Sea Ray SLX 350

The SR 350 is plenty capable, going over to Bimini should be fine, watching weather like you normally do.

It comes done to OB v SD. Service schedules, flushing, limiting the impacts of salt corrosion. sD boats run well in my opinion, less prone to cooling failures than an OB. Have to be conscious of picking up silt in shallow water on both.

The SD setup is pretty cool, especially with the swim platform. Access will be just fine SR does as great job as any builder in getting access to 2 x 6.2l in the stern, will not be an issue. Lots of bang for the buck.

Go on line there are plenty of videos and you will see a hydraulic hatch lift that gives you wide open access to the engines. What more do you want in a 10’-6” beam with twins? The stern drives are as close as the competition, these are not wide set diesels on a MY. Were do you think you are going to find 2’ between engines on a SD in 35’?

You have mentioned your displeasure with SR before on various threads on this forum but never clearly state year/model. Being specific helps when making an assessment for posters.

The installation space between stern drives is not the reason outboards have become so popular. It has been the increase in horsepower, more reliability and the popularity of the CC market.

But still, ask your OB dealer what is their biggest unscheduled repair item and it will come back to the cooling system.

Multi- outboard installations are tight as well and kill the utility of the stern, this is where the SD installation on the 35 slx shines, great use of the boat layout from bow to stern, the aft lounging area is really nice on the anchor and the ease of getting in and out of the water with the hydraulic steps can’t be beat and you won’t find that on the OB model.

Yeah except a lot of the stuff on the inboards is on or near the bottom of the motor and can't get there with exhaust manifolds and everything else in the way. They SUCK to work on and outdrives suck period. Outboards are much more reliable, have less to go wrong, and easy to work on. The biggest issue with either outboards or stern drives is the fuel filters. The next biggest issue with stern drives is also the cooling system, then quickly followed by the spark/electrical system, then quickly followed by the fuel system. If you do your scheduled maintenance when you are supposed to, you won't have a cooling issue with an outboard, period. I've maintained a set of 225 verados since 2006 and a set of 300hp verado's since 2010 and have never had a cooling issue on either set, not once. But I follow the mercury maintenance schedule and change thermostats, poppet valves and impellors on schedule (time).

As for the boat, I wouldn't for this area. I do have a customer that had one of those in the stern drive version and loved it, but kept it in NJ. With the stern drives, your draft is too much to get to the sandbars here and therefore making the hydraulic platform (which is just something else to go wrong), useless for your intended use. So if you go in that direction I'd go outboard. But, the usage of that boat is very limited for this area. You're better off, either keeping what you have and buying a used $10-20k pontoon boat for ICW and sandbar duty. Or selling what you have and buying a 34/39' Nortech, 32-37' whaler or Scout (these can be picked up reasonably on the used market) or similar that has really nice bow seating and stern seating, a dive door in the side, a really nice head, slide out sun shades and amenities. Center consoles and pontoon boats are very popular here, bow riders are not for many reasons.

The amenities on the SeaRay 'dayboat' are certainly nice but why would you buy a bow rider to do the job of a center console? LOL

Here’s a similar thread on the 35 SLX...
https://www.yachtforums.com/threads/sea-ray-350-slx-bowrider-ocean-use.25966/

It really comes down as to what compromise you can accept at the stern, a functional useable space with a SD or give it up and let it be dominated by OB’ s and their propellers.