Stingray Bowriders, any opinions?

[mccollum74]

Looking for a used bowrider in the 19-20' range. I've notice a few Stingray's out there in the 2004-2005 range that are priced lower than others. Any reasons?

 

[jkust]

Re: Stingray Bowriders, any opinions?

Looking for a used bowrider in the 19-20' range. I've notice a few Stingray's out there in the 2004-2005 range that are priced lower than others. Any reasons?

Stingray, like some others, is an entry level, relatively no frills, lightweight boat. They are cheaper when new as well and are going to garner a lower price when used on an apples to apples basis in a vacuum. Aside from the not-so-good ride issue, I think I'd go Stingray over Bayliner of that generation. Stingray's are light with the Z Plane hull so they go faster than most others again apples to apples. Ignoring some quality issues, I'd add Tahoe to that entry level list as well. I think they look very nice and I feel they give you more for your money plus have a fishing heritage so you get things like a bigger gas tank.

 

[Slip Away]

Re: Stingray Bowriders, any opinions?

This....

Stingray, like some others, is an entry level, relatively no frills, lightweight boat. They are cheaper when new as well and are going to garner a lower price when used on an apples to apples basis in a vacuum. Aside from the not-so-good ride issue

Many people like them, but if your boating area has any rougher conditions on busy weekends, you will lose some teeth riding in one.

 

[JimS123]

Re: Stingray Bowriders, any opinions?

We bought our 19' Stingray bowrider brand spanking new in 1984. It has served us well for 30 seasons now. The size and features suit us to a T, so It'll probably outlast me. But if I ever wanted to trade it in it would probably be on another Stingray. Seven years ago our son bought a Stingray Cuddy and he is quite satisfied as well. I guess that says it all....LOL.

At the time we looked at many different models. Price wise (in the $11K range), I could have gotten a SeaRay Seville, or a 4Winns, or a Century for about the same. A Regal was about $500 more and a Celebrity was about $1000 more. A Bayliner was almost $1500 less.

We regularly boat in the Great lakes. As an example, on our last time the year we encountered 4' swells in lake Erie. A "normal" Sunday on the mighty upper Niagara encounters heavy boat traffic and lots of waves. Our hull is as solid as the day it was built, and I still have all my teeth.

Just offering comments from a satisfied customer. I don't know about ride quality. We originally bought the boat after being quite satisfied with how the demo boat rode. I've ridden in quite a few comparabale size boats and the only one that really impressed me was an Imp, but that had a V-8 in it and had a price tag that was 50% higher.

 

[crabby captain john]

Re: Stingray Bowriders, any opinions?

My neighbor had one for several years. It was sold as he moved to the NC coast and it was not suited to the Atlantic. He said it was fine inland but not for outside the inlet except in the calmest seas.

 

[agallant80]

Re: Stingray Bowriders, any opinions?

I had a 2011 Stingray 215LR. It was a great boat. Never had any issues with it and I thought it was pretty nice. It may not have some of the higher quality matierals that the other boats have but its a great value and they don't have many hull issues. I say go for it. If I were to rank lower end boats I would go Stingray followed by Bayliner followed by Tahoe. Im going to start a war here but every tahoe I have been on is cheep cheep cheep.

As others have pointed out the stingray is great for going fast and calm water. I did get knocked around a bit in mine on a busy day at the lake or in weather. If you are considering one for the ocean then it may not be the best fit. Water sports on a lake I say go for it.

 

[showem]

Re: Stingray Bowriders, any opinions?

Thats good to know about Stingray. I just bought a used stingray 2010 225 Cr cuddy and so far I like it. I traded a 06 Seadoo jet boat 15'6 70-80 hrs on the stingray, 36 hrs and trailer, balance: $ 17K. I put the seadoo in Boston harbor during the constitution ride and also off the coast and I think the stingray will ride quite nice compared to the seadoo! ha ha!

 

[dan02gt]

Re: Stingray Bowriders, any opinions?

I bought a new Stingray over the summer. After looking at offerings from several different manufactures I went with the Stingray for a couple of reasons:

1. They're about the best performing bow riders you can get
2. They have some neat innovations like the "Sport Deck" (I love my bow anchor locker)
3. They offer really good bang for the buck with features and options found on significantly more expensive boats
4. Stingray is a smaller privately own company, and to me that means better attention to detail and customer service
5. I searched the web and didn't find anybody with bad stuff to say about them. That can't be said of a lot of other brands.

