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Its not often that we get the chance to see two of
the same model boat nearly back-to-back, but in this case we did.
We last did a 1993 290 Sundancer last month, one that showed up
quite a few problems. This latest is a 1996 model, which has some
improvements, so its only fair to SeaRay that we update our last
review.
Once again we have good news and bad news, but
we'll go to the good stuff first. With the 1993 model we complained
about all the rotting upholstery in the cockpit. Well, there have
been some changes, like most of the upholstered side panels have
been eliminated, replaced with a 'glass liner. In addition, the
fixed rear seat cushion is now removable so you can stow it inside.
Even so, that silly, nearly useless fold out rear seat remains,
but at least the cheap plastic hardware is now replaced with metal
parts.
The shallow gutter around the engine hatch has
been made deeper, thus eliminating most of the potential for stuff
in the engine room getting wet. And then they moved most of the
electrical stuff AWAY from the edge of the hatch, so it won't get
damaged even it does leak. Why didn't they do this from day one?
Why correct these problems for a boat that has been discontinued?
Better late than never?
You may recall that the radar arch was bolted onto
the side of the cockpit coaming where the bolts would go loose and
channel water leaks into the aft cabin. This, too, has been corrected:
the arch is now bolted onto a horizontal surface with plenty of
caulking beneath. You might also notice that there are no longer
those 8 foot long windows in the sides of the deck either. We tested
this one with a water hose and didn't find any leaks.
The weak foredeck? We can't see what they've done
to strengthen it, but the deck is notably less weak than on the
'93 model. And the weak swim platform is also more solid.
Plus the plastic inspection port in the foredeck has been replaced
with a triangular hatch so that you can stow the anchor in the rope
locker. Once again, there are no gutters on the hatch and the water
runs into the locker with small holes in the bow to let water drain
out. At least the deck core is not exposed, but there will be terrible
mold and mildew problems with this arrangement. The anchor and rope
remain permanently sopping wet. And one can only hope that water
doesn't get into the plywood bulkhead which is only partly glassed
at the bottom and heavily gel coated all over. We've seen
lots of boats like this were the bulkhead rots, causing water to
leak through it, onto the forward berth platform and causing even
more damage there.
The weak swim platform deck has been strengthened,
and they've added a much needed hand railing back there. Plus the
transom door has been improved and works better. But the positioning
of the stern cleats on the side of the hull (deck, actually) over
a foot forward of the transom means that you can't cross your moorling
lines without the lines sawing against the deck and causing abrasions
in the gel coat. This is yet another example of how trendy styling
foils sensible design.
The interior layout has been reversed, with the
head and galley now to port, although we don't see any real improvement
by this change. But the fiberglass galley unit was pulling away
from the bulkhead and there was a 1/4" gap, as shown above.
When we looked under it to see what the problem was, we found that
there was no ledger board, and one end of it was being held up with
just ONE SCREW on the very edge of the fiberglass. The screw had
pulled loose and now the counter top was dropping down. What
kind of design is this?
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The hull stringer under the port side berth. Here the
staple heads can clearly be seen. Red arrow shows level
to which the stringer is glassed with mat. Blue arrow shows
once again that water is getting to the plywood; the brown
spot is fungus. |
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This is a fiberglass
alley counter module, which is held in place at on end
with just one screw, has dropped down, leaving this
large gap. Water splashed onto the counter is damaging the
plywood paneling. |
There is, however, more access to the interior
hull where we can see that the finish work, at least in the exposed
areas is much better. They have used a LOT of gelcoat on the inner
hull, and the surfaces are quite smooth and look well-finished.
We still found the stapled plywood stringers which are not fully
'glassed, even down low, and that stringer that is cut 75% through
back in the aft cabin is still there, repleat with the likelihood
that water will get into the stringers and cause rot. But they did
change the fresh water pump mounting from the bottom of the hull
where it gets wet, up to the side of the stringer. Hey, some real
great thinking here! Wow, whoda ever thunk it that you shouldn't
install electric motors in the bilge. Gee. Might as well clean your
computer with a hose.
The systems installation in the engine compartment
has been cleaned up quite a bit. We didn't have to stand on hoses
and electrical apparatus when we did a compression test on the engines.
They proved the validity of our comments that there were better
places to mount things like battery chargers and pumps so that they
won't get damaged. Plus, they somehow managed to get an Onan generator
in there to boot!
The real buggaboo with this boat are the Mercruiser
engines. This is the third set of 4.3 LX engines in little
over a month on which we found the exhaust riser gaskets leaking
torrents of water when the engines were running. We did a compression
test which turned up readings as low as 118 psi on an engine where
the compression should be 180 psi. You can figure the rest of the
story yourself, and why we are not big fans of Mercruiser products.
Mercruiser has been in business a long time and there is no excuse
for this kind of amateur design error. Two years old and these engines
need a rebuild. And, of course, the warranty has run out. Not a
happy camper, this owner. And this boat has been dry stored under
cover all of its young two-year life.
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All four risers were pouring out a
steady stream of water when engines were running, as this
photo cleanly shows by the rusty water trails. |
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This is the culprit
for why the risers leak so badly. With gasket webs this thin,
they can't possibly seal for long. The width of that web is
not even 1/8"!!! |
Most of the other criticisms we had of the 1993
model remain in this one, in addition to which we'll add one more.
When we returned to the dock, the boat lightly bumped up against
a piling. I was standing right there when it happened and I was
appalled to see the gunwale (rubrail) bend inward by as much as
one inch! And this was a light bump. How's that for strength. If
you ever wondered why the rub rails and toe rails on SeaRay boats
are almost always busted up, now you know why. Take a look at the
top photo. See the rub rail? Well, there's virtually no strength
members behind it whatever! When it hits against the dock, the whole
side caves in, a design fault that is prevalent in tens, if not
hundreds of thousands of small boats.
Even so, its nice to see that Sea Ray is at least
paying some attention to their problems and making corrections.
However, being one of the most widely sold boats in the U.S., we
get a lot of e-mail asking, "Why do you pick on SeaRay?"
This is typical of the sort of "shoot the messenger" syndrome
that surveyors know all to well. As if we're at fault for
pointing the nature of the product.
When it comes to a rating, maybe we should let
you decide. Is this what you'd expect for a 29' boat that
carries a list price of $125,000? Things put together with
staples? Galley held up with one screw? Engines good for 2 years?
How would you feel about buying a new Lexus, which costs less than
half the price, with defects like this? As we've said before, we
don't offer this criticism to assuage our own egos; we know that
boat building is a tough business, and that its hard to survive
from recession to recession. But SeaRay happens to be the largest
boat builder in the world, so a lack of resources and engineering
can't be an excuse. We've seen their facilities and its a big time,
big money operation. So why not do it right?
Note: prior to posting this, the
owner filed a complaint with SeaRay who offered to repair the engine
problems under warranty.
Related Article: Sundancer
290
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are "reviews", not surveys, and bear no resemblance
to our survey reports.
We do not publish the results of the surveys that we perform.
Please note that the purpose of these reviews is educational,
to help you discern the differences in quality among boats generally.
They are not offered as a means to help you evaluate any particular
boat builder. We have no other reviews than those posted. |
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