Anyone have this boat or know much about it? Wife wants to go back to an express (quite the opposite from the 50' pilothouse I want to get!!) and we're looking at a couple of the sea ray 500's circa 1996-1999. Does this model in these model years have a cored hull below the water line? Any systemic issues anyone is aware of in this model for those years? General thoughts???
1996-1999 Sea Ray 500 Sundancer
- Thread starter Woodsong
- Start date
Yes, they're cored. Standard diligence required. They're typically powered by Detroit 6V92TA's at 550HP, 6V92-DDEC's at roughly 605HP or Cat 3196's in the 640 range. I've seen them with 8V-92's, but not many and to me that just seems like a good way to increase the ownership and operating costs. She's plenty fast with the 6's.
I have a lot of time on a '98 w/ DDEC's, and it was a great boat. DD's have a love em or hate em thing going, but I love DDEC's. The controls are simply the best every produced. Smooth, easy and confidence inspiring. There were two cockpit layouts - one with a circular settee and table, and another with traditional benches. (lots of seating, verses more open)
Great layout below, with amenities your wife will probably appreciate: a household refer, some have an oven, some have a trash compactor, a spendide washer/dryer, 3 reverse cycle Cruise Air units, 2 full heads.
One caveat is headroom at the helm. The 500DA has a disproportionately low arch, so unless you find one with the modified bimini (upward sloping), standing room may be an issue for tall skippers.
ER access is very good. If you find one with a thruster they probably put the batteries right in the center, but aside from that and the need to pull the ladder to get past it, it's easy to get around.
Great tankage too - 3 fuel tanks and generous fresh and black water capacity.
The v-drive config w/ pockets gives you some bow rise getting on plane, but she's overall a very good handler.
I have a lot of time on a '98 w/ DDEC's, and it was a great boat. DD's have a love em or hate em thing going, but I love DDEC's. The controls are simply the best every produced. Smooth, easy and confidence inspiring. There were two cockpit layouts - one with a circular settee and table, and another with traditional benches. (lots of seating, verses more open)
Great layout below, with amenities your wife will probably appreciate: a household refer, some have an oven, some have a trash compactor, a spendide washer/dryer, 3 reverse cycle Cruise Air units, 2 full heads.
One caveat is headroom at the helm. The 500DA has a disproportionately low arch, so unless you find one with the modified bimini (upward sloping), standing room may be an issue for tall skippers.
ER access is very good. If you find one with a thruster they probably put the batteries right in the center, but aside from that and the need to pull the ladder to get past it, it's easy to get around.
Great tankage too - 3 fuel tanks and generous fresh and black water capacity.
The v-drive config w/ pockets gives you some bow rise getting on plane, but she's overall a very good handler.
SLW,
Do you have a '98 yourself or just spent time on it? The ones we are looking at have the circular cockpit seating. We're going to preview a couple soon. From the pictures online it seems like a well laid out boat and a lot for $$. One of the 2 on our top of the list have the 3196 CATS (which I believe had a history of issues!) and the DDEC's. The cored hull is a bit of a concern for me but it will boil down to the specific boat like it always does.
Things that look good (again only via online shopping):
- lots of cockpit seating.
- huge foredeck that is reasonably flat.
- bunkbeds for the kids stateroom.
- twin heads.
- huge salon seating on the cabin.
- good sized galley.
- good tankage as you referenced!
Not so good potential issues:
- possible limited headroom at helm.
- i don't like the entire lack of a walk-thru windshield endemic to sea ray but can probably live with it.
- relative lack of windows in the salon...increasing the "cave" feeling of an express.
-tiny swim platform. will either have to do a deal on one that has it already installed or have a TNT lift installed for the jetski.
- access to bed in forward stateroom seems limited...i.e. no island berth.
If anyone else has experience with this boat would love to hear it.
Do you have a '98 yourself or just spent time on it? The ones we are looking at have the circular cockpit seating. We're going to preview a couple soon. From the pictures online it seems like a well laid out boat and a lot for $$. One of the 2 on our top of the list have the 3196 CATS (which I believe had a history of issues!) and the DDEC's. The cored hull is a bit of a concern for me but it will boil down to the specific boat like it always does.
Things that look good (again only via online shopping):
- lots of cockpit seating.
- huge foredeck that is reasonably flat.
