Monterey or Sea Ray.....

Paul

Only my opinion and my opinion was formed when compared to my little old 225WE which was a handling delight and current 315 which is a solid and super stable old beast being a bit fatter! Still love the fit, finish and US over engineering.
 
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Got to be the monterey! It is a great layout, good quality good looking boat. They also seem well sorted to the Yanmar Diesels. I think Rubberduck had a Monterey 250 which he had a steyr diesel put in?

Mine was a rinker 250

What about these two, both would be open to offers iro £40k imo.

http://www.essexboatyards.com/boats/view.php/204/Monterey%20250.html

http://www.essexboatyards.com/boats/view.php/1/Bayliner%20265.html

the bayliner is known to me & is immaculate, only been out about 6 times & no further than 5 miles at that.
 
Thanks again for all the info. I really like both the Monterey and the Sea Ray. I have also seen a couple of Sea Ray 315 for sale, looks like a fantastic boat and with diesel engines. However, I feel this would be too big for me.

CaptainMike, interesting point about the 275 sundancer handling. I've not have a sea trial of either boats yet, I assume you have some experience of the 275, did you sea trial one before getting your 315 ?
 
I've had a go in the 275 and various other Sea Rays, IMHO I would strongly recommend sea trials, and ideally on a rough-ish and windy day (not a problem with our summer!), that really helps you see what the boats are really like.

We are very pleased with our 315, we thought also that the 275 was not a big enough jump up from the 225WE. The 315 has loads of space and the dinette to port as well as the convertable v berth forward makes her very practical for family boating, the sacrifice is the slightly small / crawl in aft berth but you pay your money and take your choice and it works well for us.

As for engines the twin 4.3 V6 petrols are very (mad) fast but drink like Oliver Read as you can't but help opening them up!

We have a single KAD44 which even with full fuel and water tanks, all our kit and the air deck tender hanging on davits off the back (acting as an air break!) she will just hit 30 knots, cruise all day in the early 20s and still on average sip less than 30ltr per hour, obviously more power would be nice but life is a compromise! We have a bow thruster which inspires confidence (but I try to use it only as a last resort or to add polish to coming along side) and I am happy to berth her single handed so I wouldn't say she would be too big.

Mike
 
I'm a great fan of Sea Ray, owner of a 2004 280 Sundancer, can't comment on the 275 but can on the build quality of the brand, very happy, as others have said sea trial and see. One point to note is that the 275 is a fairly narrow beam of 8.6ft I believe with the high sides may rock a bit but can't confirm that sorry. Good luck.
 
Thanks for that info Mike. Are bow thrusters standard on the 315 or did you have them fitted? As for size, both the SR 275 and Monterey 250 would be a massive step up from the 220 cuddy and would enable overnight stays in comfort.
 
Bow thrusters were not standard on the 315, even with the single Kads in it. What is amazing is some people even with a single engine did not spec a bow thruster. Given the size of the 315 and it's covers, you definitely need one. My neighbour at Bray had a 315 with the Kad 300 in it...but no Bow thruster. He got it cheap because of it but never retrofitted one. He just used it as a Caravan!

Cheerrs

Paul /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
We had a 260 Sundancer which was great. Mate of mine has a lovely 315 with single Kad 44 and no bow thruster. He berths it very well without one. I think they're great boats and excellent value for money.

Am i right in thinking that the 275 is really not much bigger than the old 260? Our LOA was 28'. Does the 275 have a dinette?
 
Am i right in thinking that the 275 is really not much bigger than the old 260? Our LOA was 28'. Does the 275 have a dinette?

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I think you are correct, in the US they are badged on hull length, in the UK overall length inc platform. i.e 280 Sundancer in the US is a 315 in the UK. Just to confuse things a bit the 280 sundancer has a hull length closer to 29ft hence the bathing platform appears to be 3.5ft long when badged as a UK version.
 
That's interesting. I've got the 245 Monty which as far as I'm aware is exactly the same apart from the number and even with a freshly cleaned bottom I struggle to get above 28 knots. I wonder why?

Absolutely no complaints about the boat though - a marvellous toy with plenty of room for the misses and me. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.
 
The reason I believe is engine weight and of course the Volvo has a dual prop. We have all the equipment imaginable aboard and tend to run our 250 a bit heavy. She'll do 28 knots. Having driven a Volvo powered 250 I found the responce when quick shifting a bit slow. The Monterey dealer puts this down to the point at which the turbo cuts in, which is a lot lower than the Volvo and agrees that the Yanmar is endeed an easier boat to close manoever. I beleive that the trottle control on the Volvo MAY be electronic as well.
 
D4 volvo does indeed have the full EVC set up with electronic throttle as standard. Turbo cut in point has got bugger all to do with anything when close quarters manouvering.

If you are kicking the turbo in when berthing or other tight manouvers then frankly please stay well clear of the rest of us.
 
If you can do it, and find a good one go for a Searay 315. We went from a SR240 up to a 315. Quite a bit bigger granted but I find it much easier to berth than the old 240. It doesn't seem to get pushed around by the wind anywhere near as much as my 240 did, and mine has no bow thruster. Once you're used to it you'll get the benefit of tons more storeage space, the dinette and I would guess better sea keeping and range than the smaller boats. If you have kids the 315 is fantastic

Before I bought mine I was in the market for a 275. This was after looking at all the other US brands. In my opinion the build quality of the Searay was noticeably better than most, although I'm not sure if that's still the case as some of their latest models don't seem to be that great. I'm glad I didn't go for the 275 as I doubt I would still have it. I'm sure we would have soon outgrown it and I would have found myself parting with cash again in order to move up.
 
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