Sea Ray

Robert, I thought you should see a”post” I made today on the SeaRay owners chat site.
I am not angry at you or Brett but I am very frustrated. I still consider you a friend.
I feel that my boat has had excessive service issues. It has been out of service for my use for at least 4-6 weeks not counting the time it took for the original delivery after purchase.
I really do wonder if I bought a “lemon”.
I still think my boat was heavily used as a “Demo” and we should have been to told that. It had almost 3 hours of use before I bought. Considering most pleasure boats don’t put much more than 20 hours a year on them, that seems excessive.
It also had body damage on the front of the bow at delivery. I was not too concerned at the time because it would not be the last nicks or scratches it got.
Since, I chose not to buy a trailer I am also concerned about future non warranty service problems and the cost to repair.
I guess I should have more seriously considered an extended warranty. Now I know why the boat warranty was so expensive.
That said if I continue to have service issues, I might need to look at more serious options.

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Posted on the SeaRay Owner’s Chat site (https://ownersclub.searay.com/lightning/r/0D52S00007Mwm5F/view)
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I bought a new SeaRay 2018 230 SLX-W (surf boat) about 5 months ago. I have had multiple warranty electronic issues since.
The manual has from day one been useless.
This from a boat that cost more than twice as much as my first home.
****Last weekend none of the dashboard systems (dynamic display, bilge pump, etc) or other accessory systems worked.
Oddly, the engines still would turn over and start.
I have no idea if the steering system worked.
Another issue was the electrical engine hatch cover would not work so I had no access to the batteries.
The fuse boxes were also very inaccessible. We never could determine which fuse controlled these electrical items.
I was told by my dealership’s service writer that most likely only a technician could manually open up the engine hatch cover (“It would probably be too complicated for me”). The service writer also recommended that I let a technician deal with any fuse issue.
After quite a few long cell calls to the service writer in 98 degree heat (Texas), we gave up using the boat that day. He was also talking to some of the dealerships technicians.
The week before this issue, the dealer’s technician on the lake had to replace a relay switch for one of the joy stick thrusters. It took two weeks to get that part. I suspect that may have caused the subsequent electrical problems.
FYI, the service writer extended great effort to try to solve these. I would hire him as an employee.
We still have not been able to use the boat. In fact, it has been out of commission for weeks on different occasions since I purchased.

****I honestly think I may have bought a “lemon”. I now wonder why if I should have bought the expensive extended warranty?
****At any point, does anyone know if this model also has the same battery charging issue noted above for the SLX 280? Do I need to add some type of “emergency backup parallel switch between the House and Starting batteries” considering my other electrical issues?
****Jumping cables would be useless if I am unable to lift the engine hatch cover.
****Has anyone else had excessive service issues with a 230 SLX-W?
****After the first few service issues, I was told that the boat had had few service issues by others.
https://ownersclub.searay.com/lightning/r/0D52S00007Mwm5F/view