Rinker or Sea Ray

Thanks,

Dennis

That type of response reminds me of something the king of the dojo would say.

?; * )

You always read a lot of angst into things where it doesn't exist. Not everybody is in an emotional knot all the time. (And here's the secret, stop giving a darn about what people you don't know and will never meet think about you- or whether they think about you at all).

My original question was: "Do you have some basis for that statement, (opinion) or is it purely rhetorical?"

Your repsonse was a non-answer- you chose to challenge my reading perception. However, based on the nature of your response its easy to conclude that there was no basis of either information or experience for your statement and it was indeed purely rhetorical.

As I then pointed out, one could always advise anybody to compare any two products, no matter how dissimilar, because there's a chance that the product normally considered to be of lesser quality might have better components than the product typically considered superior.

I am not familiar with the quality of Rinker boats. That is why I asked him to compare hardware and fittings to see how it compares to the Sea Ray. For all I know it *may* meet or exceed Sea Ray's "quality"..with BTW became an urban legend shortly after Brunswick purchased them.

http://www.boattest.com/index.aspx

okbimmer@cox.net wrote:

Yep, and they did not influence designs until 1989 or 1990 if I recall. The quality also went into the dumper at that same time.

Yeah, that's the ticket. ;)

Some food for thought:

http://www.docksidereports.com/boatreviews/searay_250_sundancer.htm

http://www.yachtsurvey.com/boatreviews/sundancer_290.htm

While Pascoe is not God, he does show some serious production flaws in fairly high priced boats. But I guess the gold chain wearing crowd with small private parts think they are being admired when they cruise the water in their Sea Ray as image is everything to some. ;-)

Summing up: On the outside, the overall quality is pretty good. Not much chintzy hardware, and the basic structures are holding up well. With care, it still looks good. The rub rails aren't all loose, dented and falling off, and stress cracking is minimal. As a used boat, it offers excellent value. As a new boat, they're still hard to beat quality wise, but the quality margin over the competition can be a pretty thin line at times.

Anyone thinking that SR quality did not take a nose dive shortly after Brunswick purchased them knows nothing about boats.

You need to talk to your surveyor, David Pascoe, he seems to disagree with your appraisal of SeaRay going down the crapper.

His comments concerning a 1995 SeaRay include: Many of our readers think that we knock Sea Ray too hard. Some ask questions like, "You don't like Sea Rays very much, do you?" Actually, compared to the competition, we like them just fine, albeit with some serious nitpicking.

However, being the largest selling boat builder in the world, and although their boats have a reasonably well-deserved reputation for quality we've long felt that, for the price, there was plenty of room for improvement

One should *compare* KIA and Mercedes Benz. Who knows? The KIA *may* be a better car. :-)

===

Having another bad day Chuck?

I have two neighbors with late model Rinker 34 express cruisers, one bough used, one bought new. They are both happy with the boats and they seem to be decent quality. However the neighbor with the new boat has had a lot of dealer service issues which might be a local problem.

My perception is that they do not ride as well in a chop as a comparable Searay, probably because of less deadrise in the hull but I don't know the exact numbers.

One should *compare* KIA and Mercedes Benz. Who knows? The KIA *may* be a better car. :-)

The Rinker is 1 year younger with 400 less hours on the engine. The Sea Ray is 400 hours closer to a rebuilt.....ka-ching!

Make sure the owner has maintenance receipts (and perhaps a maintenance and repair log) that confirms the hour meter reading. If not I might tend to dismiss the hour meter reading....it too easy to disconnect it.

Sea Ray has better name recognition than Rinker thanks mainly to great marketing. On the other hand the Rinker may actually have higher quality hardware and workmanship. Compare the quality of things like deck rails (welded or t-fittings, diameter) and cabin cabinetry and hardware.

Do both boats offer similar helm electronics? How old is the canvas?

Make an offer contingent on a structural and mechanical (including engine compression) survey.

If I dig out the Powerboat Guide from 1998, (back when the Rinker was new) the corporate "puff statement" (normally supplied by or influenced and approved by the builder) empasizes that the company "builds a series of affordably priced models".

The lead sentence on the 260/265 Fiesta Vee reads, "The Rinker 260/265 Fiesta Vee is an economy-priced mid-cabin family cruiser with an attractive profile to go with her relatively narrow 8-foot, 6-inch beam." The fact that economy pricing is used as a preface for the rest of the description is seldom a good sign.

The third sentence on the 266 Fiesta Vee reads "Like all Rinker models, the 266 is a fairly straightforward boat, affordaby priced and conservatively built on a solid fiberglass deep-V hull"

The lead sentence on the 280 Fiesta Vee reads, "Like all Rinker models, the 280 Fiesta Vee is a budget-priced, no-glitz package."

The lead sentence for the Rinker 300 Fiesta Vee reads, "The Rinker 300 Fiesta Vee is a sporty and affordably priced express cruiser......"

etc, etc etc,

That wouldn't give a lot of folks much reason to expect better harware and workmanship than found on a Sea Ray.

The only other boat brand that comes to mind that makes such a point of crowing about affordable pricing starts with a letter very near the beginning of the alphabet.

It may well be that Rinker boats are different now than they were in 1998 and that the company is trying to market from a quality, rather than a price standpoint. However, as the original poster is looking at a 1998 model it's more useful to see how the company viewed its place in the market back then, as opposed to what they may be trying to do in 2007. "We build cheaper boats" isn't the world's most encouraging mission statement.

Not to say that an individual, nine year old 1998 Rinker couldn't be a better boat than an individual, nine year old 1998 Sea Ray, of course... but I'd be surprised to learn that they were generally better boats when new.

======

Note the key word *may* Chuck. I am also asking him to *compare* the quality.

IMO Sea Ray is overpriced and it's reputation as being a 1st class boat is overstated.

Got it now? Good. ;-)