Sea Ray 200 BR - Excessive Bow Rise?

[crqflier]

Looking at purchasing a 2002 Sea Ray 200 BR and read an owner review on boattest where the owner felt that the boat was excessively stern heavy, beyond being an annoyance. I know trim tabs might help solve, but I'm not sure I'm interested in a boat inherently unbalanced. Does anyone else have this experience with this boat? Or is this just one voice with an extreme view? Thoughts?

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Sea Ray 200 BR - Excessive Bow Rise?

Sounds like too many fatties in the back seat. There is absolutely no reason you should have to put trim tabs on a runabout to get it to plane properly.

But as always, the best thing to do is to drive it yourself and see for yourself.

 

[crqflier]

Re: Sea Ray 200 BR - Excessive Bow Rise?

Definitely going to take it for a ride. It's 350 miles away, so I'm looking for info prior to making the trip - like if this model is known for having issues. Nice Jeep by the way - I've got a somewhat built TJ.

Any other experiences out there?

 

[gozierdt]

Re: Sea Ray 200 BR - Excessive Bow Rise?

I have a 1988 20' Sea Ray, and it is a bit lighter from the spec sheet on the 2002, but mine only has the V6- 220 hp, whereas the 2002 has the V8- 260hp. I love my boat, and I think with the bigger engine the 2002 would have plenty of performance. All I/O boats are "stern heavy", by definition they all have the engine and outdrive sitting right at the transom. So I doubt anyone saying that an I/O is "excessively, or dangerously" stern-heavy, especially from a top-tier maker like Sea Ray. Another possibility is that the guy who wrote the bad review didn't know how to work his trim right. If you leave the trim way out and take off, the bow will rise a lot (relative to a proper take-off).

Sea Ray has a very good model archive on their site. Here are the details for the boat you're going to look at, including some videos of the boat at speed.

http://www.searay.com/Page.aspx/pageId/10532/Model-Archives.aspx

Oops, I tried the link above, it only takes you to the entry point to the archives. Just enter
in the year and model on that page, it'll take you to that particular boat...

 

[crqflier]

Re: Sea Ray 200 BR - Excessive Bow Rise?

Great link. I had found the brochure, but not the full archive. I also contacted Sea Ray about construction of the boat after not finding a clear answer on the board anywhere regarding hull construction - where is wood used? Here's what I got back:

Thank you for your inquiry regarding the Sea Ray 200 Bow Rider. This model does have the full fiberglass cockpit floor liner that eliminates the wood floor and stringers. There is a special treated wood panel used in the transom, which is sealed in place with fiberglass and resin. This is still the current process for the transom, as we have found that the treated wood provides the best support for the transom area and there have been no issues with this material.