Unsure whether to buy 240 sundancer or a 280.

A

aoranges1

New Member
Aug 11, 2014
5
South Shore of Long Island
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boatless....for now
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Boatless
Hello all. I'm a newbie to boating and I looked at a 08' 240 sundancer with only 50 hours on it. it was in mint condition but didn't have any AC. Im thinking of possibly getting AC installed if the guy gives us a good deal. My question is for all 240 owners, what do you like and don't like about it? Do you have kids and/or dogs and have you grown out of the 240 size?

I am torn between looking at 280's and 240's simply because of the upfront and maintenance/gas costs with the 280's. I am also afraid my wife, 2 dogs and (soon) kids will grow out of the 240 in 5 years or so.

Thoughts/suggestions?
 
There is a substantial difference in the 240 and 280 of that era from space, size and even the cost. I think you need to figure out what exactly you plan to do with the boat (day trips, watersports, overnighting, etc.) and if you are going to slip or trailer. If you are going to trailer, what kind of tow vehicle do you have? These questions will need to be answered to offer much more detailed advice.

What year 280s are you looking at? The 2010+ are smaller than the 2001-2009 due to Sea Ray model numbers changing in 09-10.
 
The 240 is a very nice boat, but it starts to feel too small very quickly. It depends on your usage and willingness/ability to spend the money, but with children & dogs, I'd at least look at the 280's.

Welcome to CSR and good luck!
 
As Jason said the 240 & 280 are very different.

Always get the biggest boat you can afford to purchase, maintain & operate.
 
We went from a 250 to a 300, and did not have any kids. The nice part about the smaller boat is your mistakes maintenance, and operating will cost less. The 240 is a great boat, and your costs will be about half of the 280... One thing if you get the 240, I would not install AC. We would bring a portable unit that worked fine for us. I think AC on a 240 would take up too much room and cost a lot to install. We had a windless on our 250, which was great. I wish I had an invertor on our 250... What ever you decide, you can go wrong with either choice.
 
Two completely different boats for two completely different purposes. A wife and you and closing out lifes adventures, go for the 240 in dry stack or on a trailer. A wife 2 dogs and kids en-route..... If money allows, get the 280 and dry stack or slip it.. My ex and I had a 2465 Regal, basically, Regal's competition for the SR 240. Perfect for us and if the 2 adult kids wanted to come out for a day once in a while, no problem. We would take it on overnights and to different marinas. I could not fathom 4 on that boat for more than a day let alone an overnight considering water and holding tank capacity, AC and genny or lack thereof.

Good Luck and welcome aboard.
 
Thanks all for your thoughts and advice.

To answer some other questions, we were looking at 02-06 280s. I know the models change quite a bit between those years but we are trying to find one with quasi lower hours, under 300 between those years.

Whether we go with a 280 or 240 we would be putting it in a marina close to our house.

Thanks again. I'll update with what we decide to do.
 
If you plan to spend weekends on the boat. Bigger is always better. It just depends on how you use the boat. In retrospect, I think the 280 would have been better for us over the 260. Primarily because of the space with 2 dogs and my wife and I. The 320 serves us well. But many of our boat friends have 40' plus foot boats. Sometimes after spending time on their boats. The 320 seems small.
 
We plan on taking it out every weekend for a ride, anchoring and hanging out. Occasional water sports but mostly to hang out. We would probably camp out for the weekend at another marina once a month.

One of my biggest hesitancy is the price difference between fuel on a 240 and a 280, from what I've read 280 use substantially a lot more gas and when taking it out every weekend it will hurt more. The other hesitancy is not having owned or really operated a boat I feel a 280 will be that much more to handle/dock.
 
You are getting a lot of good advice here. For sure, try to get as much boat as you can afford. What you describe as your boating desires, is similar to my wife’s and mine. No doubt, it will cost more to run, more to maintain, even possibly more to slip with the 280.

But I will tell you I have never, NEVER been disappointed going with our 330. I love 270’s, then my wife was looking around at 290’s, and they were a little more, then we found 310’s and finally seriously looked at 330’s. We can easily get 4 adults out on it for a night out on the hook. The generator and AC makes the hot weather here bearable. The room we have is excellent, even while sleeping 2 couples. On deck and in the cockpit, there is plenty of room.

