Sea Ray 52 SB or similar

You need to look a little harder. There are lots of boats in the 40' to 50' range available, and more will come up as we near April (and summer dockage/spring commissioning fees due). When you talk about 40's and 46's I'll give the advice I give all. Narrow your search to the larger considerations. Once you think 46' you won't be satisfied until you get there. Going there first will save you a broker's fee as you trade up.

Sea Ray is what I describe as a boating version of a Chevrolet. It's no Mercedes, but it's a good, dependable boat and you can get them at a reasonable price. The one thing is that they're often bought by people with limited boating experience. So look them over carefully, especially the bilges and motors. Look for telltales like oil or garbage in the bilge, oil leaks and such to tell you if she's been cared for, and certainly have any boat you're considering surveyed. Good luck.

I think you really need to figure out your cruising and usage. Are you leaning more towards sportfishing/diving and rougher seas. Or are you leaning towards more of a all around family boat and a fairer weather Captain. The Cabo/Viking/ and Jarrett Bay will all be a much better riding and better constructed boat than any of the others on the recent list, at the expense of a little bit of creature comfort and cockpit comfort. They will all be priced higher than the creature comfort boats like Searay and etc. They're also faster and they all cruise at 30+ knots. But servicing any of the 4 I mentioned is going to be acres easier finding some parts than the AUS boats and Italian boats. I just waited over 2 months for a set of Navigational lights from Sunseeker and could not source them anywhere else (for example).

Once again I agree with CaptJ., and although I like the Rivieras parts and service should be a serious consideration. It's hell to watch an entire season pass while waiting. If you are looking for a family cruiser another name you might want to consider is Meridian.

CaptJ, I absolutely understand the trade-off. It's a hard decision.

Right now, I feel like I want to explore the Caribbean and go as far as Costa Rica. So, fishing may be just occasional at first.
But eventually it will be roughly equal between fishing than cruising.

I just wish there was a version of Sea Ray 450 SB set up like SF or Viking with pods as comfortable as Sea Ray. Is that too much to ask or I have to spend an extra million to achieve the goal. I don't need 2 boats though.

From what I've read in this thread, the Meridian is not as good as Sea Ray quality-wise. Also Meridian 441 Sedan is 5,000lb lighter than SR450SB. Is it made of some cheaper materials? How does the Meridian compare to the "woody woodpecker" Marquis 42? Sorry for all the questions. Have to start somewhere.

This is very useful info. I keep thinking about the trade-off between fuel efficiency of pods and extra cost of maintenance. Maybe straight shafts are the way to go especially that some late 2000s SR Sport Bridges can be had for about 1/2 retail price.

It all depends on how you intend to use the boat. If you'll be running around the ICW bar hopping, and especially if you're less than practiced in close docking, I'd go for the pod drives. If you plan to run the ocean it's a toss up if you'll save enough in fuel to justify it. If you plan to cruise the islands I'd definitely go with shafts as you have lots of shallows and questionable service for pods.

It's definitely not intended for ICW bar hopping. I guess that takes care of pods.

Seriously, how seaworthy are Sea Rays? The bow shape doesn't give me much confidence but I suppose it looks better when planing.

I see some set up for fishing with rod holders in the gunwales. Anybody fished from them?

2007 Sea Ray SEDAN BRIDGE Power Boat For Sale - www.**************

Your cruising area is a toss up. Central America/Carribbean. Pods could be trouble and you might be flying a tech in somewhere along the line. I would lean towards conventional shafts. For that type of cruising, I'd also be leaning towards a true blue sportfish, although you can do those trips if you pick your weather and bring fuel barrels with a searay and will be bringing barrels with a SF as well, but can run a lot more of it at cruise. Fuel range is on the lighter side on a SB searay and there are a lot of very long legs in those spots you're looking to get to. Key West to Cancun is 345NM for example.

I've delivered a 58' SB from Fort Lauderdale to Conneticut, another 58 SB from Bear, DE to Ohio, a 56' all over the Bahamas Treasure to Great Exuma, Caqt Island, Spanish Wells, back to trearure, and a 45' SB from Fort Lauderdale to St. Croix, so they're seaworty enough and the 58' SB rides pretty good as does the 52' SB. Engine room is a little tight. If you want to save fuel run them at 9-10 knots at 1000 rpms for 6hrs/cruise 30 mins, and back to 9-10 knots, you'll burn 1.3 GPM or less.......The moral of the story is that they're sea-worthy enough.

A 58' Meridian was doing the same delivery as I from Ft. Laud to Grenada, I was only going to St. Thomas. So we ran into the Captain at every stop. He told me fuel range with Zues on that boat was 150NM at cruise, so even with drums he was doing most of it at 8 knots. They ran over a log at 8 knots and it sheered the two foward mounting bolts off of the drive, and had to limp to St. Thomas on 1 engine. They were able to remove the drive, replace the bolts themselves, in the water at the marina, but if they were at cruise they'd have lost the drive completely.

I've run probably over 1,000 Sea Rays, and probably 12 down the coast. I've had the 50 out in fairly nasty 8 to 10' seas. 12 out of 13 were puking, but the boat was fine. A short chop 5' head sea in a gale on Road Island Sound was too much for the family also. Probably the worst was nasty `10' in a 42 Dancer. Spent more time underwater than above, and thought I'd surely get rolled when I turned broadside to the waves entering Charleston, but she handled it.

As for fishing, you can fish small game off anything. The problem with boats like the SR is that you don't have room above for playing the rod, and you can't mount a fighting chair.

I caught a 150lb Blue Marlin off of Provo on the 45' Sb St. Croix delivery. The owner then for the next 5 years used it to fish Marlin tournaments in and around St. Thomas. The boat caught fish. I delivered it in 2006, I think and we did 7.5 knots almost all of it to conserve fuel. We did Ft. Laud to Nassau, Nassau all of the way to Providenciales non-stop. Provo to Puerta Plata, P.P. to San Juan, San Juan to St. Croix. We didn't have any issues.......I also took a 35' Cabo FB from Ft. Laud to Placencia, Belize......small boats.......LOL

I too have run probably 1,000 searays over the years. They're not the best sea boat compared to a Cabo or other SF, but they're pretty good all in all....... I have to take a 50' Dancer from Ft. Laud to Myrtle Beach,SC right after Christmas.....I'm going to FREEZE.

You guys are so cool. This is very inspiring stuff. I will take a closer look at these Sting Rays.

A quick question:

I noticed that soem Sea Ray models (44 and 47SB) come with CMD QSC 500 and 600 V-drives. Are these discontinued engines? How different these engines are in terms of maintenance compared to QSM11 (SR 52 SB) or QSB 5.9 with Zeus pods?

CaptCook,

No fish to fry other than enjoying this thread especially as it relates to the thoughts about MarineMax and the direction or lack thereofof in this market.
I have a Formula 26' bowrider that I dry store at this marina. This boat has been on the market on and off since new. Zuess pods, decent fishing platform, great master cabin, built in california by navigaotor with pretty good west coast history...

2009 50' Veneti by Californian | Marina, yacht sales broker, dry boat storage in Portland and Seattle

Let me know if you are interested and I will do what I can to investigate. Again, no interest other than loving boats and I am at this yard weekly.

-Greg