Searay bashing?

It was basically styling that attracted me to SeaRay. Just like my cars. It has to look good. Design is the first attraction to any vehicle, boat or car. SeaRay just happens to be a solid constructed boat while perserving good looks. I like their designs.
 
As someone that had NO boat over a year ago, had no intention of ever buying a boat when I was living in Texas, Colorado, and Illinois, and had no prior notion of buying a boat before moving to Washington State, I can tell you I had no pre-conceived opinion of Sea Ray, or anything to do with that brand.

I do know that once we said, "hey, we live near a a bunch of water, we should own a boat!" we went to a boat show and looked really hard at every brand there. We always kept coming back to the Sea Ray line-up as the personnel we talked with, and the boats themselves just felt right for some reason. It feels good to know we made the right choice.

When we buy another boat it will be a Sea Ray, no question. My aspirational boat (long term future) is a Nordhavn. I put Sea Ray and Nordhavn in the same categories - leaders of their class of boats
 
I went to about 5 marinas and looked at what people owned. Sea ray dominated about 4 to 1. I asked a few owners why they picked SR and they said it was just a better boat than most others. Crawl on hundreds of used boats and you can see what lasts and what doesn't. That's why I picked mine.
 
I have been very heavily into boats for about 20 years. I have worked on every aspect of Sea Rays in the 20-30 foo range in great depth. I know what they are and what they aren't. I don't need someone else's opinion on the topic of Sea Rays. I am comfortable owning them.


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Lake Powell. My favorite.
 
Thanks Newbie! It took a bit to get her that way, but it was worth it. That's what I like about Sea Rays. There aren't many '83 26 footers by other manufacturers that would warrant the effort.
 
What a beautiful boat. Dang. I sure hope I can get my 230 that pretty! I bought my Sea Ray 230 for Christmas....one week ago. Six weeks ago I sold my sailboat.....in florida.....in THIS economy......in Winter.....for four figures more than I had in her!

Then, with only 3,000 in hand.....I went Craigslist shopping. And shopping. Six weeks it took. I printed out the adds until my new printer now needs ink. At the top of that heap was the Sea Ray, a Nova, a Formula, a Wellcraft 23 Aft, and another Sea Ray. I called on the Sea Ray I eventually bought, only for the owner to tell me he was on his way to the Hospital ER. Two weeks went by, I looked at the Formula. Full of water during Fay. (Absent owner left plug in) Looked at Nova.

Finally touched base with first Sea Ray 230 owner upon his release from the Hospital, and we set it up for the day after Christmas. His boat was worth more, and we both knew it....but I explained my budget, and showed him all the other boats I had yet to see.....and I now own my first Sea Ray. She needs this and that, but I got a deal. No.....it's no BMW. I wasn't looking for a BMW....
 
I recently purchased my 3rd Sea Ray - a 2006 38 Sundancer. My first boat was a 1986 26 footer and my second was a 1997 330. The 06 quality is excellent, markedly better than the 1986. The 1993 quality was very good as well. The quality of newer Sea Rays is unquestionable in my opinion but I would recommend paying the $$ for a professional survey regardless of the boat you are purchasing. Hope that helps.
 
Only five Sea Rays for us so far; 1989 180, 1995 210, 1997 240 Sundancer, 1999 270 Sundancer and now our 2001 340 Sundancer. We either enjoy Sea Rays or we are slow learners.
 
I own my 2nd Sea Ray and have had, Bayliner, Maxum, Fand Regal. All have their pro's and cons. I like the Sea Ray Best. Current boats is 14 years old and still in Excellent shape. How sound a boat is after it has aged tells the story. Sea Ray builds quality boats.
 
