- Joined
- Jul 16, 2002
- RO Number
- 9357
- Messages
- 533
I've been going around to various dealers looking at different brands for the past couple months, and with some builders I am noticing a trend. Poor quality! And not just on the brands you know to be a step below the rest either.
Yesterday, a friend and I went to Marinemax and looked at a 2006 340 Sundancer. There are many little things we picked apart on that boat, we tend to be critical when it comes to looking at boat quality and construction. This 340 Sundancer in many ways was worse than any Bayliner I have seen! Not to shoot Bayliner in the foot or anything, but they are an entry level builder. Sea Ray is supposed to be a top quality builder. Well, not anymore they're not.
Here are some examples of the things we noticed on this 340 DA.
First of all, the galley woodwork (which resembled a pale oak-like color vs. the dark cherry) is the poorest quality veneer I have ever seen. It felt like plastic, very hollow sounding when you tap on it, and not very desireable looking at that. Next was the cabinets, doors, and drawers themselves. They were so lightweight, there is no way they could have even been made from particle board, it would've been heavier than this stuff. I honestly think these cabinets were constructed of some foam filled plastic or something, they were definitely not wood.
All of the drawers were set on rollers, but their extreme light weight made them very "bouncy" when slid open. You needed to be careful not to pull the drawer completely out of it's slot when you pulled it open. The drawers seemed to rest of the slides, so if you were to apply any upward pressure at all, the drawer would lift up and out.
The last major thing we noticed was the windshield. The frame was that gray powder coated aluminum. When you'd grab the side of it, the frame would shake. Then if you were to lightly shake the windshield, the whole side would move back and forth. The last time I saw a windshield be so "wobbly" was at the Minneapolis Boat Show on the 2006 Rinker 390 Express. Though on that boat then entire walk through center windshield was like plastic, it actually needed a couple seconds to come back to a resting position after opening it (wobble, wobble, wobble.)
There were some other things we noticed on the 340 Sundancer also that were more design flaws than anything else (cockpit fridge too low and out of the way, not very accessible; cockpit seating set too low; small transom trunk opening into a large tunnel-like compartment which is sure to swallow up smaller items.....you'd have to feed a small child into the thing head first to extract a lost fender!)
So after seeing that 340, my opinion on CURRENT Sea Ray quality has changed. I always thought they produced a top quality boat, and they do on the 38' and up models. But it appears that even the 340 Dancer has been ignored. If you've compared other brands and are familiar with good quality, go check out this 340 and you'll see what I mean. (Assuming they are all built this way and not just this one particular 340.) The quality on that boat fit snugly between Bayliner and Maxum, with of course Maxum edging them out this time.
I never thought I'd say that. And oh yeah, the MSRP of that 340 was $286,000, their best price was $248k. The Maxum 3500 SY can be bought for around $60,000 less than that, and you'd have (in my opinion) a better boat than the 2006 340 Sundancer.
Yesterday, a friend and I went to Marinemax and looked at a 2006 340 Sundancer. There are many little things we picked apart on that boat, we tend to be critical when it comes to looking at boat quality and construction. This 340 Sundancer in many ways was worse than any Bayliner I have seen! Not to shoot Bayliner in the foot or anything, but they are an entry level builder. Sea Ray is supposed to be a top quality builder. Well, not anymore they're not.
Here are some examples of the things we noticed on this 340 DA.
First of all, the galley woodwork (which resembled a pale oak-like color vs. the dark cherry) is the poorest quality veneer I have ever seen. It felt like plastic, very hollow sounding when you tap on it, and not very desireable looking at that. Next was the cabinets, doors, and drawers themselves. They were so lightweight, there is no way they could have even been made from particle board, it would've been heavier than this stuff. I honestly think these cabinets were constructed of some foam filled plastic or something, they were definitely not wood.
All of the drawers were set on rollers, but their extreme light weight made them very "bouncy" when slid open. You needed to be careful not to pull the drawer completely out of it's slot when you pulled it open. The drawers seemed to rest of the slides, so if you were to apply any upward pressure at all, the drawer would lift up and out.
The last major thing we noticed was the windshield. The frame was that gray powder coated aluminum. When you'd grab the side of it, the frame would shake. Then if you were to lightly shake the windshield, the whole side would move back and forth. The last time I saw a windshield be so "wobbly" was at the Minneapolis Boat Show on the 2006 Rinker 390 Express. Though on that boat then entire walk through center windshield was like plastic, it actually needed a couple seconds to come back to a resting position after opening it (wobble, wobble, wobble.)
There were some other things we noticed on the 340 Sundancer also that were more design flaws than anything else (cockpit fridge too low and out of the way, not very accessible; cockpit seating set too low; small transom trunk opening into a large tunnel-like compartment which is sure to swallow up smaller items.....you'd have to feed a small child into the thing head first to extract a lost fender!)
So after seeing that 340, my opinion on CURRENT Sea Ray quality has changed. I always thought they produced a top quality boat, and they do on the 38' and up models. But it appears that even the 340 Dancer has been ignored. If you've compared other brands and are familiar with good quality, go check out this 340 and you'll see what I mean. (Assuming they are all built this way and not just this one particular 340.) The quality on that boat fit snugly between Bayliner and Maxum, with of course Maxum edging them out this time.
I never thought I'd say that. And oh yeah, the MSRP of that 340 was $286,000, their best price was $248k. The Maxum 3500 SY can be bought for around $60,000 less than that, and you'd have (in my opinion) a better boat than the 2006 340 Sundancer.