Sea Ray Sundancer 350 Coupe: Review

The traditional Sundancer has been immensely popular. The classic sportscruisers improved when the canopy became a moulded hardtop with clear infills. Then owners said they were done with those clear panels and so now we have the Coupe variant to answer their call.

The first in a new genre of Sundancers, the 350 Coupe was released at the 2016 Fort Lauderdale Boat Show. Following that, at the annual Yacht Expo held at Captiva Island in Southwest Florida, we were among the first international journalists to test this new boat ushering in a whole new family of ‘Dancers.

Our first impressions were that the 350 Coupe is a great looking sportscruiser, with deep windows and a pretty line. It’s got a deep-vee performance hull, a feeling of solidity and integrity on the water, new levels of fit and finish, and a very good split between deck and down-below living spaces.

Being the open-backed Coupe, you have a large single-level cockpit and helm station well protected from the elements. At the blunt end, the swim platform is expansive, while walkaround decks lead to a new foredeck entertaining area. Sea Ray calls it the “wow bow” and it does join the chorus of clever redesigned bows on a lot of 2017 Sea Rays.

This 350 Coupe proved to be a dry boat, doubly so inside the helm enclosure, which was especially well vented. The boat comes with an electric sunroof, side opening windows and a special hardtop scoop vent system. There’s just no stuffiness, even in Florida, nor does the boat suffer from the station-wagon effect of spray sucking back aboard.

Given how well this boat performed on a choppy afternoon on Gulf waters, and the outstanding practicality of the decks above and below, one could rightfully expect more Sea Ray Coupes in the Sundancer line-up. We are sure that will happen and we feel this new Sea Ray Coupe is very well suited to Australian boating.

PRICE AND EQUIPMENT
- Premium pricing and equipment on a premium product
While the 30-40ft market is price conscious, Sea Ray isn’t racing to the bottom and instead pitches itself as a premium product. A feeling of quality pervades this 350 Coupe, from the tidy fit and finishes, to the upmarket upholstery and sturdy stainless steel gear, the level of design complexity in the mouldings, to the much-improved engineering in the engine bay, and the latest electronics and operating systems.

Realising it’s all about creating boats to meet individual demands, Sea Ray offers stack of options including a generator and air-conditioning (standard below decks) that made our Florida cruise off Captiva Island even more luxurious on what is already an airy Coupe with plenty of natural ventilation. The photos accompanying this story include a mix of our shots from the launch and stock Sea Ray pics that we have included to show options such as electric cockpit awning and transom barbecue.

Engine-wise, there are two main power variants: petrol or diesel sterndrives or petrol or diesel vee drives. Deciding which is the power match for you probably has a lot to do with budget. We tested the base 350hp MerCruiser 6.2L MPI petrol engine combination with Axius joystick controller. Suffice to say, it was an easy fingertip exit from the dock and it proved a smart performer.

Besides engines, drives, generators and air-con, which are the big options, you can add Mercury’s automatic Active Trim system, an extended swim platform, hydraulic swim step, various Raymarine digital dash fitouts, optional electric rear-cockpit Sun Shade, rear camper canvass for a full all-weather enclosure, and a range of cool coloured hulls among other things. The blue hull on test (last photo, docked, with American flags flying) helped create a snappy looking Coupe.

The base price for this Sundancer 350 Coupe with the 350hp MerCruiser 6.2L MPI was around $550k, while the ultimate diesel vee-drive configuration with a 350hp 4.2L Mercury 370 diesel TDI engines and generator and air-con is likely to add about $120k to that price. A key point to bare in mind here is that this 350 Coupe delivers with a great ride, quality build and there’s going to be strong resale value for the entrenched brand Down Under.

LAYOUT AND ACCOMMODATION
- Bow to stern usability and sleeping for six
A big feature of this 350 Coupe is the new and enhanced foredeck seating, which is in keeping with Sea Ray’s design push to re-imagine the foredeck area and create a second go-to entertaining space.

