Sea Ray's worst design

[mwph]

I, & I suspect other small cruiser owners, have spent far too much time cleaning the cabin door tracks trying to keep the door in good working order.

I personally feel that the tracks, trucks & roller design is a mess. Especially when you consider that on the smaller boats, access to repair these things is next to rediculous.

Just wondering.... What is this the most poorly designed element your Sea Ray has?

 

[skibum]

My boat is 7 years newer than yours and a proper sliding door/track mechanism was still not on the menu. I like the door, hate the mechanicals.

 

[Pietro]

...
Just wondering.... What is this the most poorly designed element your Sea Ray has?

No doubt about it:

The floor!!! :smt089

No access to the hull and carpet glued on... :smt013

 

[fwebster]

We moved from a 390EC up to the 450 for a bunch of reasons, but one of the coolest surprises was that there is a real door on hinges for the cabin entry.

 

[island trek1]

I have a hard time cleaning the small nats and may flies that die in the tight space where the window attaches to the boat at the helm. I use a synthetic feather duster to force in the crevice and push the debris aft then use a shop vac on the critters but the crevice is so tight toward the center its difficult to get clean.

 

[StevenA]

Sliding doors on all the Sea Ray's I have owned. I will say the one on my 320 is much better that the ones that are designed to walk on and way too much to slide well. The 280 door was horrible. The one on my 215ec was average at best.

 

[tdappleman]

My sliding door works well... It didn't at first since I guess either the dealer or previous owner had lubricated with something that stayed wet and attracted even more dirt. I found Jig-A-Loo - a silicone based lubricant which dries. The door track stays very clean now and slides very easily. It also works very well on the swim ladder - but be cover the steps/treads so they don't get overspray.

I found it at my local Home Depot - but here's a link - may help some of you:
http://www.jigaloo.com/us/e_products_jigaloo.php

 

[JohnEGraham]

Add to the list: Not sure if its a Searay or Mercruiser item but how about the speedometer hook-up with the little hose and the Pitto tube on the drive. Not sure how they do it on newer boats.....

 

[StevenA]

Add to the list: Not sure if its a Searay or Mercruiser item but how about the speedometer hook-up with the little hose and the Pitto tube on the drive. Not sure how they do it on newer boats.....

Can't wait until they eliminate regular speedometers, in favor of gps units. Honestly I mostly now go more and more by rpm's lately. Suppose I favor the paddle wheel type over the tube, I have had less problems with that system over the years.

 

[KayKook]

Lack of windshield walk thru on many older models
No camper canvas std. on 320DA
Glued down carpet in the cabins
Tambered doors on storage/galley cabinets

 

[dpmulvey]

Seacock access in general. The A/C seacock access is the worst.

 

[sbw1]

Shore power connections on a 370 express. Too hard to connect while standing on a skinny walk around. The deck hull joint connection was pretty weak as well and prone to leaks.

 

[Southpaw II]

Agree with the hatch door. It should be strong enough to hold your weight when it's closed, if the situation arises. If you break those rollers in the track, the only way to fix them is to remove the helm on some boats.

 

[Bel_Mar_Pointe]

How about the infamous Sea Ray horn that sounds like a duck and lasts for maybe a season or two.

 

[Turtlesboat]

In the master suite on the 450, the storage areas with the porthole windows. If you put anything in there smaller than a book, you'll never see it again. There are gaps where things fall in and never come out.

 

[rondds]

My fuel filler caps. Not reach-able from the cockpit. I can sit on the fuel dock on the side I'm tied to, but the other side requires squatting on the walkway, pumping with the left hand and hanging on to the grabrail with the right. Agonizing.

 

[rondds]

 

[SR400DB]

You guys should see my engine room. It may just qualify (at least with the Cummins engines). I changed my belts this past weekend. Two guys, 6 hours, 5.5 of which on the Stbd engine! Port impeller is a NIGHTMARE. This is truly my only complaint with my boat.

 

[rondds]

But I bet you can get your arm btwn your engines! Changing spark plugs on my boat is close to a 4 hour ordeal. And I swear I know what I'm doing. But a good call SR400DB. No one mentioned the nightmare that is a SR ER - I always thought it was a problem confined to the < 37' models.

 

[SR400DB]

Yep, my Regal was like that, no way to access the middle. But on my SR, I think the biggest issue is my boat is one of the last boats made prior to the redesign. SR used the same hull mold (wet surface and integrated a platform), but made major ER changes to accomodate the bigger diesels. When my boat was designed in the mid 90's, it was originally equipped with a Cat motor as the diesel option, I believe a smaller footprint from the few (2) boats I have seen from that era with the Cats. So even an 04 is far superior than my 03?