YASR (Yet Another Searay Rant)

[spartonboat1]

So I am reading about the latest 60' "sexy new" Searay Express (60' 9" LOA) in Yachting Magazine (no, I don't subscribe, but my son somehow got on their subscription list, so he passes it on), and noting some specs...some are funky.

Remember the trick question- which weighs more a 100 #'s of lead or 100 #'s of feathers. Well, which weighs more- a 61 Hatt at approx 85K#'s or a 61 Searay at 58K#'s?

Also, which volume is more- a Hatt 43'DC with 220gals of holding tank capacity (mine) or the reported 70 gals of "black water" on the Searay. Guess you would be going so flippin' fast in the Searay, that you wouldn't be far enough from the shore facilities to be concerned about it. But for the cool $1.9M I would prefer a little more toilet capacity, if I'm under some biological pressure.

But I'll bet the Searay can get higher into the air when it hits the occasional "big" wave. Of course the Hatt will be throwing water like the reported "busted fire hydrant", during the steady ride so you can get a better look at the Searay in the air.

Well, I have to rant once in awhile.

 

[Genesis]

FWIW, 70 gallons of black water with a Vacuflush system will last damn near forever.

I had ~160 of capacity on my 45C and I literally could dump it a couple of times a summer! Those Vacuflush heads use darn near NO water and as a consequence your holding tank appears to have nearly endless capacity......

 

[Boss Lady]

Who says you can't make money in the boat business? $1.9 million for a Sea Ray? About $1.5 million has to be profit! What is wrong with people, well, they do buy Hummers too! LOL

 

[captddis]

I believe it is called advertising and salesmanship. It is comical to listen to the SR sales people. Their pitch goes like this " You know you are buying the best boat made and you will become a member of a exclusive club! You will also be able to attend all the cruises and events. If you make a deal today I can sell this DA to you right now for 440,000. The list is 675,000. If you sign now and promise not to tell anyone else, because I am making this offer only to you to get you into the "club".
You will also get a ride in the company jet!
Do this to a yuppie who likes getting his ego polished and they sign on the line and finance, finance. I know people who have been sucked in. Then the only option later is to trade it in on another SR, and roll the depriciation into the next loan.
You do not even need to do your navigation as the SR captian leads the pack and 30 boats follow the leader. You hear all those black anchors/anodes hanging off the back screaming for mercy as they try to keep up.

A few years ago the SR club was in Key West. We all left the same time, the wind was 20kt. I was in my 38 Bertram and the SRs ranged from 55 ft down. I made the 100nm run to Naples in my usual 5 hr. It was not nice but not terrible either. The Sr's that did not turn back took 12 hrs to get to Marco Island. 2 days later one of them caught up with me in Naples. They said that the doors came off the hinges and everything in the boat was broken. On my boat , I had to put the magazines back on the table, Oh yeah I did have to wash the boat as well. As I told my wife THERE IS A DIFFERENCE.
Next rant we can talk about their lack of courtesy.

 

[Boss Lady]

ROFLFAOF! Man did you ever nail these guys! Come on, didn't you know they were special! Maybe that explains their attitude problem, we non-club members didn't bow down when they pull up to the dock in their exclusive members only yacht! Well I am sorry but if you pulled up in the Queen Mary, I ain't bowing down. Now if you have a nice boat I may come take a look and compliment you on it. The idiots don't know that they are the laughing stock at the dock, and if people come out to look, it is because we are afraid of the damage you might inflict upon our vessel, and at the least we watch to see if you will do something stupid, like try to use your hands to fend off or crash into the dock, not because you have any kind of status. I just love the expression that comes across one of their faces when the exclaim "I have a Sea Ray" and I say "I'm sorry", LOL

 

[Genesis]

"15 tons of battering ram" is how I look at them..... and that's how many of the people who own 'em drive too!

We have one notorious owner/boat around here that has probably spent more on fiberglass repairs than he paid for the vessel over the last couple of years!

That guy is a clear exception to unwritten part of the COLREGS called "The law of gross displacement"

 

[captddis]

Its a true story, actually overheard the salesman say that nonsense at a boat show. Another example:

A few years ago we were in Ft Myers Beach for July 4. Three large SR's came in with middle age owners. The one next to me had a couple who smelled of money. The wife told me that they would like to buy a different brand of boat, but they did not want be left out of the SR club.