The walkaround decks lead forward to U-shaped seating around a deep footwell, with flip-up articulating padded backrests on the seats that create sun lounges, plus integrated speakers and drinkholders. It’s not like the old sportscruisers where you lolled and rolled about a convex moulded non-skid foredeck — now you get a dedicated luxury bow lounging area.

Our boat had a decent swim platform with manual flip-over centre swim step, which is all you need as opposed to the hydraulic option. But the extended swim platform is a boon. The transom ‘boot’ has the usual expected storage holds, which extend throughout the cockpit and in underseat holds.

You can get a neat inbuilt transom “Gourmet Station” with griddle and sink (extended swim platform mandatory with this option), A stainless steel U Bar with a couple of rod holders and drop-in barbecue — stainless gas bottle or hooked to your 240V outlet if you have a generator fitted — is the local option from your Sea Ray dealer. Add a dinghy on snap davits and you’re set.

The U-shaped cockpit seating, lunch table, and lounge opposite, behind the swivel helm seat, gain shade at midday under the optional electric SureShade sunshade. Or you could save and add a zip in Euro-type awning with poles.

Either way, it’s going to be a nice boat to lunch aboard. There’s great seating for up to six and, with cockpit canopy, you could convert the table to an outdoor bed and sleep up here. Meantime, the co-pilot lounge is a Cleopatra-style aft-facing number that lets you recline on the run or sit facing forward using the backrest at the other end.

You’ll should tick the dual-voltage cockpit fridge option, but the standard Rockford Fosgate stereo sounded great and helped us jump into the Florida cruising groove.

Below decks, the 350 Coupe has an open-plan layout — standard Chestnut joinery on the demo photographed here or optional Cherry or Pecan — with two permanent double cabins with memory foam mattresses. The sleeping for four gains privacy from curtains rather than bulkheads.

While there is the option of an enclosed aft cabin, the standard open arrangement enhances the feeling of space. Headroom and sizing is built around, well, Americans, so there’s plenty of room to move. The sleeping can be boosted with the conversion of saloon dinette for another two kids.

The galley-down layout at the foot of the stairs is handy for feeding the troops up top, although we’d use this 350 Coupe more as a barbecue boat by day. Given the great accommodation for weekending, the galley with its fridge, two-burner cooktop and microwave oven will fire-up for reheats and easy meal prep.

A big feature of this new 350 Coupe is the separate shower stall and Vacuflush head. It’s akin to what you might expect in a 40 footer, with upmarket vanity with floating sink and opening portlights for ventilation. The 151 litres of water and 106lt holding tank are in keeping with the boat’s weekender duties.

HULL AND ENGINEERING
- Deep vee with a lot of top gear
Having driven a lot of Coupes, many of them price conscious boats from the big European marques, this Sea Ray Sundancer 350 felt markedly different on the water. There’s’ a lot of boat underfoot and a big footprint from a deep-vee hull with 20 degrees of deadrise.

Along with the solid build and sweet hull, the fit-out is first class with no rattles or vibration in the moulded Coupe enclosure where sound can reverberate. While the mouldings are finishes are high quality, there have also been engineering improvements

A push-button engine bay lift raises the cockpit floor for terrific access to the twin 350hp 6.2L MerCruiser V8 engines. With a quick pre-departure check, I noted top access to the bilge, strainers, batteries and pumps, plus the tanks and generator.

Good sound insulation added to the low noise levels, while the 810 litres of fuel will satisfy this boat’s recreational cruising and ‘coving’ application. If not the scenery, then our boat had an LED TV in the saloon with Blu Ray player and gaming system for those wet weekends.

ON THE WATER
- A smooth cruiser with driving and family pleasure
With the wind assisting, we easily decamped from the dock using the Axius joystick, crabbing it off the jetty before idling down some-palm-lined Florida channels, passing pelicans and guys casting lures off skiffs, before heading out into the Gulf of Mexico. The wind was blowing about 15 knots and it was getting choppy.

Alongside was TJ O’Grady, a Product Development Engineer at Sea Ray Boats, who was pretty chuffed about getting this Coupe now that the wind had whipped up. We used the wipers a few times, but this is a dry boat. The forward-facing hardtop vent, sunroof and side windows all provided natural ventilation, although we had air-con to spoil us.