As far as the ride is concerned, mine doesn't ride any worse than any of the other smaller bow riders I've been in. I will say mine has a lot of natural bow lift due to the hull design and weight in the stern. While this is good for performance it can make it pound you in rougher water (and I take mine in bigger water). This is due to you not being able top get the bow down to cut through the chop. I solved this problem by adding Bennett Trim tabs. Now when the water get rough I just drop the tabs and roll on.

 

[agallant80]

Re: Stingray Bowriders, any opinions?

The owners website is really good too. Lots of people there that know about the boats and people from the company are on the site. I have seen many posts where an engineer that worked on a component of the boat is getting involved with a customer via the forum on the owners site.

 

[Slip Away]

Re: Stingray Bowriders, any opinions?

The owners website is really good too. Lots of people there that know about the boats and people from the company are on the site. I have seen many posts where an engineer that worked on a component of the boat is getting involved with a customer via the forum on the owners site.

Note; you must have a hull ID # to read or post on the "Ray" forum.

 

[agallant80]

Re: Stingray Bowriders, any opinions?

Note; you must have a hull ID # to read or post on the "Ray" forum.

yeah but that is a good thing. The forum is pretty clean and not junked up by...well you know....

 

[showem]

Re: Stingray Bowriders, any opinions?

Trying to get on that Singray website is a joke. More to it than giving them a hull id #? I tried the dealer tried it was ridiculous. This is for preowned maybe different if you bought new.

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Stingray Bowriders, any opinions?

I bought a new Stingray over the summer. After looking at offerings from several different manufactures I went with the Stingray for a couple of reasons:

1. They're about the best performing bow riders you can get
2. They have some neat innovations like the "Sport Deck" (I love my bow anchor locker)
3. They offer really good bang for the buck with features and options found on significantly more expensive boats
4. Stingray is a smaller privately own company, and to me that means better attention to detail and customer service
5. I searched the web and didn't find anybody with bad stuff to say about them. That can't be said of a lot of other brands.

1. Best performing in what aspect? There are faster bowriders, and definitely more luxurious/well appointed models out there. Not knocking the Stingray, but a Cobalt/Chris Craft/Formula/Chapparal will make it look like a dinghy. Good value for the dollar I suppose.

2. Just about every single manufacturer of runabouts makes a "Sport Deck", it's not a Stingray innovation.

3. Difficult to say unless we had a list of standard options across several different models/brands to compare.

4. I don't think that privately-owned is synonymous with higher quality or better customer service. It may sometimes be the case, but again, not something I'd likely consider as an important point.

5. I will agree that online comments are some of the best ways to hear about products, but on the flip side, there are a heck of a lot more Bayliners/Tahoes out there than Stingrays, so you may get a bit of volume bias there. More boats produced = higher chance of a disgruntled customer making comments.

I will say that I'd probably take a Stingray over a Bayliner/Tahoe, but that's about it.

 

[Slip Away]

Re: Stingray Bowriders, any opinions?

And even if you did get on there, you will find an understandably biased owners group. More so than most brand specific sites. An acquaintance of mine had a StingRay. He got on their website and asked about problems he was having and some poor workmanship on his boat, he got blasted by some members for criticizing the brand, trying to stir the pot etc. He gave up.

 

[dan02gt]

Re: Stingray Bowriders, any opinions?

1. Best performing in what aspect? There are faster bowriders, and definitely more luxurious/well appointed models out there. Not knocking the Stingray, but a Cobalt/Chris Craft/Formula/Chapparal will make it look like a dinghy. Good value for the dollar I suppose.

2. Just about every single manufacturer of runabouts makes a "Sport Deck", it's not a Stingray innovation.

3. Difficult to say unless we had a list of standard options across several different models/brands to compare.

4. I don't think that privately-owned is synonymous with higher quality or better customer service. It may sometimes be the case, but again, not something I'd likely consider as an important point.

5. I will agree that online comments are some of the best ways to hear about products, but on the flip side, there are a heck of a lot more Bayliners/Tahoes out there than Stingrays, so you may get a bit of volume bias there. More boats produced = higher chance of a disgruntled customer making comments.

I will say that I'd probably take a Stingray over a Bayliner/Tahoe, but that's about it.

Why don't you do some research on sub 19'-20' bow riders in the sub $32k price range and then make that post again. I spent about 3 months doing my research before I bought. Is a Chaparral SSi 196 a nicer boat than my Stingray 198LX? Hell yeah but it's also a lot more money. All my comments are apples to apples not a $30k boat vs a $45k boat. I wouldn't even compare a Stingray to one of the others you mentioned because they're not in the same class. OP sounds like he's looking for a decent boat on a budget and my post was geared toward that.

