What year did sea ray start cored hulls ?

[88dancer300]

I have a friend interested in a 1996 40 express. Are those boats cored hull? I have always had 80s sea rays with the bullet proof all glass construction, and cant offer him any help. :smt017 Thanx.

 

[Jim M]

The first Sea Ray colored hull I remember seeing was a neighbors new 04 blue 42' Sundancer.

 

[Jim M]

DUH!!!!! Thanks Scott A little slow here maybe because of all the HOT weather.

 

[Four Suns]

I don't think you can say "colored hull" anymore... Not PC.

 

[fwebster]

Cored hulls in Sea Rays date way back into the 80's................but they were caucasian.

 

[88dancer300]

I should have been more clear. Balsa hull coring. I had read somewhere that there was an era of searay that was having problems? Thanx.

 

[dicor]

I recently purchased a 270 Dancer and was concerned about cored hulls also. I emailed Sea Ray support with that very question and they told me they have 'never used cored hulls below the waterline on any of there sport cruisers'. They have however used them on others. Below is an interesting article, I don't know if it's the gospel truth but it seems credible. Take it for what it's worth.
http://www.yachtsurvey.com/searay_balsa_core_bottoms.htm

 

[fwebster]

Coring in the hull is limited to larger boats produced in the Florida factories. But that isn't a hard and fast rule......most Merritt Island boats are solid bottom while Sykes Creek and Palm Coast use cored construction. Generally, if you have a HIN# with the 4th letter in the number indicating production location other than the 3 Florida plants, then your boat is solid.

Search this site for the factory identifiers......its been posted 5-6 times.

Now.........because you have an Arizona, Knoxville, etc. boat doesn't mean you are home free by any means. Sea Ray uses coring in the deck structure on nearly every boat. Core damage to decks is usually harder and more expensive to fix than that in hulls. Furthermore, hull moisture is very, very rare and there are only a hand full of known cases even though you see junk posted on the internet all the time about Sea Ray hull moisture. Every example of hull moisture that I know about (except for one 400DB that was so wet the source of the moisture couldn't be determined) was the result of physical damage or of someone cutting into the core to add a transducer, thru-hull etc. and not sealing the hole properly.

 

[88dancer300]

Wow, thats strange that identical boats built in different factories could be so different in hull construction. I wonder why.