Little hull - Big handling!

[Dave_Snelson]

Went out on a Sea Ray 19 BR on Friday in fairly lumpy seas in north Wales. Fairly lumpy means 6-8 foot swells with waves that sometimes break - in places that you don't want them to!

Now this machine will chunk along at 60 mph - yep, honestly! OK, we wern't doing this through the chop, obviously, but out at sea she was a darn brave little boat that would still maintain 25kts. On calmer water we put her through turns at 55mph and we were pinned to the seats and sides. Jeez the G-force was incredible.

We don't hear too much about these boats I guess, because they belong in the domain of Sports Boat & Rib, but they are terrific fun and great out at sea in rough water. I was really impressed. Here was a bow rider that didn't for one moment scare the occupants or take on a a load of water over the bow.

Nice work Sea Ray! Does the panel have opinions on the handling and sea-worthiness of larger Sea Ray craft?

 

[[2068]]

Don't know about the bigger stuff, but my brothers SR 215 Express Cruiser was a similar beast, 40-something knots flat out, he hardly ever needed to slow down in a 3ft chop, unlike my Sealine snail, where I drop back to 15/16 kts to stop the vases falling over...

dv.

 

[ballena]

We used to have a 200CC with 5.0L, it would top 50mph and handled like a dream especially in the rough, we could even get it airbourne on odd occaisions. The Four Winns Vista that we have now does not have the same hull deadrise and is much less accomodating in rough weather. I guess Sea Ray just got the balance of deadrise, length, weight and power right.

I did have Marshan some years ago, now that was a boat to to do business in in the rough, although after a knackered kidney and dodgy neck the Sea Ray was a nice transistion to cruising.

 

[Renegade_Master]

6-8ft swell breaking waves......25knts? No way if head on, following maybe

 

[Dave_Snelson]

Oh yes - and I have the jarred spine to prove it. They were long cycle swells that only broke as waters shoaled near the bar. We lifted off completely quite a few times - prop and all - only to land with a jolting thump. Plenty of spray but didn't bury the bow. I had to hold myself down with the grab handles to stop being thrown clear of my seat.

Nuts!!

 

[jhr]

[smug]I'm saying nothing [/smug]

Yes; good boats in a chop.

 

[ArthurWood]

Dave - we have a 1994 Sea Ray 370 Sundancer which is actually 41+ ft LOA and 12'4" beam w/ 2x7.4l Mercs. Had it since new and had negligible probs in 1350 hr. Just completed 620nm trip to Keys and around to Miami and across the Okeechobee to Ft Myers and then home. Boat and all systems behaved impeccably all the way. Encountered f5-6 in Florida Bay and on the Atlantic side of the Keys, but could still move at 22kt in comfort ( she'll' still do 30kt in good conditions). I've been out in slightly worse conditions, but always felt confident in the boat. Sea Rays are well built and well equipped (2X air con, central vac, coffee maker, m-wave, genset etc) though I don't like the shape of the newer 40s and up. They look like they've tried to copy SSeeker and failed dismally. As you probably know, they are part of the the biggest boat builder in the world (Brunswick Corp)and have about 90% of the FL mkt share for their prod range. We keep thinking about buying a different boat and I would love a Princess, but the more I read about the probs people have had with UK boats, not to mention the capital outlay, I think I'll run "Who'd 'a' tho't it" till she or I die.

 

[ajt]

We had a Sea Ray 280 Sunrunner, cuddy cabin with a 7,4l V8 and on the sea trial the broker took us out of Poole harbour into a force 8 head on, I asked what the boat could handle to be given the answer lets find out. We were quickly on the plane and hitting 48 mph, the boat handled perfectly and we kept dry so yes they can handle it and yes we bought it

 

[Dave_Snelson]

Hi Arthur! Yes, funny isn't it. Not a bad word said about them but they don't seem to feature as much as other boats in the mags, in spite of being one of the worlds biggest brands.

The local boat dealer to us is Madoc Boat Sales and they are teriffic people to deal with - true gents, every one!

If I ever change Coney Island, it will probably be for a Sea Ray.

I did have to smile when you said 620nm with two 7.4L's. Ya wouldn't do that in Blighty withouy going broke!

 

[tcm]

searay in the uk

used to be much bigger i thought? But since sealine got taken over, maybe no need for the yaks to actually send boats here with all the rcd and lecky conversion malarky. Dealer in france says far better margins on searays than uk boats and much quicker for spares...

 

[ArthurWood]

[ QUOTE ]

I did have to smile when you said 620nm with two 7.4L's. Ya wouldn't do that in Blighty withouy going broke!

[/ QUOTE ]

Probably wld have cost as much as tcm's trip. but in fact it cost about $3000 (1.7US gal/nm av.). We even paid $3.14/US gal in Miami. Now that's expensive /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif What's expensive over here, compared to numbers I see from the UK, are moorings at marinas: up to $100/night, but this does include excellent marina staff who help in docking, tying up and connecting all cables, water etc, power, cable TV, phone connection(sometimes), shower facilities, morning paper and sometimes "room service" if moored at resort/hotel.