Honestly, we have had 10 people for a quiet cruise a couple times. Granted, I didn’t even try to get her up on plane, although it probably would have. But we were all pretty comfortable and had a great time.

As for worrying about the handling of the 280 vs 240, you would have the advantage of a twin engines. They are a real pleasure to handle and easy, once you get the hang of it. You may want to consider have some lessons, no matter which boat you go with. Get one you won’t have “2 foot itis” in a year or two. Hope this makes sense.

Matt
 
If you are going to go for a twin engine 280 and aren't going to be trailering it, then consider the 02-07 300DA. It's cabin is roomier with an open/accessible mid-berth and the engine room has great space for ease of maintenance. Plus it stores 170 gallons of fuel rather than the 100 gallons on a 280DA. And the used prices aren't a whole lot different than the 280DA of the same era.

Just a thought based on my own past experience.
 
Only you will be able to answer any of the financial budget set for purchase and maintenance. If your a hands on guy, you can save a big piece of costs by doing all the work yourself. Keep in mind that most of the 280's in this area will be twins and that is double everything (just about).

The 08 will need risers over the next 2-3 years ...so conciser that as a cost. If you are looking at an older 280, make sure that somebody else has paid that bill.

If I'm spending your money, I'd put it on the 280. Its great to hang on the hook, fun to cruise the bay, and will give you some comfort during a weekend stay.


PS - Don't be afraid of hours. A used boat is the best boat. Boats that sit are the ones with the most problems.
 
ZZ13 said:
If you are going to go for a twin engine 280 and aren't going to be trailering it, then consider the 02-07 300DA. It's cabin is roomier with an open/accessible mid-berth and the engine room has great space for ease of maintenance. Plus it stores 170 gallons of fuel rather than the 100 gallons on a 280DA. And the used prices aren't a whole lot different than the 280DA of the same era.

Just a thought based on my own past experience.
Click to expand...

Good advice, but both awesome boats!

BTW, 02-06 280DAs are very similar during those model years.
 
aoranges1 said:
We plan on taking it out every weekend for a ride, anchoring and hanging out. Occasional water sports but mostly to hang out. We would probably camp out for the weekend at another marina once a month.

One of my biggest hesitancy is the price difference between fuel on a 240 and a 280, from what I've read 280 use substantially a lot more gas and when taking it out every weekend it will hurt more. The other hesitancy is not having owned or really operated a boat I feel a 280 will be that much more to handle/dock.
Click to expand...
I echo what others have said about buying the biggest boat you can afford comfortably, considering purchase price, slip fees, fuel, maintenance, etc. You'll learn to drive whatever you buy, so don't let the size intimidate you too much. I'm by no means a pro, but got a 300DA as my first real boat and have zero regrets. BF and I are nearly always out together, rafted up with others from Fri evening until Sun morning or afternoon, and the space is very comfortable when by ourselves, but we can bring guests without tripping over them, even for overnight. I'd go with the 280 if you can see yourself clear money-wise, because it will be nice for you to just add kids and their stuff when you're ready instead of figuring out how to squeeze a pack and play into a 240!!

Hifirush said:
As for worrying about the handling of the 280 vs 240, you would have the advantage of a twin engines. They are a real pleasure to handle and easy, once you get the hang of it. You may want to consider have some lessons, no matter which boat you go with. Get one you won’t have “2 foot itis” in a year or two. Hope this makes sense.
Click to expand...
Lessons are worth it if you have that option....and "2 foot itis" is a major affliction....beware!!!!
 
A newbie here! I currently own a 05 Chaparral 240 Signature 350 mpi. I originally wanted a 240 Sundancer but I talked to two owners that had sold their 240 sundancer because they were tippy or seemed quite top heavy. I did some reading online that seemed to confirm this. So opted for the 240 Chaparral. I love the boat and I'm really happy with it! We just have outgrown it and Ive been looking at a 2008 280 Sundancer. The 2008 model looks a little dated but still a good looking boat! This one looks like new from what I can tell? Anything to report on the 07-08 model year?

