Older Sea Ray boats???
#11
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#12
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#13
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I didn’t take it as an attack. I just found it interesting that you’d consider Sea Ray lower end. I’ve been around boats most my life and have been an owner for the last 20 years. My biggest complaint about Sea Ray or any manufacturer really is the Alpha One outdrive. I can’t stand the way they slam into gear. Volvo/Penta outdrives slip in and out of gear very smoothly.
#14
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I didn’t take it as an attack. I just found it interesting that you’d consider Sea Ray lower end. I’ve been around boats most my life and have been an owner for the last 20 years. My biggest complaint about Sea Ray or any manufacturer really is the Alpha One outdrive. I can’t stand the way they slam into gear. Volvo/Penta outdrives slip in and out of gear very smoothly.
#15
Get on a forum for SR boats. There’s an incredible support/tech online community for pretty much every boat out there. Don’t be afraid to post up questions as a newb as people a generally very helpful.
An older boat can serve you well but you MUST be willing to learn and turn a wrench. Online community support is gold for this! A quick browse through a model specific forum should give you a pretty good idea of the common problems with the boat you’re interested in.
Is the seller willing to demo it on the water? If not that’s a big red flag. A compression/leak down test is highly recommended, especially if you’re in a winterization area.
Just remember, it’s 20 years old and it WILL take some work at some point. The more you can do on your own the better.
An older boat can serve you well but you MUST be willing to learn and turn a wrench. Online community support is gold for this! A quick browse through a model specific forum should give you a pretty good idea of the common problems with the boat you’re interested in.
Is the seller willing to demo it on the water? If not that’s a big red flag. A compression/leak down test is highly recommended, especially if you’re in a winterization area.
Just remember, it’s 20 years old and it WILL take some work at some point. The more you can do on your own the better.
#16
This is a question for you boat owners out there. My brother in law and I are looking into a very used boat. We have a family property on a river in Illinois and want something for pulling the kids skiing and tubing. Right now all we have is a pontoon boat (my parents) and a sea doo wave runner. Every boat we’ve liked on boat trader the last few days has been bought before we could get to it.
Anyway, there is a 1998 Sea Ray 190 Bow Rider for sale that looks decent. My bro-in-law said at one time Sea Rays didn’t have a very good reputation, and I was thinking it was Bayliner that had the bad reputation back in the 80’s and 90’s. I’m not asking for anyone to solve our dispute, but does anyone have any good reliability information about late 90’s early 00’s Sea Ray boats? It has a 5.0 liter, mercruiser EFI engine and looks well taken care of from the pictures. They’re asking over $12K which is high according to NADA. I don’t want to waste anyone’s time negotiating the right price though, if I’m setting myself up for a headache.
Does anyone have any experience with 20ish year old Sea Ray boats, if so I’d love to hear it. Feel free to PM me or post here. Thanks.
Anyway, there is a 1998 Sea Ray 190 Bow Rider for sale that looks decent. My bro-in-law said at one time Sea Rays didn’t have a very good reputation, and I was thinking it was Bayliner that had the bad reputation back in the 80’s and 90’s. I’m not asking for anyone to solve our dispute, but does anyone have any good reliability information about late 90’s early 00’s Sea Ray boats? It has a 5.0 liter, mercruiser EFI engine and looks well taken care of from the pictures. They’re asking over $12K which is high according to NADA. I don’t want to waste anyone’s time negotiating the right price though, if I’m setting myself up for a headache.
Does anyone have any experience with 20ish year old Sea Ray boats, if so I’d love to hear it. Feel free to PM me or post here. Thanks.
#17
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I had a Sea ray 190 bow rider. If he ever plans on more than 3-4 people it is NOT the boat to get. Because if it’s shorter length, it’s very prone to porpousing. Boat trim will not fix it. I ended up putting some stationary trim tabs on the back, but it wasn’t a great sized boat. Common complaint on forum. Sea Ray is a great entry level brand but I would go with a longer hull. 21-22.....it’s a good “riding boat”, but if he wants to ski, wakeboard, look at something else...
#18
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Joined APC: Jun 2016
Posts: 425
I had a Sea ray 190 bow rider. If he ever plans on more than 3-4 people it is NOT the boat to get. Because if it’s shorter length, it’s very prone to porpousing. Boat trim will not fix it. I ended up putting some stationary trim tabs on the back, but it wasn’t a great sized boat. Common complaint on forum. Sea Ray is a great entry level brand but I would go with a longer hull. 21-22.....it’s a good “riding boat”, but if he wants to ski, wakeboard, look at something else...
#19
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Position: Capt
Posts: 2,023
how does it do in the waves/wake? That’s when it was the most noticeable. I also got used to it. It wasn’t until I got a bigger hull that I noticed how much more stable the ride was....
#20
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Joined APC: Sep 2005
Posts: 1,104
For what you'd like to do, I'd recommend the Sea Ray 240 Sundeck as well. I had one and it was fantastic fun for my family. You can bring two families with kids or as many as 8 adults comfortably. I just sold it a few months ago and it was an '06. It started to show it's age last season(13 years old) and I put a lot of work in and decided to get rid of it. The new owner is finding issues of his own but thats to be expected. I really loved the boat but don't miss the headache.
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