in the late 80’s, 16-18 kts. was about average and we thought a 20 kt. boat was screaming. Now Sea Ray isn’t happy with a boat unless cruise speeds are in the 30 kt. range or more.
Factory Management-
I never saw a manager giving directions to employees. I never once saw a group of employees standing around talking with each other. Everyone knows their job and does it.
The average tenure is probably 15 years+ and even with layoffs in a slow economy, you don’t get that average service age with poor management, bad selection or unclear direction.
Building boats can be a messy, dust generating process, but you can literally eat off the floor at Sykes Creek. In fact, that is where they held the closing night dinner for 500 of their best customers, dealers and Sea Ray top management…….right in the middle of the production floor. By the way, I arrived early and took my tour on Wednesday and Thursday mornings while the plant was in production, not after it had been cleaned up for Expo.
There Are Reasons Today’s Boats Are Expensive-
We all continue to wonder about the ever-increasing prices of new boats. My belief is that Sea Ray has identified “their customer” as a wealthy executive or professional who is far more interested in weekend or day use of his boat in local waters for entertaining than for traveling or cruising. If he does cruise, he expects to do it at 35kts and be in the slip in time for cocktails. Today’s customer is far less interested in the access to his fuel filters and seacocks than being able to operate his boat with the push of a button, a tap on a touch screen or the twist of a joystick. Demand for features, not function, is what drives the standard equipment list.
And, those features come at a cost. For example, look carefully at these 2 photos:
Instead of a single shore power entrance, this particular boat has dual shore power systems for both 120VAC and 240VAC. Both have 85 ft. cables instead of the usual 50 ft. cable. This saves the owner from dealing with extension cables and y-splitters/combiners.
Here is another example of added standard features. This boat has split air conditioning systems which cost more and are more expensive to install. They are placed so the compressing unit is behind the main bulkhead and only the air handler is in the cabin area in order to reduce noise. Here are 3 compressing units located in the engine room (this model actually has 5 compressing units, the other 2 are outboard of the other engine):
And, here is one more:
These are extra Veem props. Sea Ray is using Veem (imported from Australia) now on larger boats because their performance is better. The cost is, however, about $3000 more per prop than Federal props.
Is It a Sea Ray or a Meridian?-
The answer is “Both”.
Yacht Expo is for the boat brands that fall under The Sea Ray Group. Sea Ray and Meridian and have common management, but their marketing functions are separate. Both Sea Ray and Meridian products were displayed. The Sykes Creek facility also makes some of the Meridian line. The products are similar, but different. The same personnel who make Sea Rays also make Meridians. It is impossible to train the same personnel to deliver 2 levels of quality, so you will see the same high quality people at work on both lines of boats. The Meridians have their own design and it is different from the engineering and design used on Sea Ray boats. The Meridians are less expensive and there are reasons that is possible. The Meridians employ different construction techniques that allow for a little lighter lay-up schedule, whereas, the Sea Ray boats are more robust. The Meridian line also uses lighter and more economical components than Sea Ray. You will find lighter doors, polycarbonate cabinet doors instead of wood, lighter cabinet hinges and closures, and lighter weight soft trims. You will also see some cabinet and compartment interiors lined with a molded plastic liner on Meridians, where Sea Ray cabinet interiors are finished.
Seeing both lines of boats displayed has caused me to make and adjustment in thinking. I have come to realize that Yacht Expo was for lines under the Sea Ray Group, not just for Sea Ray boats. Each has its place, its own customer base and its own intended use.
Finally, the quality of the Meridians I saw at Yacht Expo are completely different that those I recall in the early days of the Meridian brand prior to 2009 They have the typical Sea Ray fit and finish and now provide a real value for those whose boating location and style they match.
Merritt Island-
The Merritt Island factory, Product Engineering and Development (PD&E), the Sykes Creek factory and the Cape Canaveral factory are all located next door to each other on Sea Ray Drive in Merritt Island Florida.
I was disappointed to learn that the Merritt Island factory has been completely closed and the property has now been sold to an automotive chassis component maker.
The Cape Canaveral facility was built with enough ceiling height to allow for the manufacture of 70ft. and up boats, but it was never opened. The woodshop for making and finishing interiors is located in part of the Canaveral space.
Zeus vs. Conventional Inboard or V-Drives-
Over the last couple of years, my opinion was that Sea Ray was putting a lot of eggs in one basket when they designed several hulls for only Zeus pod drives. I think there are a lot of potential buyers who have enough experience in boating that they will be hesitant to buy a Zeus powered boat because:
a. They don’t feel they need joystick docking,
b. They are concerned about the added risk and maintenance of having exposed gear cases under the water,
c. They already experience unsatisfactory dealer performance in servicing simple and non-complex Mercruiser products and are concerned about trusting an already questionable dealer service department with even more complex drives and related systems.
At Yacht Expo, we were told that Sea Ray is now going to make conventional inboard power the standard offering on some hulls and will offer Zeus drives as an option. I think that allowing buyers to choose v-drives or Zeus is a very smart move on the part of Sea Ray and is one that will be eagerly accepted by the customer. My bet is that sales volume will go up and not very many buyers will pay extra for Zeus and joystick controls.
Cool Ideas-
JMS
For those with conventional inboards or v-drives, Sea Ray is offering a new Joystick Maneuvering System (JMS) as an option in some boats for 2012. This is a system developed by ZF Marine Electronics that combines regular transmissions, and a bow thruster with joystick control. For people who want precise handling around the dock but who don’t want Zeus or Axius, then JMS might be an option. There wasn’t one installed on any of the test boats so I have no idea how well JMS is going to work in the real world.
Sunroom
The Sunroom main cabin area is a stroke of genius on the 610DA. It has sliding glass doors that separate the cockpit from main cabin area thus creating a climate controlled “sunroom” as well as a way to keep dripping wet bathing suits and sand out of the cabin. Too bad it is only available on the 610.
Magnetic Door Catches
I forgot which boat is it was on, but Sea Ray/Meridian is using a magnetic door lock/catch on some models. It looks and works just like a conventional door lock except that there is a magnet that literally snatches the latch into the strike plate and door facing. There is no doubt whether it catches when you close a door with the magnetic lock. The latch slams into place and the door is secure. Unlatching and opening it is just like opening any other door.
LED Courtesy Lighting
I noticed a little dime-sized shiny things near the cockpit sole on several larger Sundancers. They were LED courtesy lights. Sure beats the heck out of those old Perko incandescent lights about the size of a coffee cup.
iPad App’s and Controls
Sea Ray is partnering with a vendor (I forgot the company name) to market iPad applications for controlling various components on the larger boats. The application displayed at Yacht Expo was limited to controlling the A/V equipment on the larger boats. My opinion is that the potential for touch screen interfacing is almost limitless, so I suspect this system will eventually be offered thru Sea Ray dealers and may even be backwards compatible to earlier boats.
Puzzlement?-
Finally, no trip like this would be complete without some unexplained event:
Marine Max salesmen all wear hard-sole dress shoes to Yacht Expo…….the purpose of which is to board and show boats to customers all day for 2 days. I watched one poor guy put on and take off a pair of lace-up wingtips as big a Boston Whaler Sport about 25 times in one afternoon. Go figure, since the dress code for Yacht Expo is casual and, since every one on earth can identify a MM salesman on sight, we didn’t need the shoe differentiation to tell who is the salesman and who is the boat buyer.
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