The dash is quite traditional, with a spread of analogue gauges and a big bank of rocker switches — typical American style — and no Raymarine navigation screen in place as yet, however, there’s a dedicated facia ready to take a 12in MFD. You would add a nav screen for sure.

Vision was excellent, the transition to planing speed without labouring or undue bow rise, due to the twin 6.2L MerCruiser engine’s known torque traits, and their Bravo 3 counter-rotating props and blade area. Thus, the base engines we had rate as a good match, though there’s plenty of room to make this a faster ‘Dancer using 380hp 8.2s. Personally, I’d go diesel if paying for an upgrade.

Somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico, I noted our cruise at 4000rpm was 26-27 knots, with low noise and vibration levels in the climate controlled Coupe. While others were hammering around at this Yacht Expo in open boats and now getting wet, O’Grady  and I were kind of chuffed cruising through the melee while remaining pleasantly dry. As indeed would your family seated around you. Fumes and spray were both absent. It’s a comfortable boat.

Due to two things, a now choppy Gulf and the time constraints from the Yacht Expo media event — we had six boats to ride and drive — I was strapped for time. We did hit a top speed flying downwind along North Captiva Island, I didn’t record it. I can tell you it was nicely in control with no worrying traits.

Scooting downwind and downsea around 5400rpm WOT I’d say we hit around 35-37 knots. Meanwhile, power-assisted steering and Digital Throttle and Shift add to the driving pleasure. I pretty much cruised this boat in one lever synchro mode at sea. It’s a nice Coupe.

VERDICT
- A high quality all-weather family cruiser
This Sundancer 350 Coupe is plenty fast enough, but in the important speeds for its likely purpose it also rates as a comfortable, all-weather, climate-controlled cruising conveyance, a weekender that can seep a family of four in comfort, and a decent Sunday entertainer.

We didn’t get any sense of the added weight up top or an adverse change to stability. In other words the 350 hull wears its new hat well. As such, we feel this new Sundancer 350 Coupe would be well-suited to Australian waters, our bays and harbours and rivers around which our cities are built, and from the tropics like Florida to a chilly Melbourne.

Indeed, the biggest challenge for the Sundancer 350 Coupe comes from the big European yards. There is a lot of keenly priced Coupe competition. Buyers mightn’t appreciate the difference of the ‘Dancer till they take one for a ride. Hopefully, we’ve helped convey that message. Because Coupe cruising is poised to become a bigger feature in the Sundancer future and it’s not without good reason.

RATINGS
Overall rating: 4.66/5.0
Mechanical/equipment: 4.7/5.0
Packaging and practicality: 4.8/5.0
On the water performance: 4.7/5.0
Value for money: 4.5/5.0
X-factor: 4.6/5.0

LIKES
>> Great weather protection at the helm deck inside the Coupe
>> One-level entertaining and seating area with great views
>> Dedicated foredeck seating and deep swim platform
>> Open-plan accommodation sleeps up to six
>> Bathroom with separate shower stall
>> Top quality build, no rattles, attention to detail
>> Deep-vee hull with smooth and quiet ride

NOT SO MUCH
>> Wipers don’t clear the middle section of the windscreen
>> Price premium over the European coupes

Specifications: Sea Ray Sundancer 350 Coupe
Price: From about $550k with twin 350hp MerCruiser 6.2L MPI ECT with Bravo  3 sterndrives; about $670 with top spec diesel twin Mercury 370 Diesel TDI 4.2L with Vee Drives and generator. You could spec one up with the lot for about $730k in diesel Vee Drive configuration.
Length Overall: 10.67m with integral swim platform
Length Overall: 11.45m with extended swim platform
Beam: 3.45m
Deadrise: 20 degrees
Dry Weight: 8525kg
Fuel: 810lt
Water: 151lt
Holding Tanks: 106lt
Sleeping 4+2+2
Engines: Twin 350hp MerCruiser 6.2L V8 MPI ECT with Bravo 3 drives and Axius joystick docking