Sea Ray 340. On topic, but be warned.......
 

Nice article, Chuck, but where is the live well? And, I don't recall reading
about the location of the rod holders.

John H

Sorry, John.

This boat is more appropriate for folks aspiring to live well than those
requiring a live well.

As far as the "rod holders".......did you miss that part about the middle aged
guy and his "passengers"?

Sea Ray 340. On topic, but be warned.......
 

Not very well.

One of my neighbors down the canal from me has a Sundancer 290 which
is a fun boat in many respects, but you can see the anchor pulpit flop
up and down when punching through 2 to 3 foot waves. My guess is that
it's only a matter of time before i

Anchor pulpit? Visibly flopping up and down?

My own guess is that a docking accident is more likely to blame than hull
layup.

Sea Ray 340. On topic, but be warned.......
 

Yes on both counts. The boat is under powered, and the fuel capacity
of 225 gallons is on the light side for twin inboards of that size.

Out this way, that 225 gallons provides more than adequate range for extended
weekend cruising. We aren't making high speed 60 mile runs offshore like an
East Coast, Gulf, or SoCal sportfisher. Our typical weekend boater would seldom
cruise more than 50-70 nautical miles roundtrip. With prudent fuel management,
that 225 gal would get a boater from Seattle to the San Juans and back. Barely.

Adequate fuel capacity depends a lot on intended use.

Sea Ray 340. On topic, but be warned.......
 

On 12 Apr 2004 23:20:30 GMT, (Gould 0738) wrote:

Nice article, Chuck, but where is the live well? And, I don't recall reading
about the location of the rod holders.

John H

Sorry, John.

This boat is more appropriate for folks aspiring to live well than those
requiring a live well.

As far as the "rod holders".......did you miss that part about the middle aged
guy and his "passengers"?


Oh, *those* rod holders! I was thinking of "fishing rods" not the other kind of
rod.

A good friend of mine had a 34' Sea Ray, much like the one you reviewed. They
kept it in a marina in Shadyside, MD. Most of the time, during holidays and in
the summer, they lived on it. Of course, the marina had fabulous amenities, but
the boat was very nice.

John H

On the 'Poco Loco' out of Deale, MD
on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay!

Sea Ray 340. On topic, but be warned.......
 

On 12 Apr 2004 23:20:30 GMT, (Gould 0738) wrote:

Nice article, Chuck, but where is the live well? And, I don't recall reading
about the location of the rod holders.

John H

Sorry, John.

This boat is more appropriate for folks aspiring to live well than those
requiring a live well.

As far as the "rod holders".......did you miss that part about the middle aged
guy and his "passengers"?


PS. Don't know if you take pictures while you're riding around, but I just got a
new Nikon D70 digital SLR, and I think it's fantastic!

John H

On the 'Poco Loco' out of Deale, MD
on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay!

Sea Ray 340. On topic, but be warned.......
 

"Gould 0738" wrote in message
...
4,000 RPM is way too fast for reliable operation and decent longevity
on those motors. 3.200 to 3,400 RPM is generally regarded as maximum
cruising speed for gas engines of that type.

You feel the engine needs to be backed off to about 60% of WOT for normal
cruise speed?


It sounds under powered the way it was tested, and it's usually a
mistake to buy an under powered boat. I'd personally order the boat
with bigger gas engines if available, at about 350 hp each for decent
cruising performance in the low to mid 20kt range. For frequent usage
diesels would be an even better choice, and they will return 40 to 50%
of their cost in resale value.


I'd probably never buy a new gas boat myself, but millions of people do.
If you
recover 50% of a $50k upcharge, you still need to save a lot of fuel to
cover
the diff.


If there was a single answer that was always right for everybody, there
wouldn't be much variety in boats. :-)



IU alsways wonder how can they cost $50k ($25k / engine) more? My new
Duramax Diesel truck was only a $7k kicker for diesel, and that included an
Allison automatic tranny.

Sea Ray 340. On topic, but be warned.......
 

IU alsways wonder how can they cost $50k ($25k / engine) more? My new
Duramax Diesel truck was only a $7k kicker for diesel, and that included an
Allison automatic tranny.



New boats are priced according to a consistent standard: What will the market
bear?

Sea Ray 340. On topic, but be warned.......
 

"Gould 0738" wrote in message
...
IU alsways wonder how can they cost $50k ($25k / engine) more? My new
Duramax Diesel truck was only a $7k kicker for diesel, and that included
an
Allison automatic tranny.



New boats are priced according to a consistent standard: What will the
market
bear?

Sorta like my new truck.

Sea Ray 340. On topic, but be warned.......
 

PS. Don't know if you take pictures while you're riding around, but I just
got a
new Nikon D70 digital SLR, and I think it's fantastic!

John H

On the 'Poco Loco' out of Deale, MD
on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay!


I shoot a couple of hundred photos per month for one project or another. With a
keeper ratio of about 30-40%, and the paginator hoping for at least twice as
many photos as anybody else thinks he'll need (or ultimately uses), it burns a
lot of silver.

Will go digital when:

1. Find a 35mm SLR digital, 5 megapixels (sp?) that will accept my Zeiss
lenses.

2. Costs under a $geezel. If I drop one overboard or off the dock, I'd rather
have an
"unfortunate financial experience" than a mini disaster. $1k= unfortunate day
at the office. $4k= mini disaster.

So many of the digital cameras can take a photo of a housefly atop a flagpole
at the other end of a football field- but cannot capture enough in wide angle
mode to be useful for interior photos of a boat. With my 19mm lens I can stand
at the edge of even very small compartments and get a photo that tells a lot
about the interior....

Of course, that same lens makes the
main salon on a 28 footer look as long as a bowling alley, so there's no
perfect solution.......only a choice between available compromises. Much like
boats in general -or other aspects of life. :-)

Sea Ray 340. On topic, but be warned.......
 

On 12 Apr 2004 23:02:19 GMT, (Gould 0738) wrote:

You feel the engine needs to be backed off to about 60% of WOT for normal
cruise speed?

==================================================

Not necessarily, it depends on how the boat is propped, but 3,400
should be regarded as a maximum cruise RPM for any normal gas engine.
Ideally the boat should be propped so that 70% of WOT brings you to
about 3,200 to 3,400 RPM. That way the engine is developing about
half of its rated horsepower at cruising speed. Diesels are usually
spec'd out to run at 85% of WOT which works out to about 70% of full
horsepower.