Upgrading Our Boat!?!?

M

M&M's_Beach_House

New Member
Jun 16, 2009
87
Westfield, NJ
Boat Info
2007 240DA
Engines
5.0L BIII
Well the misses and I have been talking and we would really love to upgrade our boat for a few reasons. We have a baby, we have a 70 lb dog and we have a lot of friends who enjoy boating with us. We also leave our boat in the water all summer, love to sleep on it when we can, and enjoy entertaining quite a bit. We never will trailer our boat too.

Our 2007 240DA is small for our needs and doesn't have the comforts we are looking for. AC/Heat, Generator (not required though), more living space, entertaining space, larger head, TV, etc..

So we are looking to upgrade our boat to something in the 29-33' range. However, we have a spending limit and it's close to $60,000. I may be able to eek out a little more but it's close to this. We also owe probably what we can trade out 240 in for so not much to put down from our boat either.

We are looking at the 2000-2003ish 300DA's but was wondering if others had some suggestions for us? We love Sea Ray's and would prefer to stick with them if we can. I've been looking over the internet and most boats we love, in more recent years with a nicer interior, etc.. are listed for around $80-$100,000. Anyone know of a great boar for sale closer to out price range with the amenities we want? We'd love to have it for this summer but don't want to overstretch ourselves while we still have a beautiful boat.

The other option was to buy a portable AC unit from Costco or something and cool the cabin this summer with that and a fan. Just wish we had more room on the boat with a wider beam, etc..

Any other boats you could recommend to us that might fit our price range? We're headed to NYC boat show tomorrow but wanted to see if we could get some advanced ideas before we browsed all the inevitable used listings there. Thanks!
 
Good spot to be in - lots of boat upgrades going on right now! Have you considered something a little older? You can get the amenities you want and maybe save some money.

Here's a couple of ideas around you:

http://www.yachttraderonline.com/listing/2000-Sea-Ray-310-SUNDANCER-93732613

http://www.yachttraderonline.com/listing/1997-SEA-RAY-33-Sundancer-94115613

http://www.yachttraderonline.com/listing/1999-SEA-RAY-310-Sundancer-95846656

http://www.yachttraderonline.com/listing/1995-Sea-Ray-Sundancer--330-DA-96346252
 
I agree with Travis, the 95-99 330's are a great boat and there are tons of them for sale. Some in your price range, some not.
 
M&M's_Beach_House said:
Well the misses and I have been talking and we would really love to upgrade our boat for a few reasons. We have a baby, we have a 70 lb dog and we have a lot of friends who enjoy boating with us. We also leave our boat in the water all summer, love to sleep on it when we can, and enjoy entertaining quite a bit. We never will trailer our boat too.

Our 2007 240DA is small for our needs and doesn't have the comforts we are looking for. AC/Heat, Generator (not required though), more living space, entertaining space, larger head, TV, etc..

So we are looking to upgrade our boat to something in the 29-33' range. However, we have a spending limit and it's close to $60,000. I may be able to eek out a little more but it's close to this. We also owe probably what we can trade out 240 in for so not much to put down from our boat either.

We are looking at the 2000-2003ish 300DA's but was wondering if others had some suggestions for us? We love Sea Ray's and would prefer to stick with them if we can. I've been looking over the internet and most boats we love, in more recent years with a nicer interior, etc.. are listed for around $80-$100,000. Anyone know of a great boar for sale closer to out price range with the amenities we want? We'd love to have it for this summer but don't want to overstretch ourselves while we still have a beautiful boat.

The other option was to buy a portable AC unit from Costco or something and cool the cabin this summer with that and a fan. Just wish we had more room on the boat with a wider beam, etc..

Any other boats you could recommend to us that might fit our price range? We're headed to NYC boat show tomorrow but wanted to see if we could get some advanced ideas before we browsed all the inevitable used listings there. Thanks!
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I picked up my 01 340 repo last year from Shore Point Yacht Sales in Pine Beach, NJ... It is a beatiful boat with low hours and I paid under the amount you want to spend... If you google Shore Point, you can see what they have... The owner I delt with is Ken... Even if they don't have what you want, you may want to give Ken a call and ask him to look for a deal for you... They will take trades too... Plus, they have a very nice marina with a pool if you need a slip... Also, If I were you, I would only look for inboards... I/Os on the Jersey shore are problematic...

Rod
 
We have been looking in the same size and price range as you and it has certainly been interesting. Some newer boats are less expensive than older models and the freshwater to saltwater situation is not changing the pricing as much as I expected.

There is a member on here, Mambodave I believe, who has a beautiful boat in Charleston that he is selling right in your range. You might look him up and PM him for the link. He has just updated risers and manifolds and the boat was freshwater most of its life.

Best of Luck!:thumbsup:
 
for some odd reason, the new boats are priced closer to nada book, and everyone who owns an older one seems to think they own the queen mary and can get way over book
 
I picked up mine a month ago well under your price range. The same place has a 2000 310DA, a 2007 340DA and also a late model 300DA. I know the 310 can be had for WELL under your price range and I am not sure about the 300DA. The 340 is above your range but can be had for a really good price I am sure and is a fantastic boat!

