Can I captain a mini-yacht?

That is a very true statement. Sea Ray is not the fanciest boat, nor designed to take on the world, but they're designs do well for their customers. When you put out that many boats you have to learn something. I've always considered Sea Rays the Chevrolet of boating. It's not the fanciest, nor the most expensive, but they always did their job well. Not to make light of construction standards, but I think what most yachtsmen don't like about them is that there's another just like it down the dock. Many people will buy a passage maker when all they need is a coastal cruiser. That's overkill. I'm personally not a fan of Carver, but they're good for what their built for.

Mark, having a dealer right in my home town would seal the deal for me. We don't have any dealers where I live and that's one thing I'd just about kill for.

Any boat you buy will give rise to a million questions/concerns. The availability of a dealer you can drive across town to would be priceless.

As to my 550, the things I like:
-Cat diessels
-upper and lower helms (we boat all winter so the inside helm is nice to have)
-relatively easy access to both sides of the engines
-tons of storage
-nice layout in the cabin--it's flat from the cockpit to the steps leading down to the staterooms.
-large flybridge with lots of seating--that is where everyone gathers when we're on the boat.
-having the helm forward on the flybridge offers excellent forward visibility.
-large lazarette is easy to access and has lots of storage.

Things I don't like:
-diesel fuel prices
-with the rear bimini I added I can't see the stern.

My "office"...

BTW, a few people have mentioned the issue of communications between the skipper and deck hand. My wife and I solved this issue by buying a pair of headsets that are voice activated and both of us can talk at the same time. This helps when we're docking or in a lock. When she's on the walkway I can't see her so it's nice to be able to talk to each other without having to yell back and forth. This shot was taken inside one of the locks on the Columbia River on our trip bringing the boat home.

Mark, People who have large amounts of money invested in a boat almost always think it's the best. Talk with former owners and captains to get an unbiased opinion.

Go First Class,

I have removed the hyperlinked images of your office and your wife. We don't allow them. I have reduced the size of these pics and attached them to your post. Please don't hyperlink images in the future, because the host can change the image to something less pretty than your wife.

Thanks

Here's the thing. With Azimuts and Feretti's (I believe), all of the electrical and all of the interior is sub-contracted. And each one has different contractors doing those items, so each one is different. They usually handle well and are built strong structurally though.
I have managed/ran 4 of them in that age range 3-6 years old. Initially a 1999 70' Seajet in 2005. I've managed 2 different 68' Plus both 2001's, and I also managed a 2004 50' Azimut. Where do you want me to start?

The exhaust compensators (I think that's what they're called), had to be ordered from Italy and changed in all 4 boats. The part that connects the engine riser to the boats exhaust. The 50' Azimut they were 2 years old and had 240 hours when 1 failed.

The 70's Seajet, none of the wiring lined up with the drawings. The removable ceiling panels in the entire boat were not removable to access various things because they built the joinery OVER the ceiling panels. Numerous electrical issues. Fueling the boat was a 3+ hour experience because 2/3 of the fuel had to be gravity fed to the 2 other tanks through a very small crossover pipe.

On 1 68' plus they had all of the electrical relays, solenoids, and wiring mounted in the exterior storage compartment on the aft deck that was not waterproof or anything. The other 68' had them located elsewhere. The flybridge gauge pod would fill with water on both boats and start shorting gauges out. Numerous water leaks from FB into salon on both boats. Many false alarms, and electrical issues.

The 50' had a lot of issues as well......the gelcoat underneath all of the flybridge cushions bubbled, and the president of Azimut North America told me that I should have removed all of the cushions from the flybridge when not using the boat. (They were so big you couldn't even fit them in the salon and needed 2 people to get them down from the bridge). The steering linkage was rubbing on the lazarette support from the factory. False Alarms. Grey water pump took 2 months to get the right one. The stainless screws on the rubrail were all bleeding rust and not properly bedded.

Parts like aft deck light lens, plastic exterior hatch latches, and other wear items require photo's, metric measurements, have to be ordered from Italy and may take a month to get and you have a 50% chance of recieving the correct one.

I'm tired and these are just a few issues I saw, e-mail me if you want more info.