2001 Glastron SX195 or 2007 185 Sport Sea Ray?

All, For about the same price, what is the better choice ?
2001 Glastron SX19 with 220HP 5.0L VOLVO PENTA V-8 graded for 9 passengers
or 2007 185 Sport Sea Ray with Mercury 4.3 for 7 passengers

I like the Glastron b/c it's around 500 lbs lighter so that may help me with the towing.

Thanks

Re: 2001 Glastron SX195 or 2007 185 Sport Sea Ray?

Assuming the condition of the boats are about the same, I'd go with the bigger of the 2 boats. Not that you are going to have 9 people on it, but if you were to have (say six) everybody would be more comfortable not to mention the 5.0 wouldn't have to work as hard.

Re: 2001 Glastron SX195 or 2007 185 Sport Sea Ray?

Bigger is always better

Re: 2001 Glastron SX195 or 2007 185 Sport Sea Ray?

Interesting, the SX is a low level, budget boat that can be had for a steal. They are all over the place here in MN and most times I see them they have a 5.0. The SR Sport is an overmarketed, overpriced, subpar for the $, boat. The SR should cost a lot more that the SX so something is amiss there. Understand also that a lighter boat is not a good thing. The heavier the better, but yes then slower. It is heavier because it is built better. Either the SX is crazy overpriced or the SR is way underpriced. The carbed 305 is probably the most anemic v8 produced but none the less has some decent torque. The 4.3 on the other hand presuming it is also a carb is surpisingly powerful. Also then the Volvo outdrive is generally regarded as a more robust unit than the Mercruiser drive for what that is worth. That wouldn't affect the decision however if it were mine ot make. If I have a gun to my head to make what I see as a strange choice, I would take the much newer, much more contemporary Sea Ray. The thought still exists that the Sport version of the Sea Ray line is a premium boat when in reality you need to get into their next eschelon to get that. In other words the SR Sport trades on name recognition and I believe familiarity.

Re: 2001 Glastron SX195 or 2007 185 Sport Sea Ray?

Thank you jkust and all. Very informative.

Re: 2001 Glastron SX195 or 2007 185 Sport Sea Ray?

baylake said:

Thank you jkust and all. Very informative.

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I live in a state where everybody has a boat and they are almost all under 20 feet so as to fit in the garage. Even my wife is up to speed on the under 20 foot boats having been brought up in MN.

Re: 2001 Glastron SX195 or 2007 185 Sport Sea Ray?

Have you looked at both boats? Given your location, your boating season is much longer, with many days where the boat is baked at 100+ F. Also, one might have been run exclusively in the salt, and the other not. In other words, there may be a good reason to the price differential that jkust described. Never assume any boat is underpriced.