Sea Ray 240 Sundancer

[searay1234567]

I am considering buying a 1999 Sea Ray 240 Sundancer. I've only owned smaller Outboards in the past. This looks like a sweet boat, any comments, advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[dirty martini]

Re: Sea Ray 240 Sundancer

My partner has the 240 and it has been virtually problem free.<br />It has a 5 liter mercruiser which I think is a little under powered. Although with 4 adults it will plane fairly easy. From my experience, i would go for it.

 

[tangent]

Re: Sea Ray 240 Sundancer

I just went from a 1986 19' outboard to a 2000 Sea Ray 215 EC (21.5') and love it. I concur.

 

[searay1234567]

Re: Sea Ray 240 Sundancer

Thanks all, I appreciate your input, I've only heard the best things about Sea Ray, it's a solid, great boat.

 

[BIGALF]

Re: Sea Ray 240 Sundancer

I have a 1997 240S Sundeck that we really love. Unfortunately I just blew the engine. The 5.7L EFI engine with the Bravo outdrive is a nice boat engine. However, my fuel pressure regulator fouled up and that was that for the engine.
:'(

 

[magster65]

Re: Sea Ray 240 Sundancer





I bought an '03 240 DA this year... and I love it! It has the 260 hp 5.0 mpi / bravo 3. It cruises at 28mph @ 3600 and will go 42 or so at 4800 rpm (gps).

My last Sea Ray was a '84 23 Weekender. I t had the 198 hp 5.0 2v / alpha... it was a little under powered but still managed a low 20's cruise and a top speed of a little over 30. It was a great boat too.

These are great boats... always have been.

 

[eddiemoral]

Re: Sea Ray 240 Sundancer

Hi there!!! I have a contract for a 2007 240 Sundancer with a 5.0MPI Bravo III. What do you think about the power on this boat? The reason I ask is that I had a 220 Sundeck with this identical engine and it was very slow to get on plane and with an extra 1500lbs and the same engine, I have a feeling that this boat will have the same issues.

 

[QC]

Re: Sea Ray 240 Sundancer

What is a comfortable crusing speed for you? Are you OK if she planes but slowly?

 

[craig240DA]

Re: Sea Ray 240 Sundancer

We have a 2007 240 DA with a 5.0 and it gets up on plane in just seconds. We heard it may be underpowered, but it seems fine for us newer boaters. Plenty of power for me, but we havn't had 8 people on board yet, either.

 

[eddiemoral]

Re: Sea Ray 240 Sundancer

We have a 2007 240 DA with a 5.0 and it gets up on plane in just seconds. We heard it may be underpowered, but it seems fine for us newer boaters. Plenty of power for me, but we havn't had 8 people on board yet, either.

Craig, thanks for the response....I am quite surprised of what you say that it gets on plane that quick! I am so glad to hear this! To answer QC above, 42MPH seems PLENTY fast for me! 35MPH is more of a cruising speed for me. The only thing that truly bugged me was the long lag to get on plane on the Sundeck....I will do a Sea Trial Sunday and let you all know what happens...

P.S. Marine Max was charging me $5000.00 plus $2600.00 for the 350MPI...

 

[craig240DA]

Re: Sea Ray 240 Sundancer

Remeber I am new at boating, but when I go full throttle, I am pretty sure it took less than 15 seconds before I was trimming the engine and pulling back from full throttle to get to cruising speed. That was just my wife and myself, 1/2 tank of gas. No real gear.

 

[eddiemoral]

Re: Sea Ray 240 Sundancer

Craig, I did the sea trial Sunday and I was very surprised by the performance of the 5.0/Bravo III combo. We had 4 adults in the boat with a full tank of gas and water. Heck, we even had a full cooler of beer and ice! The boat did come out of the hole pretty quick, in the 4 to 5 second range. This was pretty acceptable to me. I did pursue the 350 Mag option without having to pay the "penalty" for having the boat custom ordered instead of picking one from the lot. I'm in the works for this, and it looks like end of may for delivery!!!!!

Again, thanks for your comments.....

 

[craig240DA]

Re: Sea Ray 240 Sundancer

Awesome! We love the boat, but have had to send it back to the dealer for service to find a slow leak into the back of the engine compartment. It is killing us with great weather in the 80's and no boat. Service has been great from MarineMax as we work through this problem, but gee whiz.

 

[eddiemoral]

Re: Sea Ray 240 Sundancer

Craig, what MarineMax? Do you keep the boat in the water? How on earth did you know that you had a leak back there? I would have thought that it was normal water in the bilge! Good catch and hopefully you get the boat soon...

 

[craig240DA]

Re: Sea Ray 240 Sundancer

We found this by having expectations that are pretty high, such as:

a brand new $55,000 boat should not have any water in the engine bilge.

It turns out the bilge pump in the engine compartment is at the front of the engine and the compartment can hold many many gallons of water behind the engine, between the engine and the transom that you can't see. We really didn't know the extent until pulling the drain plug. We also had wet carpet in the front cabin, a result of either water moving forward after a quick stop or possibly a leak in the shower drain system. They say they have it fixed now, after many on-site visits from their service department and now having the boat trailered back to their shop.

 

[magster65]

Re: Sea Ray 240 Sundancer

Hmmm... I don't think my bilge pump has ever come on and there's basically no water in there unless I'm detailing and rinsing my engine bay. If your front carpets are wet, check the connections and seal on the head / kitchenette drain sump under the garbage can.
Just a thought.

 

[craig240DA]

Re: Sea Ray 240 Sundancer

Hmmm... I don't think my bilge pump has ever come on and there's basically no water in there unless I'm detailing and rinsing my engine bay. If your front carpets are wet, check the connections and seal on the head / kitchenette drain sump under the garbage can.
Just a thought.

Yes, that is where we started. There was something disconnected up front and that was the first of seven on-site service calls that the dealer has made regarding this. That led to a hightened awareness of water in the bilge and water in the compartment after every run. Now they found a bilge hose connection where the hose was cracked and let water in everytime I came off plane and splashed water on the drain, which allowed it to slosh into the engine compartment.

 

[craig240DA]

Re: Sea Ray 240 Sundancer

Craig, what MarineMax? Do you keep the boat in the water? How on earth did you know that you had a leak back there? I would have thought that it was normal water in the bilge! Good catch and hopefully you get the boat soon...

MarineMax in Clearwater FL. They were great about it, although I had some serious ups and downs. It looks like they may have it figured out but I am keeping my eye on it.

 

[magster65]

Re: Sea Ray 240 Sundancer

So it's cured... excellent!