SEAHorse38 said:
I recently purchased my 3rd Sea Ray - a 2006 38 Sundancer. My first boat was a 1986 26 footer and my second was a 1997 330. The 06 quality is excellent, markedly better than the 1986. The 1993 quality was very good as well. The quality of newer Sea Rays is unquestionable in my opinion but I would recommend paying the $$ for a professional survey regardless of the boat you are purchasing. Hope that helps.
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We have the a 38DA as well and in general the build quality is good. However I have been a little disappointed in the relibility in some of the on board equipment and a few SeaRay specific issues. From the VacuFlush (needed seals replaced), the canvas leaking and not fitting properly, the AC not going into heat mode, failed charger, Northstar radio having to be returned to the factory because of the factory pre-programmed MMSI #, fresh water pump cycling, bad GFI breakers (2), cockpit frig. The SeaRay specifics were flaking bottom paint, leaking windshield vent, leaking hatch seals (still leaking), Transom door replaced (would not latch properly), leaking seal along arch (not calked).

Everything has been taken care of by MarineMax and SeaRay without an issue, they both have been exceptional in after sale customer support. You can bet my next boat will be a SeaRay from MM. I still believe SeaRay could do a better job of quality control on their specifics and hold the suppliers to a higher degree of quality control. Being an engineer I would think that this would yield a better product at a lower manufacturing cost. Excessive warranty work must cost more than inital quality control.
 
Sea Ray builds a great and sexy boat. When used, it holds up better than most all others abut is in the hands of the present owner to keep it up.

I am on my 6th Sea Ray. Starting in 1987 with the following: 17' Bow Rider, 19' SRV, 20' SRV, 24' Sorrento, 35' Express Bridge with twin 5.7's that flew and now a 45' Express Bridge. When shopping for the 45', did not look at anything but Sea Ray and the range of condition of what I saw from CT to FL was unbelievable.

Found the right one in Naples and had it shipped to MD. It was worth the freight (however outragous) to get the right one! the people that bought our 35' are SO HAPPY with it they bought us a gift and call us all the time to hook up.

Bottom line.... I kept it NICE and that is what matters with buying a used anything, but there is nothing like a Sea Ray to me!
 
The only people I've heard bash Sea Rays have been blow boaters or hand built boat owners of very high end boats like Sabres and Hinkleys. I'd rather not associate with those people anyway.

I always have something nice to say about any other guy's boat. If they are interested in my Sea Ray, then I'm happy to express my satisfaction.
 
Hi All,

This is my first post on these forums as we are in the process of purchasing a 1993 300DA. We live in Australia and the cruiser will be birthed at Port Stephens. The survey was completed today with no major show stoppers being found. We will be the third owners of this boat, the last owners only purchased it in Nov 09 but they have gone through a divorce and the lady ended up with the boat but could not afford the upkeep.

There are some things I found unusual with a boat with head and shower namely no holding tank but overall the finish of the boat was what sold us on the SR brand. However there are certainly SR knockers here that seem to know nothing about SR boats but think they are no good in saltwater.

I am not sure what legs are on our boat as I have not seen the boat out of the water yet. We don't live permanently in Port Stephens and we are currently on our way back to Alice Springs where we live most of the year. It is like living in Sedona,AZ and having your boat birthed in Miami, FL.
 
I've found that folks who bash, don't have enough good things to tell you about what their selling. So, they resort to attempts to make the other guy seem inferior.
 
Boats are Boats
Somebody always dislikes something or the other
wheather it be Cars,Bike's,Boat's or Women.
 
We have looked at other brands when purchasing our boats - ultimately the sales person for the other brands start comparing their boats to Sea Ray. For the mass market boats - Sea Ray is the standard for which others compare themselves. As much I thought I might buy another brand - we still went back to Sea Ray and am happy with that decision. Are there criticisms of the boats - of course there are. But in the end - just comparing my boat to some of the others on my dock - they do a good job. There are better boats - but they are in general limited production boats. The other brands that are similar quality as Sea Ray - do not have a very good dealer network. When I am comparing on our dock - my dock neighbors 1996 - 330 Sundancer looks better than a dock neighbors 2006 - 342 Rinker.
 
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