Who made the better quality boat in 1991? Invader or SeaRay?

[almstsobur]

All mechanical and cosmetics being equal, between a 1991 V177 VIRADA and a 1991 SeaRay 170? Both Merc 4.3/Alpha one, both 17 footers. Just in pure quality of the boat what would you guys recommend?

Thank You.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Who made the better quality boat in 1991? Invader or SeaRay?

Pretty much equal. At that age the brand name makes zero difference. Maintenance and the condition of it is worth 99.9999% of it, the brand on the side is the other .000001%.

 

[almstsobur]

Re: Who made the better quality boat in 1991? Invader or SeaRay?

thanks for the reply. I currently own the invader, I put a brand new motor and outdrive in it, about 16 hrs now on both, however the boat still needs new carpet and a fair amount of interior work. I just bumped into a deal on a 91 searay 170 with excellent carpet and interior, I think the deal is sweet enough that it would be cheaper to swap my new motor and outdrive to the searay then it would be to get the invader inside done. however the quality of the boat construction obviously comes in to play as for what route to go.

 

[scoutabout]

Re: Who made the better quality boat in 1991? Invader or SeaRay?

I had a 92 SeaRay 170 for about ten years and although our family loved the boat and got many hundreds of hours out of it, I was not overly impressed by the construction.

Examples? When they cut the hatch for the gas tank into the floor they neither sealed the edges of the hatch nor the floor. Water wicked across it all and rotted everything out. Took ten years, of course, but still.

Another issue I noticed was that the sides of the hull developed very shallow impressions where the fenders hung, so if you took a sightline along the boat from stern to bow, the hull had a very gentle wave to it. This took about a year of sitting at the dock all summer and when I noticed this happening I got some mooring whips for it. It never affected the use or handling of it, and no one even noticed (except me...). Our family has had other fg boats sit at that dock for decades without a hint of this happening.

Loved the lines and looks of the boat but overall - purely average, or even below for construction quality I'd say...

 

[salty87]

Re: Who made the better quality boat in 1991? Invader or SeaRay?

all else equal the cheaper boat is best