Viewing a Sea Ray this weekend

[Salap178]

Hi,
I am an Older guy, the last boat I owned was back in the 70's and i had a 60's 24' Glastron cuddy cabin. That boat wa sprobably the stongest hull I have ever rode in.
fo rth elast 30 years my 2 buds have been going on a an annual fishing expedition to the west coast of Vancouver Island. The last 14 years in their 19.5' Campion Allante. We side mounted the Scotty electric downriggers.
This weekend I am viewing a 1996 Sea Ray 230 signiature Overnighter.
AQ few questions.
- is the hull strong? I need to wear a kidney belt, hehe to go 30 miles offshore, (in the Campion)we take a pounding
- will the side mount , near the handle be strong? I side mounted to another buddies older Grew and with a 12lb. ball near tore the side up and out, very unstable.

I primarily want a boat that I can Fish with 4 big guys, my son can use to wake/ski and the wife and I can sleep overnight , if we had to.
The 230 OV has had an internal cooling system added and the boat is in great shape (200hrs on engine) Garage stored. I am going this week to verify the condition according to the pics That I have been sent. I may do a survey , depends on what I see and see how she starts etc.
I am excited for this boat and heard a few good things about Sea Ray, will it be a strong boat?

Oh new to the boards so be gentle, haha

 

[katricol]

I'm not familiar with the boat, but welcome back to boating and the site!

 

[jrock1062]

I looked at the overnighter and decided to go with the weekender in stead I felt that it fit what I was looking for a little better you may want to compare the two to see which you think will fit you I personally like the extra room in the cabin

 

[Salap178]

I looked at the weekender and the configuration is not ideal for us , we want the back to back seating for 4 as a higher priority than aa outfitted cabin.

 

[Salap178]

ok I went to view the Boat and it was in much better condition than i had hoped.
Unfortunatley, the owner could not start and run it.

New Game plan ,

the current Owner is taking it to a Sea Ray Dealer to put it on a scope and have a full tune up done, figgers the coil was shot. Anyways once that is done , I plan to meet again with the boat in the water and put her though some trials.

He has a complete binder with all invoices for work done at a Sea Ray Dealer , so I am confident this glich will be solved, Yhe 13 year old boat has only 196.5 hrs on it.

looking forward to the water trials.

any advice out there ???

 

[popeye]

I traded for a 1988 268 DA this summer.It had 218 on the clock-I was skeptical at first about the time but I put over 20 hrs. on the boat this summer and have come to believe that is the correct time...The only problems I encountered was the speedometer and gps readings were off. As time went by they began to work better and now are almost the same. This boat is like a time capsule. It is solid original and I enjoy it very much....Hope you are as fortunate.....:smt001

 

[Rono007]

Did you get her on the water yet?

I too boated many years ago and have just recently bought a boat - so I am back and cannot wait for spring.

I hired a surveyor to look the boat over and run her through a sea trial to be sure. It was worth the $395 to ensure my money was well spent and the boat was worthy.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

 

[Salap178]

Not yet Its at a Dealer and the diagnosis is some kind of electric module board is shot, $500.00 fix and part is on order. When it is done , I will go give her a sea trial, my hunting bud (mechanic) is coming along. gonna have a boys road trip, haha