 

[dan02gt]

Re: Stingray Bowriders, any opinions?

And even if you did get on there, you will find an understandably biased owners group. More so than most brand specific sites. An acquaintance of mine had a StingRay. He got on their website and asked about problems he was having and some poor workmanship on his boat, he got blasted by some members for criticizing the brand, trying to stir the pot etc. He gave up.

Hmm, I blasted the hell out of them on the forums because I was having a hard time getting a replacement vent window after I broke the factory one. I had a email from Jim (the consumer parts guy) withing 30 minutes trying to help me out, and posts from 5 other people in support of me. Turned out the part was back ordered and that was what was taking so long.

I also made a post in the "Suggestions and ideas" forum nick picking the hell out of my boat and got nothing but positive responses.

I don't know if the fan-boys have moved on from their forums or what but I've had a good experience.

 

[Slip Away]

Re: Stingray Bowriders, any opinions?

Glad it was good for you. OP asked for opinions, and he got some from both sides. That is what we are here for !

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Stingray Bowriders, any opinions?

Why don't you do some research on sub 19'-20' bow riders in the sub $32k price range and then make that post again. I spent about 3 months doing my research before I bought. Is a Chaparral SSi 196 a nicer boat than my Stingray 198LX? Hell yeah but it's also a lot more money. All my comments are apples to apples not a $30k boat vs a $45k boat. I wouldn't even compare a Stingray to one of the others you mentioned because they're not in the same class. OP sounds like he's looking for a decent boat on a budget and my post was geared toward that.

You didn't mention anything about price point or size. You simply said that it was the "best performing bowrider you can get", and the sport deck was a "neat innovation" that isn't really an innovation by Stingray aside from it possibly being a new model for them. I simply put your comments into context since you really didn't have anything concrete in your listing of reasons why you went with Stingray.

Again, not bashing a Stingray by any means, I have only seen them from the outside, never ridden in one. Just trying to understand your conclusions which didn't seem to have any basis for comparison.

 

[V153]

Re: Stingray Bowriders, any opinions?

My lil brother has a '01 19' w/4.3 he bought new. It has proven to be a great boat for he & his family. They're purty anal bout keeping it clean, and garage kept, so it still looks very good. He replaced the gimble bearing a year or so ago. His only major expenditure.

I'm in the canvas & cushion business and I've never noticed anything 'substandard' or 'starter level' about the boat's interior. It's really purty nice. Looks great, holdin up good? Bro's been overjoyed with the forum & their customer service btw.

Say what you want about em & call them what you will. A Stingray will smoke the competition. For a lot less money. Bro's 4.3'll run 53 with half dozen crew on board. No BS.

Far as it riding rough? Unless they were attempting to perform a circumcision. I doubt the riders could tell the difference between Stingray and it's competitors.

 

[JimS123]

Re: Stingray Bowriders, any opinions?

My lil brother has a '01 19' w/4.3 he bought new. It has proven to be a great boat for he & his family. They're purty anal bout keeping it clean, and garage kept, so it still looks very good. He replaced the gimble bearing a year or so ago. His only major expenditure.

I'm in the canvas & cushion business and I've never noticed anything 'substandard' or 'starter level' about the boat's interior. It's really purty nice. Looks great, holdin up good? Bro's been overjoyed with the forum & their customer service btw.

Say what you want about em & call them what you will. A Stingray will smoke the competition. For a lot less money. Bro's 4.3'll run 53 with half dozen crew on board. No BS.

Far as it riding rough? Unless they were attempting to perform a circumcision. I doubt the riders could tell the difference between Stingray and it's competitors.

LOL....that reminded me of an old Seinfeld show.....LOL. Anyway, it was an excellent analogy.

We think our classic Stingray rides just fine. Now I could afford a Caddy (or a Lexus if you love rice burners) , but I chose to drive a Chevy. I could also afford to drive A Cobalt, but I chose to to drive a Stingray. Why? Because I'm totally satisfied. Nuff said.

My son's '07 Stingray has upholstery that IMHO is better than my 1984 OEM seats. Nevertheless, the port side seat that everybody uses as a step to get in the boat developed a very slight loosening of the stitching. Not real bad, and certainly better than the showroom stitching in a Bayliner, LOL. Anyway, he mentioned it to the dealer, who called the factory, who forwarded a new seat, shipped inside the next boat that was delivered. In turn, the dealer fedexed the seat to my son (at their own expense) and now he has a new seat. BTW, the boat was several years out of warranty! That's another reason we own a Stingray.