Sea Ray 52 SB or similar

I agree with all this, but many people see a Ferrari or Lamborghini as the benchmark super car or sports car...(neither are super reliable).. like Rolex is to watches. He was making a point that most people would understand.....that it's a mid-level boat.....a 4 door cadillac if you will......

But to be honest, this is all quite off topic.

As for the Searay's. They are an average priced yacht/boat. For their price point I feel they do a great job building an average priced, above average quality boat for an average user for an average to moderate sea state for an average use and are well thought out for most families and usage. I have done a lot of long deliveries on Searays and never had any issues, they're simple boats without a lot of circuit breakers or systems to go wrong. I really don't like their car like helm arrangement..... I ran a 45' SB from ft. laud to St. Croix, a 58SB Ft. Laud to CT, a 58' from DE to OH, and more.

Capt J thanks for the clarification of my earlier post. I'm now on my third Sea Ray and you're right about them being an average priced, above average quality boat. They're not designed to be passage makers. They're family boats that offer a lot of room, tons of storage and IMO are well thought out and well designed. And they fit my budget well.

Could it get any better than that unless I won a mega lottery?

By the way, has anyone else noticed that the OP has not returned to this thread? Did we scare him away?

I agree with you that rebuilding old yachts are much cheaper and you get exactly what you want. I even prefer to build my own yacht as opposed to buying one ready to go. However as i am sure you already know, once you finish re-building this custom boat it's only worth 1/3-1/2 of the money you have invested in it. I guess if you plan to keep it for 20-30 years it doesn't matter much, however that is not what most people plan on doing.

My first boat was a Sea Ray 480. It is a bit smaller than the 52 but had a very close. I can tell you that I loved mine. The only problem that I had with the boat was a bow thruster issue. But after that none... I think that they are great boats for the size range.

Cheers,

Keith

There is some validity to going the rebuilt route also. However, many have not been rebuilt properly or well and many owners are not knowledgable to know the difference between a great rebuild and one that looks great but is bad. Also, 9x out of 10 you will not get close to what you have in it when you go to sell the boat. There's also the issue of what to rebuild, what to retro-fit, etc etc.....There is also the time lost rebuilding the boat. Many owners are buying a yacht because they want to get on it and use it, now. I have a heart myself for certain classics (fiberglass, not so much wood ones), but they will always have their design faults. Hull design has come a very long way over the last 30 years in ride quality, stability and Dryness. On the classics you generally got one of those 3 tributes very well, and the other 2 suffered. You were doing REALLY good if you got a classic that excelled at 2 of those, but never got all 3 in one boat.

Most of the main boatyards have "demo boats" in waiting list to be sold ; sometimes they can result in being good deals .... some other they are not. A careful visit on board and sea trial is suggested before taking any decision.

60' in your area should not be a problem for dockage. I find the breaking point of getting harder to find dockage on the fly to be over 70' and 2-50amp cords or 1 100amp generally.

I very seldomly run a 52' SB, I believe it's a 2007. It's a good running boat. It runs a little bow high (running attitude) versus the 58', but I had it out in 5-6' seas and was impressed at how it ran and it was smooth. I think 52' was just a size that many skip over.....in the searay world 45-48' is very very popular.....and then I think they skip over the 52' and go straight to a 58'.

I don't know what the differences are between the 2 boats. The 58' seems only slightly bigger inside.

We have owned our 2006 58DB for nearly 7 years since new. It is a totally different boat than the 52, not just a mold extension or whatever is implied here. The nomenclature on length is no different from most other builders of current models. They call it a 58, but actual loa is 61.5 when you include the ginormous swim platform. About 56 in hull length.

The real standout between the 52 and 58 is the midship master of the 58. It's what sold us on this model. Alas, neither the 52 or the 58 are being made since SR closed the Sykes Creek plant.

It has been a very good year for the marinas in the Canada and Alaska PNW with the average Joe's 35 to 50 footers out in much higher numbers, or so my travels' discussions with resort and Marina operators tells me.

All kidding aside, and this from a past 3 Searay owner, why would anyone consider the few big Searays's made to be superior to the multitude of sold boats from the Bayliner/Meridian line of big vessels? My marina has one + 40' Searay and at least 10 Bayliner/Meridians. (Not to mention the big Carvers) The market place has voted.

BTW, IMHO, this particular Searay has not sold for a very good reason, MANS.

Man's are good running engines as well. They're just a bit costlier to maintain than their US built competition. Bayliner/Meridian is not built to the same quality as Searay, it is definately a step below and priced accordingly. It's seakeeping abilities are also a step below I would say. They're popular because in your area it probably doesn't dictate a better boat, and the Bayliner/Meridians are cheaper to buy.

They are more popular in the Northwest/Canada because they have a Pilothouse/Inside Helm that functions.

This is one of the biggest distinction from a SR Sedan Bridge, and why a lot of boat owners have gone towards a Meridian. The owner who is his own operator can be more a part of the social discussions and not get left on the bridge to freeze while everyone else is warm and comfortable down below.

PAC Blue is correct. Had SeaRay the foresight 30 years ago to start building the new hot thing - pilot house models - this would be a very different discussion. Bayliner/Meridian owners appear to have had the last laugh.