Spotlight: Sea Ray SLX 260

The Sea Ray SLX 260 launches a new design language for the more premium end of the US boat brand’s model range.

Significantly, this boat is also the first designed by an all-female team led by Sea Ray senior design manager Carrie Fodor and Brunswick Boat Group senior industrial designer Kristin McGinnis.

Available in either a sterndrive layout or hanging an outboard engine off the back, the Sea Ray SLX 260 is also available as a standard boat, or as of next year, as a Surf model.

The new Sea Ray SLX 260 Surf combines the luxury of the base models, but is more geared to owners chasing the excitement of watersports.

Another big difference between the Surf and other SLX 260 models is the way it propels itself through the water.

While the Sea Ray SLX 260 uses a 6.2-litre Mercury Mercruiser V8 driving a Bravo 3 sterndrive, the Surf version uses a 430hp 8.2-litre Mercury Mercruiser V8 driving a forward-facing twin-prop Bravo 4 system.

The Sea Ray SLX 260 Outboard, meanwhile, is powered using a 4.6-litre V8 Mercury Verado outboard engine.

The advantage of both the sterndrive and outboard-engined versions of the Sea Ray SLX 260 is that you can tilt the leg up and out of the water, making it easy to sneak up to a beach. However, because the Surf version uses a pod extending below the boat to drive it, beaching isn’t likely to be an option.

Why go for the inboard versions over the outboard one? The big advantage is the rear swim deck that extends off the transom of the Sea Ray SLX 260 and the SLX 260 Surf, which extends across the full beam of the boat and includes a drop-down middle section that makes getting in and out of the water much easier. On the Outboard version, the well used to mount the outboard engine eats into the space, so access is via a fold-away ladder. 

Ideally, the Sea Ray SLX 260 range will suit dry-docking, although for those owners who would prefer to leave it on a hardstand, the boat can come with a trailer that slips under it.

The Sea Ray SLX 260’s standard layout includes a bow lounge up front, and a U-shaped lounge behind the split console that has the helm on the starboard side and the first mate/observer’s seat to port.

The console in front of the observer’s seat opens up to reveal a space large enough to use as a changeroom and house an onboard toilet for the comfort of those who don’t want to jump in the water.

Behind the helm is a large U-shaped lounge with a small table, deep seatbacks and plenty of underseat storage options.

A companionway built into the starboard side of the lounge leads through to a rear sun lounge and the swim deck.

The floor includes a large ski locker forward, and a transom locker handy for storing lifejackets, floating mats and inflatable water toys such as sea biscuits.

The Sea Ray SLX 260 isn’t just made for daylight hours, either. Once the sun sets the boat’s interior lights up with LED features and courtesy lighting. You can even option it to project a Sea Ray logo on the cockpit floor. Sounds are taken care of via a Fusion audio system.

Also available for those who will use the Sea Ray SLX 260 for watersports is Sea Ray’s Power Tower, which provides removable shade via its T-top configuration, acts as a platform for lights and speakers, and also increases board and ski storage via side racks.

The boats feature twin 9.0-inch Simrad multifunction touchscreens to display all the engine and boat data, as well as providing a smartphone connection to the boat that can alert you should anything not look right.

The Sea Ray SLX 260 is available in Australia from dealerships including Chapman Marine, Sydney.