1990 31' Sea Ray Sundancer      Jim Payetta: When you are talking about express cruisers, the name Sea Ray definitely comes to mind. The company has become well known as a quality builder of express cruising style boats. If you are looking to get into a cruising boat that is a comfortable, or if you want to move up from your 24-footer to a 27-footer, the Sea Ray 310 is definitely a boat worth looking at. This week we are at Clift Marines with Mike Burns to look at a Sea Ray Sundancer 310.

      Mike Burns: Sea Ray started the Sundancer 310 in 1990 and has remained on the scene from around 1990 to 1997.

      Jim Payetta: What are the specs of this boat such as the beam, and length?

      Mike Burns: The Sundancer is 36-1 overall, and the beam is 11", 5'.

      Jim Payetta: Let's go aboard and have a look.

     Jim Payetta: Mike, for someone who's moving up from a 24 to 27-footer, what is the difference when you are coming into a boat of this size?

     Mike Burns: Well, the first obvious thing you are going to get in a 27-footer is space. There will be more of a cockpit area and overall the boat will be wider. Having a larger boat will make it a little bit easier for entertaining or if there is going to be children or pets on board.
     In the Sundancer 310 you have the fold down bench seats at the rear, which gives you more room so you can even put a couple of folding chairs out back.

      Jim Payetta: At the helm, we have got a triple seat right?

      Mike Burns: Yes, the seat is a triple layout. Again with the configuration of the mid cabin, they would have to raise the height and make it fairly wide. So, your entryway to down below is right off to the port side. But with this great, bench seat you could easily fit three, possibly four up at the helm.

      Jim Payetta: The helm is everything you expect in a boat this size.
But again, you have got quite a bit of room here. This Meridian 411 even has a customized electronics package.

      Mike Burns: The customized features have already been installed, but again, it does not look overly cluttered and it is a fairly straightforward helm.

      Jim Payetta: There is also quite a bit of room here in the salon area.

      Mike Burns: Yes, you could easily fit four people in the salon area, and there is also good amount of storage space underneath the seats.

      Jim Payetta: What about the galley?

      Mike Burns: The galley is an item that Sea Ray changed from the mid 80's to the 90's to become more modern looking. So in the galley there is a lot more of a modern look with molded plastics or fiberglass giving it a clean feeling.
     Another nice thing they put in the galley that you would not see in a lot of express cruisers is a handrail. Although you may not be doing a lot of cooking while underway it helps when you are making your way through the cabin to keep yourself stabile.

      Jim Payetta: The v-berth in this boat offers quite a bit of room as well.

      Mike Burns: Yes, the v-berth gives a spacious feel, and the Sundancer utilizes curtains that draw across to help give a roomy and airy feel.

      Jim Payetta: You still have three private areas for sleeping? 

      Mike Burns: Yeah, and each area has drawn curtains but most of the time when you are using the boat down below you are awake and the curtains are open giving it a more open feeling. And when it is time to sleep you draw the curtains, and during that time people do not care how much room they have to walk around in.

       Ted Rankine: Doing a sea trial in less than perfect conditions gives the perspective buyer an opportunity to really feel how the boat handles and listen to the engines.
       Our whole shot cast revealed a respectable time to plane for this 31-foot boat. Although some Sundancer 310s were manufactured with stern drive power, this particular boat has b-drives. Now the advantage of b-drives over stern drives in a boat of this size is better handling at slow speed and around the dock. However, what you give up with the increased draft and fixed props is the ability to tip the stern drives up and beach the boat.
       Our water test revealed only one snag, the drawing cables seemed a little sticky and this would be something that a mechanic should check out. This is the reason that you would want to do a water test. Walking through a used boat on shore or under shrink-wrap is one thing, but we recommend you always do a water test, to feel for yourself how the boat actually handles.

      Jim Payetta: Experienced boaters certainly know the Sea Ray name, and even though it is new to the sport, notice that there is a lot of them out on the water, which means you are dealing with an experienced builder.
      The Sundancer 310 has got a good resale value for your boat buying dollars. So if your foot-itis is urging you to move up into that 30 to 32-foot mid-cabin express cruiser range, the Sea Ray Sundancer is a boat worth checking out.

* taken from a transcript of our Footitis Used Boat Profiles on PowerBoat TV 2004 Episode 6 - Order A Copy of the Show