Searay boats

[MOP]

I got this sent to me in an email, pretty scary for Searay owners!

http://www.yachtsurvey.com/preventing_rot_in_encapsulated_wood.htm

[mikev]

scary considering they claim to be a premium builder and charge premium prices for the boats. I know the old ones were really well built guess they have gone down hill.

[Ranman]

That'll make me take a closer look at my Donzi.

[Trueser]

WOW,

Searay still makes a quality boat. The newer ones do not have any wood installed except to isolate the fuel tank. I think the stringers are even a composite material.

If you get a chance check out the inside of a new 22 or 24 sundeck. Look under the deck and inside the engine compartment closely.

And the way you can really tell is on the resale, I paid 54k for a 2003 sundeck and they were going to give me 48k on a trade-in on a 2004 back in the spring. Most likely will trade her in before the year is over. I need a SKI tower.

I would say you will find stringer and floor problems on most boats built 10 years or older.

Seal up those screw and drain holes.

[Koenig]

My first boat was a Sea Ray Seville 17' bowrider (1986). Tough considering the age of drivers and all day everyday usage in salt water for 3 to 4 months seasons. She lasted 4 years before redo of interior and rebuilt engine, stern drive etc.If fresh water I'm certain she would have held up better. In retrospect I'm surprised we never killed ourselves, jumping ferry wakes and other crazy kid stuff that I assure you nobody has ever driven a boat harder than we did that one.

[picklefish]

That yacht survey site is a good one, especially the section on (high-tech) composite laminates-- there's a scam. I remember back in the seventies I decided to help my brother blueprint the bottom on an old Sea Ray. It was one of those old ski boat type fifteen footers with a shallow vee in the front and a flat but slightly rounded bottom at the stern-- a great ski boat that left only about a two inch high wake. What amazed me was that the hull wasn't even close to symmetrical-- it was over an inch wider on one side of the keel than on the other. The more I looked at it, the more I wondered if the guy who made the plug owned a ruler. But what was even more amazing was that this builder of these lopsided boats went on to sell his company for 450 million in the late eighties.