Cheers
Matt
 
I loved my 240, however my family simply outgrew it. When it was just my wife and I, she would sleep in the V berth and I would sleep in the mid berth, AKA, the cave. Mine had a generator and AC, so it really was a great set up. The issue for me was, I'm 6'3" and the 240 doesn't have very much head room. And the head was only built for someone much smaller. The 240 is a great boat, but it is what it is. Good luck making an informed decision.
 
I will try to help with your fuel expense concerns, because I went through some of the same thinking when moving from the 280 to the 300 and I don't think they should be a determining factor. Sorry this got a bit long, but hopefully it is useful.

The last season we had our 280, we put 84 hours on it. That is a pretty good amount of motoring, a lot of which was on-plane. Our total fuel consumption was about 530 gallons (2,004 litres for us Canucks!), and spent $2,841 on fill-ups (at an average price of around $5.36 per gallon!). On the season we went anywhere and everywhere we wanted. I don't know what a 240DA burns, but it will likely be more than 50% of what a 280DA burns, I would guess somewhere around 65-70% as much (you can ratio displacements to an extent to estimate, but not exactly...see my further explanation below). Using the 65% figure, we would have burned $1,000 less in a 240DA. Considering the overall budget for owning one these things, the $1k is not enough to base a decision on, in my opinion, and most people do many less hours, so the difference could be even less.

That being said, all expenses do go up...the maintenance of an extra engine, insurance, mooring and slip fees by the foot, etc.

One more thought about the fuel. When we moved from the 280 to the 300 I presumed we would burn more fuel, and used the the ratio of displacements to estimate (13,000lbs (with genny) / 8500lbs = ~1.5. The 240DA is around 5500lbs, so the ratio to the 280DA is also around 1.5.

Real-world numbers...
Hull speed (8mph, 1500RPM):
280DA - 4.2GPH, 1.9MPG
300DA - 5GPH, 1.6MPG (note, the 300DA gets 1.8MPG at 7MPH and 1300RPM, a speed the 280 did not track well at with the Alpha 1s)
300DA burns ~ 1.2X more fuel at hull speed.

Cruise speed (pick 3500RPM for both, 29MPH for the 280, 32MPH for the 300):
280DA - 18GPH, 1.6MPG (note, at 32MPH / 3700RPM economy was about 1.5MPG)
300DA - 24GPH, 1,3MPG
300DA burns ~ 1.33X more fuel at cruise

WOT (41MPH for the 280DA, 43MPH for the 300DA)
280DA - 31GPH, 1.3MPG
300DA - 45GPH, ~.95MPG
300DA burns ~ 1.45X more fuel at WOT

So, going up to a boat that was 1.5X larger does not necessarily mean you burn 1.5X more fuel, unless you bomb around at WOT throttle all the time. More like 1.3X, which really isn't much. The larger boat (in this example, at least) does the lower speeds more efficiently. You are also more likely to operate the larger boat at lower speeds because, in my experience, and this includes driving my sister's '09 270DA with a single, because it does so more easily.

One more thing, given how we use the boat (weekends with two kids at beaches, moored or on the hook, at friends' cottages, etc. and up to two weeks at a time on vacation), we found we were more likely to stay where were where once settled since the 300DA had more space and was more self-sufficient. As a result, we are motoring around less. We put 60 hours on the 300DA in our first season, although we used it the exact same way.

Net result, we spent about the same on fuel ($250 more, to be exact)!
 
All great information. We ended up getting a '06 280 because of the, "get as big as you can afford" thought process. So glad we did and have already thought about next one. That being said, make sure you do your due diligence with a boat survey and have a mechanic look at the engine. The boat has been great but have started to find out a number of issues because of poor maintenance and lack of use by previous owners that I have discovered after an engine failure. We added 20 hrs this summer, and will be putting in a new starboard engine because of my poor decision not to have a detailed analysis completed on the engines.
 
Our old 270 has plenty of room and I would only consider a newer 300 at this point. We can only launch by trailer at our river so a 310/330 would be tough. The 240 is much smaller than our 270 but neither the 270 or 300 is for water sports. We kept our CV-23 for that. Tubing or skiing is $$$ with a 7.4L or twins. Twin 260hp would be my starting point on engines. If you can't trailer home during the off season, storage prices add to your budget, Mike.
 
Most 280's have twins and they are much easier to handle than a single engine 240.
 
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