 

[Boss Lady]

Right before I brought my boat up from Lauderdale we made the run over to Chub, it was kinda windy coming from the north and the stream was rather bumpy. We made the run sitting up in the fly bridge at about 15 knots, (WOT is only 18). About two hours after arrival and right before dark a 50 SR came in and the family that was on it got off and kissed the dock, the captain looked a little ashen. I asked him how was the crossing and he said it was his first in a SR and would be his last. He said that everyone was scared to death, and they had a lot of broken stuff down below. I just laughed and told him we didn't even spill a beer and spent the whole trip in the fly bridge and only got wet once. Yes Dorothy there is a difference! I like our club a whole lot better!LOL

 

[jim rosenthal]

Is it still a club if the only reason you belong is that you can't go boating with anyone else? Just curious.

 

[Pascal]

well, when you buy a "boat" where the sheer line dips at the bow, you are asking for it !

another busted SR myth is resale value. i was looking at YW earlier on and was surprised to see that the average 98/99 37 dancer wasn't selling for much more than the maxum 37 of the same vintage. yet back then, the dancer (with his plastic thruhulls, formica counter and lousy ER was selling for 30 or 40k more than the maxum i bought ! )

there was an article in PMY last month about that 60 footer, it included a picture of the author measuring a whopping 20" of space between the engines !!! from the picture you could see the ER was typical SR with evrything scattered and no room anywhere.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

well, when you buy a "boat" where the sheer line dips at the bow, you are asking for it !

That's what I cannot understand. Why are they designing boats with a bow that dips down and a transom that has a hull to deck joint at the waterline. As far as I'm concerned that is just plain stupidity. I laugh everytime I see those deck drains at the bow to drain the water that is flowing downhill from that long forward expanse of ugliness.

 

[chris piazza]

They is a guy that is storing his boat in the same building as mine that has an interesting story on his Searay. He had purchased the boat (40', early 90's) last spring. Had it surveyed and bought it from a local broker. This fall he decided to strip the bottom paint off, he described as VC-17 tar like paint. after sandblasting to fiberglass he discovered cracks below the waterline that the "tar like" paint had been covering. He called in a different surveyer and after taking soudings and core samples discovered that the complete hull was spongy and that all stringers were wet. Surveyer advised that a 2-3' wave would break the hull apart! The guy is making a $900 a month payment on the boat that he cannot use. Oh yea and now his insurance company has cancelled his policy. I feel sorry for the guy but sometimes you don't even get what you pay for!

 

[Boatsb]

Thats why surveyors have insurance. No one is perfect and their insurance should make him right in the end.

 

[MicroKap]

I believe that the bow curves down to increase visibility while on plane. Of course, it gives them an excellent view of the wave coming over the deck at the windshield.

A guy at our club has a 68' SR. The captain said that it makes a great day boat as it holds less than 1000 gallons of fuel and burns about 165 gph at cruise. You do the math. It makes for a lot of short distance cruising. He'd go up to New York harbor and around Manhattan and back and have to refuel before his next outing.

 

[nor'easter]

I used to cringe when my former neighbors with SR or other express type hulls in the marina back into their slips and bounce their way in. I wonder how many times that aft hull to deck joint will take it before the major water-shipping evolution starts?! One of these folks pointed out to me that he was thrilled that his rub-rail was mounted so low, as "that is where you need it". Super, I thought.

 

[Boss Lady]

Tell your friend to read this: http://www.yachtsurvey.com/searay_balsa_core_bottoms.htm
It looks like whoever put that coating on knew they had a water penetration problem and knowingly passed the problem along. Core saturation problems with sea rays has been a well know problem. Any surveyor worth his salt would have checked for this on a cored hull boat, and especially on a sea ray. I would not feel guilty to go after the surveyor, since that is what he was hired to prevent, buying a boat with major issues. The biggest issue with cored composites is when they reach a failure mode, there is nothing graceful about it, it is catastrophic. This is why I cannot believe that the insurance industry continues to insure boats built this way. A cored hull boat is a ticking time bomb, it is not a matter of if there will be water intrusion and failure, but when. Just look at how much trouble cored decks are and they are above the water line.