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David Lockwood1 Aug 2005
REVIEW

Sunrunner 2800 Sports Cruiser

In a market where buyers want the most boat for their money and the competition has never been stiffer, the new Sunrunner 2800 Sports Cruiser puts its rivals in the shade, says David Lockwood

You need to know something about the enormity of the American boating market to understand the challenges that confront our local manufacturers. According to the latest figures from the National Marine Manufacturers Association there were estimated to be 69 million people participating in recreational boating in America last year, and the value of the boats they bought was in the order of US$17.61 billion.

The rise and rise of the inboard-powered sportscruiser created the most valuable niche and by a good margin. Sales of these boats amounted to more than US$3.33 billion, representing an increase of 10.4 per cent on the previous year. The average price of each inboard-powered cruiser was US$387,771 and sales jumped from 8100 units in 2003 to 8600 units in 2004.

Cast a glance over your waterway or boat show and you'll see them - any number of new sportscruisers that, in this increasingly globalised world, are searching for homes outside their homeland. Add the free trade agreement, removal of the five per cent import duty, and the strong Aussie dollar, and one would assume a certain degree of, well, insanity in Australian boatbuilders making sportscruisers to compete with the big Americans. Right? Wrong!

Rather than run from the frontline, Australian boatbuilders Sunrunner are launching an assault on this very market. This is a war they have waged since before they were awarded the 2002 Boat of the Year for their excellent 3400 Sport Cruiser. While Sunrunner sales in ensuing years haven't exactly stopped the big American wheels in their tracks - they've been more like a speed bump at best - the honest Australian Sunrunners have laid claim to many marina berths in our waterways.

Following the release of its the huge 4800 flagship a few years back, Sunrunner has now developed an entry-level sportscruiser to tempt new blood to the market. Something of a giant killer, Sunrunner's 28-footer has a 3.0m beam that, for example, compares favourably against the 2.87m beam of the American SeaRay 315, yet its ride doesn't suffer as a trade-off for the ample volume like your typical, top-heavy, more-is-better boat. 

BIG FOR YOUR BUCK
Priced under $150,000 with factory options, the Sunrunner 2800 is exactly the kind of boat that trailerable owners will consider stepping up to. Wide it might be, but the 28-footer is easily slotted into a dry stack, stowed at a small boutique marina near home, or moored at a private jetty or on an airdock. And with a single V8 petrol inboard motor (twin V6s are optional), the boat won't cost the world to run to your nearby anchorage or overnight bolthole.

To make life even more comfortable the dealer had factory-fitted options including the U-shaped cockpit seating in place of the standard rear bench seat, Shorepower so you can cook dinner at the marina, a battery charger, and an LCD TV/DVD to keep the kiddies entertained below decks. Hot water comes standard, but most owners will presumably add an invertor and microwave for reheating meals away from the dock.

While lacking imagination in the finish, the early demo version of the Sunrunner 2800 tested here ushers in a number of improvements. There will be a full moulded internal liner in place of carpeted walls, and perhaps some softening of the large white expanse of cabin ceiling. On deck, the large amount of white fibreglass might be softened by the judicious use of cushions if not two-tone vinyl upholstery.

Yet the fundamentals are in place on the new Sunrunner 2800 and the solid GRP hull structure, fair mouldings and generous proportions are a great foundation.

Down below, the boat has generous full standing headroom, which certainly isn't a given on 28ft sportscruisers, while the wide beam creates a broad footprint for daytime entertaining and cruising with the whole clan. 

TOUR OF DUTY
The full-width integrated boarding platform features a concealed swim ladder, and an aft boot holds the Shorepower connection, main battery-management panel, and the breaker for the windlass that gives push-button anchoring from the dash. There's room left over to stow the Shorepower lead, mooring lines and fender.

A nearby hot/cold deck shower lets you wash the salt off after a swim to ensure a decent night's sleep aboard. Storage space for tubes, fishing and dive gear, and picnic equipment exists in the cockpit. The moulded amenities centre behind the helm seat features a sink with H/C mixer and an icebox for drinks. The gas bottle locker was vented and with gas on tap you might as well fit an aftermarket gas barbie to the rail.

This boat's optional seating layout comprised a U-shaped lounge set around a moulded table that allows four people to do lunch on deck. There is an option that allows this lounge and table to convert to a daybed. Being a boat sloth, I would insist on that.

The helm bucket seat will be changed to a bolster-type seat, I'm told, and there's a longitudinal co-pilot lounge opposite for as many as three people. The opening four-piece windscreen, bimini top and moulded targa arch, which harbours lights and weatherproof speakers for the stereo, come standard.

Remove the table and its base and, with the help of a stainless-steel gas strut, you can lift the floor hatch - note the big drains around the hatch - to access the engine bay. The installation and engineering in general are excellent. All the seacocks are bronze and double-clipped below the waterline, there's a separate engine-start and house batteries, and a very generous 100lt holding tank for a boat of this size.

Water of 200lt will last a couple of days, while the 280lt fuel should suffice for daytrips to popular anchorages and neighbourhood marinas. Watch the fuel gauge if you opt for the 320hp V8 engine or the twin V6 petrol motors. Single diesel engine options are also available.