These are all repos and for the price you can get one around the country it may be worth paying a shipping fee to get it to you.
 
2K WINGIN' IT said:
I picked up mine a month ago well under your price range. The same place has a 2000 310DA, a 2007 340DA and also a late model 300DA. I know the 310 can be had for WELL under your price range and I am not sure about the 300DA. The 340 is above your range but can be had for a really good price I am sure and is a fantastic boat!

These are all repos and for the price you can get one around the country it may be worth paying a shipping fee to get it to you.
Click to expand...

Any chance you have a website or contact number for this place?
 
rcknecht said:
I picked up my 01 340 repo last year from Shore Point Yacht Sales in Pine Beach, NJ... It is a beatiful boat with low hours and I paid under the amount you want to spend... If you google Shore Point, you can see what they have... The owner I delt with is Ken... Even if they don't have what you want, you may want to give Ken a call and ask him to look for a deal for you... They will take trades too... Plus, they have a very nice marina with a pool if you need a slip... Also, If I were you, I would only look for inboards... I/Os on the Jersey shore are problematic...

Rod
Click to expand...

Thanks, I contacted them and put some feelers out through them too. Thanks! I'd love to find something like your boat within that price range!
 
I've also never driven a boat with shifters separate from the throttle so that would be a change for me too. How much different is it and how is the learning curve?
 
It is easy... I do it backwards... I can show you on my boat after I get it back together some time in April...
 
I upgraded from a '79 260 Da last year to a '97 330 for the same reasons as you ( 3 young children) for much less than your high end. I looked @ www.northeastboatsales.com and national liquidators to find lower priced boats then scoured the tristate area craigslist and am very happy with my purchase from the jersey shore craigslisting. I went to the northeast liquidators on my way to Maine once and they have a fair amount of boats in very good shape. the boats on national liq tend to be in poorer shape as the owners mostly stripped them in anticipation of repo. I also went from a single i/o to twin inbd v-drives. It wasn't too difficult except for one windy Labor day incident. ( I am still looking for a port bilge vent cover by the way LOL).
 
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Why stop at 33'? There are some really good deals out there if you want to move up. As for the shifters, you'll like how much easier they are for docking. I'd recommend a few hours practicing docking with somebody who knows what they're doing to get the best learning experience.
 
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I bought our '94 370 for well under your price a year ago. I also had only been out on the water 10 minutes driving it (for reasons I won't get into here). I took delivery one evening and can tell you that I was able to back it, by myself, into our slip pretty easily ( luckily not much wind, no current) having never driven that large of a boat or one with twin screws other than that one time..(again...this was not really by choice) The 'shoulder turn' direction concept is the lesson I learned in that previous 10 minutes and made it pretty simple. But as kameroo stated get someone to show you a few more tricks if you can. :smt001

Best of luck to you in your search!
 
i saw a 99 34 foot at northeast marine liquidation for 59k, looks like a great boat, I wonder what it's like to deal with those guys
 
I just bought a 2005 Amberjack from National Liquidators [ repo ] in Cleveland Ohio it came with twin 300 hp mercruiser [ 102 HR ] and V drives. it has a 5KW Gen [ 4 HR ] The boat is LOADED, I had it Surved by a company in Cleveland and they said the current market value was $ 110,000.00 They said the boat was EMMACULATE so I bought it for $ 62,000.00 and had it ship to my house [ $ 2,500.00 LI NY ] to see it for the first time. Just what they said just need to be cleaned. WHAT A DEAL go for it lots out there :smt038
 
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Sparkey600 said:
I just bought a 2005 Amberjack from National Liquidators [ repo ] in Cleveland Ohio it came with twin 300 hp mercruiser [ 102 HR ] and V drives. it has a 5KW Gen [ 4 HR ] The boat is LOADED, I had it Surved by a company in Cleveland and they said the current market value was $ 110,000.00 They said the boat was EMMACULATE so I bought it for $ 62,000.00 and had it ship to my house [ $ 2,500.00 LI NY ] to see it for the first time. Just what they said just need to be cleaned. WHAT A DEAL go for it lots out there :smt038
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Hey Sparkey good For You! Congrats! I got a bud who lives over in Bohemia. My grandparents used to live on Walnut Ave over there. Fond memories......:thumbsup:
 
jwws007 said:
i saw a 99 34 foot at northeast marine liquidation for 59k, looks like a great boat, I wonder what it's like to deal with those guys
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They seemed pretty cool when I was interested in the '95 370 DA. The guy sent me a bunch of pics but the one problem was he never sent me pics of the engines to show my mechanic. So a couple of weeks later I took the ferry across the sound to head to Maine & stopped by to take the pics myself only to find out the boat sold the day before! :smt013
 
TDschafer do you know Mr Keller at 1010 Walnut, I wired a new house for him on Walnut and worked in his house
 
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