- bunkbeds for the kids stateroom.
- twin heads.
- huge salon seating on the cabin.
- good sized galley.
- good tankage as you referenced!
Not so good potential issues:
- possible limited headroom at helm.
- i don't like the entire lack of a walk-thru windshield endemic to sea ray but can probably live with it.
- relative lack of windows in the salon...increasing the "cave" feeling of an express.
-tiny swim platform. will either have to do a deal on one that has it already installed or have a TNT lift installed for the jetski.
- access to bed in forward stateroom seems limited...i.e. no island berth.
If anyone else has experience with this boat would love to hear it.
Tony,
The one I ran belonged to a friend of mine, which he bought new in '98. I usually ran her whenever I was aboard, with the notable exception of when he put her up onto a rocky reef at cruise speed. That stunt stalled both engines, bent the props, shafts, stuts and rudders and took big chucks of glass out of the bottom, but examination in dry-dock showed us that she was one TOUGH boat. Incredible hull thickness. $27,000 later, she was as good as new.
When I wasn't fighting my way to the helm, I was cruising nearby. Here she is keeping up with me at 27 knots:
Note the running angle - not bad for having massive Detroits that close to the transom! There was plenty of headroom for me (6'). Earlier models had a lower fwd bimini.
I'm not a fan of walk-though windshields, but of course, good sidedecks are required. The 500's are great - wide and safe, except for one styling issue where the deck lowers at an outward/downward angle below the leading edge of the arch. (fuel filler location on stbd) That's a bit tricky if you're not looking for it. I broke my toe on the lip at the transom door. Got one of those dorky steel flip-flops as a reward.
Cave? Yup, it's a cave. It's a nice salon though. Even the bigger Sundancers don't have a seating arrangement as good as the 500. Sitting in a row never makes sense to me, unless you're waiting for a bus or feeding pidgeons.
This one had a large platform, and I'll be surprised if you have to look hard to find another example with it.
The guest stateroom can sleep 3 comfortably - the lower bunk is quite large. If you have boys, you might appreciate the arrangement of the guest head. It shower shares space with the MSD, so it's "passively cleaning".
I've been looking at boats with 3196's, and it makes me nervous. They seem to have a handle on the aftercooler issues, but the whole lawsuit issue and docktalk seem to be affecting resale.
The one I ran belonged to a friend of mine, which he bought new in '98. I usually ran her whenever I was aboard, with the notable exception of when he put her up onto a rocky reef at cruise speed. That stunt stalled both engines, bent the props, shafts, stuts and rudders and took big chucks of glass out of the bottom, but examination in dry-dock showed us that she was one TOUGH boat. Incredible hull thickness. $27,000 later, she was as good as new.
When I wasn't fighting my way to the helm, I was cruising nearby. Here she is keeping up with me at 27 knots:
Note the running angle - not bad for having massive Detroits that close to the transom! There was plenty of headroom for me (6'). Earlier models had a lower fwd bimini.
I'm not a fan of walk-though windshields, but of course, good sidedecks are required. The 500's are great - wide and safe, except for one styling issue where the deck lowers at an outward/downward angle below the leading edge of the arch. (fuel filler location on stbd) That's a bit tricky if you're not looking for it. I broke my toe on the lip at the transom door. Got one of those dorky steel flip-flops as a reward.
Cave? Yup, it's a cave. It's a nice salon though. Even the bigger Sundancers don't have a seating arrangement as good as the 500. Sitting in a row never makes sense to me, unless you're waiting for a bus or feeding pidgeons.
This one had a large platform, and I'll be surprised if you have to look hard to find another example with it.
The guest stateroom can sleep 3 comfortably - the lower bunk is quite large. If you have boys, you might appreciate the arrangement of the guest head. It shower shares space with the MSD, so it's "passively cleaning".
I've been looking at boats with 3196's, and it makes me nervous. They seem to have a handle on the aftercooler issues, but the whole lawsuit issue and docktalk seem to be affecting resale.
SLW,
thanks for the feedback. Sounds like your friend had fun trying to drydock his 500!
I do prefer a walkthru windshield but as you stated...not as big a deal on a boat big enough to have wide sidedecks. My issue is where you see no walk-thru windshield on a 30' or 33' boat with a side deck that is only 4" wide- very dangerous IMO, especially for us as we have small kids. I noticed the step down on the sidedecks at the arch- haven't seen it yet in person- will have to see if it would be a problem with our little kids or not.