Access to the foredeck can be gained one of two ways: there are tight but rail-assisted non-skid sidedecks and there are moulded steps in the dash and an opening windscreen. Many cruising partners prefer this latter route and, while you need to duck under the bimini top, it is the safer of the two routes forward.

COLOSSAL CABIN
The big beam, raised foredeck and deep hull suggest a voluminous cabin, which this boat most definitely has for a 28-footer. You need to mind your head as you descend the companionway, but once inside you'll be treated to a saloon with a lofty full 1.88m of headroom.

 The cherrywood dinette in the bow converts to a double vee-berth - the optional Sharp LCD can be viewed from here - with stylish reading lights, two port lights, plus a hatch for natural light. The blue carpet and excellent cream upholstery can stay, but the big moulded white ceiling liner needs to be softened.

The portside midships galley has plenty of headroom and a nearby porthole for ventilation. The faux-granite moulded black bench tops have room to assemble lunch but no fiddle rails. There is only modest storage in three skinny cupboards, but the amenities included a handy 240V outlet for running appliances when hooked to Shorepower, a two-burner gas stove and a 12V bar-sized fridge tucked under the companionway stairs.

However, to my eye, the aft cabin appeared the pick of the places to hunker down, with an inviting double mattress beckoning away from the slap of water on the chines, and a double-width lounge from which you could pull on your clobber. All that was lacking was a second porthole for creating cross flow ventilation.

Incredibly, the moulded starboard head has headroom, plus an electric loo, moulded sink and a water-tank gauge. The boat comes with a hot/cold handheld shower and the moulded surfaces should be easy to clean.

There is clear access to the sump pump and an opening porthole for ventilation.

SURPRISE DRIVE
The 2800's mock-walnut dash sported Mercury engine gauges, with a neat switch panel for lights, pumps, blower, anchor winch and the holding tank, which sure beats having to go below decks to hit switches when at sea where you can dump your tank. There was no holding-tank gauge, but this situation may be amended in future.

The dash also contains drinkholders, while there's a storage area under the seat for stowing personal effects. A Navman depth sounder was bundled with the boat, as were trim tabs, which I anticipate needing often when driving this high-volume boat. Such boats can have a tendency to be unsteady underway.

It took me some time to work out that trim tabs weren't switched on and that the tabs were in fact locked in slightly uneven positions. Once the tabs were rectified, it took no time to be pleasantly surprised by the surefooted ride of this boat and its propensity to stay on an even keel and not lean over too far even in tight turns. The moderate-vee 17 degree dead rise helps keep the boat upright. 

According to my GPS, the boat held plane at eight knots and 2500rpm with the tabs down, but with the tabs off and the MerCruiser's Bravo II sterndrive leg trimmed level the boat produced a very comfortable 24kt cruise at 3500rpm, 26.5kt at 4000rpm, and 29.3kt at 4200rpm. With four adults and half fuel, top speed was about 34kt. Sunrunner says you'll get 36kt when lightly laden.

But underway or at rest, what Sunrunner has produced is a bigger-than-Texas 28-footer that will dwarf many Yankee sportscruiser and make them seem positively pokey.

It's a well-made boat, backed by a five-year hull warranty, and very accommodating. A sense of longevity, integrity and quality should see the new Sunrunner 2800 succeed here despite the assault from the big players in America's billion-dollar sportscruiser market.

HIGHS

  • A huge boat for its length and the bucks
  • Full headroom below decks
  • Accommodation for four
  • A decent head with room to move
  • Good engineering and honest finish
  • Sporty performance for wide, deep hull
  • Long-lasting Australian-made boat

LOWS

  • Too much expansive white fibreglass
  • Head can hit cabin companionway
  • Cabin doesn't lock
  • Obscured vent in gas bottle locker
  • No fiddle rail in galley
  • Needs extra porthole in aft cabin
  • No holding tank gauge

SUNRUNNER 2800 SPORTS CRUISER
PRICE AS TESTED: $149,990 w/ MerCruiser 350 MAG 300hp MPI engine and options
 
OPTIONS FITTED
U-shaped cockpit lounge, Shorepower, battery charger, TV and DVD, safety gear and regos and more
 
PRICED FROM: $137,000 with MerCruiser 350 MAG 300hp MPI engine
 
GENERAL
Material: GRP hull
Type: Moderate-vee monohull
Length Overall: 8.70m
Beam: 3.00m
Draft: About 1.05m
Deadrise: 17º
Weight: About 3500kg dry w/std motor
 
CAPACITIES
Berths: 4
Fuel: 280lt
Water: 200lt
Holding Tanks: 100lt
 
ENGINE
Make/Model: MerCruiser 350 MAG 300hp MPI engine
Type: V8 injected petrol engine
Rated hp: 300hp @ 4800–5200rpm max
Displacement: 5.7lt
Weight: 459kg
Gearboxes (Make/ratio): Bravo 2 sterndrive
Props: Alloy
 
SUPPLIED BY: Webbe Marine, 541 Princess Highway, Kirrawee, Sydney, NSW, tel (02) 9521 7944, or visit www.webmarine.com.au or www.sunrunnercruisers.com
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Written byDavid Lockwood
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