MAN 800HP engines

They are only cosmetic, however when the boat is a 2007 and I keep it pristine, it's rather annoying......there are probably 2 dozen spread out around the boat and some are 12" long, even though they're hairline.

Someone in Sunseeker should be shot for the quality of their gel coat. My 63 wasn't that bad till I had it buffed out, once we did the brush strokes became more and more obvious till it got to the point where it was so bad that the boat had to get painted. My current Sunseeker that's only 5 years old is starting to turn to crap as well.

Collinite fleet wax seems to work the best on it.

I don't want to step on any toes here. Nor do I want to upset anybody. BUT, I do have a question I want to ask. Please, again, No turd tossing.
The larger SeaRays look near the same. powered by MANs. have the same problems. Have the same complaints. Run and ride like pregnant whales and the owners are to proud but fail to admit they were took.
So, besides about one $meg, What is the difference between these two MAN powered headaches?

I disagree with this. I have run a lot of searays. I have delivered a 58' SB from Ft. Laud to CT, run most of the other models, ran an older 56' SB all through the Bahamas for 14 days.......I didn't have 1 mechanical issue on either of those two trips, nothing. I have run several hundred different Searays.

The major difference, is you can buy any part you want for the boat right down the street, or in the middle of nowhere on the Great Loop. The systems on Searays are relatively simple, and easy to fix generally. Everything is usually accessable, might not have the best amount of room, but can access everything.

Searay's are an slightly above average quality yacht, for an average price, for an average owner, that does average cruising. At this they fare very well. I've done lots of trips on lots of Searays with relatively few problems and repairs needed. They Ride fairly well up until 4-6' sea's. They're like your chevy of boats, not as sexy as a Ferrari, not as fast as a Lamborghini, not as tough as a Freightliner, but they'll serve almost everyone's needs ok. the factory also stands behind the product and warranty work is easy to come by. I wouldn't say a Searay owner got taken.

So, Capt J, You just talked more kind about a Sea Ray than some post here on the SunSeeker. Does the Ferrari & Lamborghini aspects of the SunSeeker make the other short comings worth the price and extra headaches?

Maybe I need to ask for a new thread. I did not mean to raid this thread & change subjects.

There is a different yacht for every use and every type of owner. The Sunseeker is definately a sexier looking boat, no doubt. It is also nicer on the interior with more expensive soft goods. The Searay's have a lot less maintanence in comparison. No teak decks, less stainless, less systems etc etc.......some things are less quality, like the outdoor ****** carpeting with that rubber backing that falls apart in a few years, leaves granuales of black pieces all over everytime you wash the boat, that they've been using for 2 decades.

There are things I don't like about the Searay's. I hate the low hull sides, and high cap. If the Searay's were a 1' taller in the hull, it would eliminate a lot of the steps inside the boat. I hate how the 58' SB has steps EVERYWHERE inside. OTO, all of the SB's are below 20'2 which allows them to enter the great lakes through the Erie Canal without taking anything down.

The Sunseeker is VERY spacious for a 62' express. The sunseeker has a much easier engine room to work in as well. It also has a ton of storage with a really big garage, however if we had a tender on there, you wouldn't be able to get the door to the garage open without moving the tender. Full beam master with king size bed. A VIP bed that is the size of most masters on other 62' express'. The sunseeker rides very well from what I've seen, but in all the times I've run it, it's never been over 4'. They're both about the same speed, the sunseeker cruises at 28 knots, and the Searay's are around there.

Difficulty of getting off and on the Sunseeker can probably rule out 1/2 of the yacht owners in that size range. A lot of express boats in the 50-70' size make this fatal mistake. It's like they think a 30 year old owner is going to be buying a $2 million toy. Getting small parts for the Sunseeker, like the light bulb or light assemblies, takes A LOT of time, a lot of research and a lot of running around......it drives me absolutely crazy. But, the owners never experience that.....they just pay the bills and pay for the parts. Another example, Sunseeker used Rule-a-matic 24v 2000GPH bilge pumps everywhere with the built in float switch. NOBODY stocks these, and I'm not even sure if Rule makes them in 24 volts anymore, I had to order a spare from a place in CT. Searay uses the standard Rule 2000 and a Rule float switch like they've been making for 30 years......Searay uses a lot of other standard parts, and uses them throughout their line, so chances of them being in stock everywhere are high. Sunseeker and Azimut, tend to change light fixtures and latches and hardware, from boat to boat as often as most people change toothbrushes.

I manage 2 searay's now that are 20 years old, and have managed many of that age.... and they fair very well. You rarely see any fiberglass issues with them like water intrusion and the like, you usually don't see a lot of non-owner induced damage, etc......The windows usually don't leak.....etc. etc.

Capt J
Your notes are what this forum is all about. Thank you.
Here in South Georgia (Jacksonville FL), I do not work on many Big expensive yachts. A bunch of SeaRays, Meridians, Trojans (English built), Huckins (of course), Line of upper trawlers and snailbotes. Even cleaned up a Pershing E R (That was cool). I'm on an ole Whiticar (V10 MANs) now and having a blast. But I really don't get a chance like you kids can down south & other places.
Think of Jax where old boats go. That's what I work on.
Thx, Ralph

Sea rays

FYI, they were running out of space up at Merritt island lining up the boats to repair the water intrusion into the sides of their various models

Right? Every sea ray I've ever had leaks water from the windows, portholes, bow rails, cleats, running lights, or any other penetration that was every made in the deck. CaptJ, would you like to rethink that comment or have you only worked on shed kept sea rays?

What year range, length are we talking about here? I haven't seen any of these issues. I've managed many of them. The portholes I'd have to change the gaskets on, but I haven't seen any water intrusion to speak of. I know they had coring issues on certain SB sizes in the late 90's.

I managed a 2001 welcraft and by 2007 it had so much water intrusion the entire front deck had to be cut out and recored, then a year later the entire built in swim platform was mush and parts of the cockpit.