Glad to hear all your other comments re: salon.
Wife really wants an express again and I don't want a little express if I am going to go back to an express so we're looking in the 48-52 range but not looking in the $1m range!!
thanks for the feedback. Sounds like your friend had fun trying to drydock his 500!
I do prefer a walkthru windshield but as you stated...not as big a deal on a boat big enough to have wide sidedecks. My issue is where you see no walk-thru windshield on a 30' or 33' boat with a side deck that is only 4" wide- very dangerous IMO, especially for us as we have small kids. I noticed the step down on the sidedecks at the arch- haven't seen it yet in person- will have to see if it would be a problem with our little kids or not.
Glad to hear all your other comments re: salon.
Wife really wants an express again and I don't want a little express if I am going to go back to an express so we're looking in the 48-52 range but not looking in the $1m range!!
yes we did- spent an afternoon on one last week. Overall, a lot of boat for the $$. We liked the huge foredeck and the cockpit layout was good. Sidedecks were plenty wide enough and that small stepdown at the arch wasn't a problem at all as long as you remember it is there. Cabin layout was pretty good. Not wild about the gold trim or the fact that the master stateroom berth isn't a walk around but overall a very spacious boat. Engine room seemed to be very well laid out except for one battery that was set off by itself in the forward starboard corner of the engine room. Didn't have time to figure out what it served but the only way I saw to get to it would be crawling over the water tank- definitely not a job for a big person!! All the other batteries were in a bank though that was very accessable and filters, etc. were all immidiately available. Engine room was clean and well taken care of...looked to have definitely had some time in salt water but very, very minimal from what I could tell (slight oxidizing of the thruhulls that you often see in salt water boats, etc. I would guess it maybe spent a season or so in the salt water at most.
Biggest issue was the "cave" effect in the cabin. With all the portholes and portlights set so high up you really can't see a thing outside when in the cabin. I personally also would really miss the opening portlights in the forward stateroom. We sleep with ours open all the time in our current boat and get great cross ventilation. I guess searay doesn't install opening ones due to potential leaks in heavy seas but you loose a ton of ventilation.
Overall it's a boat I could live with if my wife wanted to pull the trigger on it and the price definitely beats the price of a new one! Silverton will have to sell first though so who knows. On top of that my wife told me this weekend as we were coming into the dock Monday late that maybe she wanted to keep the silverton afterall. So who knows! We're keeping our silverton for sale and when she sells we'll see what's on the market and what our mood is. If I am lucky I will be able to convince her we ought to just go ahead and buy a 48-50' pilothouse so we can be done buying another boat each year!!
The 500 is a nice boat though and really is a ton of boat for the money. Funny thing was that Monday afternoon I was zipping across the lake in my jetski and the 500 we looked at came by going down the lake. Thus, I had the pleasure of not only watching her run but also was able to confirm that jumping the waves of a 500 kicking up 4' waves is pretty fun!
Biggest issue was the "cave" effect in the cabin. With all the portholes and portlights set so high up you really can't see a thing outside when in the cabin. I personally also would really miss the opening portlights in the forward stateroom. We sleep with ours open all the time in our current boat and get great cross ventilation. I guess searay doesn't install opening ones due to potential leaks in heavy seas but you loose a ton of ventilation.
Overall it's a boat I could live with if my wife wanted to pull the trigger on it and the price definitely beats the price of a new one! Silverton will have to sell first though so who knows. On top of that my wife told me this weekend as we were coming into the dock Monday late that maybe she wanted to keep the silverton afterall. So who knows! We're keeping our silverton for sale and when she sells we'll see what's on the market and what our mood is. If I am lucky I will be able to convince her we ought to just go ahead and buy a 48-50' pilothouse so we can be done buying another boat each year!!
The 500 is a nice boat though and really is a ton of boat for the money. Funny thing was that Monday afternoon I was zipping across the lake in my jetski and the 500 we looked at came by going down the lake. Thus, I had the pleasure of not only watching her run but also was able to confirm that jumping the waves of a 500 kicking up 4' waves is pretty fun!
There happens to be a 1992 500 DA on Ebay right now...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Sea-...21663011QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item170221663011&
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Sea-...21663011QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item170221663011&