My new 1972 sea ray

[drewmitch44]

Im pretty new to fiberglass boats ive owned a lot of aluminums. Ive used all of them for freshwater bass fishing. Ive beed decking out at least 48 beam jon and semi v util's for years. Im verry close to the delaware bay like 10 min from bowers beach. ive been surfing this site for about 2 years now on a daily basis. I mean i check every forum and read all i can. It seams like people on here make others soo afraid of wood rot that they dont want to buy anything. Im starting to find that it is not true. When you read this forum everyone makes it sound like if your boat gets rained on you might as well pull up the floor and replace all the stringers. Ohh man im not going on your boat it got rained on like 3 years ago. Just my opinion. Ive learned so much from this forum. I aquired a 73 18' sea ray in prestine condition. Transom and stringers strong!! See the drainage works and i think thats the key. IMHO

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: My new 1972 sea ray

I think a lot of those concerns come from people who have bought neglected boats.There are way more neglected ones out there than the well cared for.
You ever notice the boats that are parked in peoples yards with no cover over them?So may people think,well its a boat and water does not hurt it! They don't realize its made to go in the water not water into it!
It makes me sick to see boats only a couple years or so old that get rained in all the time.Some people have no common sense.
My 20 year old StarCraft is solid but has always been covered.It has the original floor and carpet that looks good.
My 26 year old ChrisCraft is as solid as the day it was built,although the only wood is a couple cross braces between the stringers they look fine.And it has no carpet,the best thing they could do for a boat.Just wash it with soap and water and never worry about it needing to dry out..
GOOD LUCK WITH THE NEW BOAT!!

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: My new 1972 sea ray

the sea ray was one of the best quality boats of that time, and still is. but, they also built that Demon, which was cost cutting, and profitable for them, the BAYLINER. they have finally started building a better quality bayliner, also the bayliner was and attractive entry level boat. people used and abused them. yes you can find a good old bayliner, if it's been cared for, garaged, or kept covered. i buy, restore and sell boats, you'd be amazed at what i pass up, even when free.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: My new 1972 sea ray

Brunswick bought both Bayliner and SeaRay in 1986. Before then, they were both independent companies. Bayliner's quality was already slipping by the time Brunswick bought them.

In the 70's Bayliner built a high quality boat. It was 1979 and the early 80's when gas started rising that started killing boat sales and Bayliner reacted by getting the price down on their boats. In turn, quality suffered.

but, they also built that Demon, which was cost cutting, and profitable for them, the BAYLINER.

SeaRay had nothing to do with building the "Demon" Bayliner.