Sea Ray

livefortheweeke · ‎07-11-2018

I have a brand new 2018 SPX 190 IB, and I too am a little disappointed with the quality. I realize I didn't buy a Cobalt, and the 190 is their entry boat, but I thought Sea Ray would be a quality brand, especially after watching some of their promo material.

Here are my issues:

1. Dash - There are 6 screws that hold the instrument cluster to the fiberglass console on the boat. All 6 screws came loose and 4 of them fell into the driver console before I figured out what was up. Not wanting to wait to get it to the dealer, I actually bought all new lock nuts and put the cluster back on myself.

2. Snaps - I've had 3 snaps from the mooring and floor mats come undone. I didn't notice the one for the floor mat under the driver console was loose and it scratched the heck out of the floor and widened the screw hole 😞 . Unless you go to pull them up you never know. The other two haven't done any damage, fortunately. I have taken it into the dealer as I've heard you can crack the gel coat if you don't put them in properly. I'm going to see if they'll get me the floor mat under warranty given the snap issues and my "self-warranty" work on the dash.

3. It was delivered with scratches all over it. This could have been done by the dealer, but they supposedly buffed them out. Well, I was in a hurry when I took it home, and it turned out they weren't all buffed out. I decided to take it to a local detailer to made it "look new", rather ironic. Fortunately, the dealer (Skipper Buds, Madison) reimbursed me for the detailing so kudo's to them.

4. I do not have a trailering cover nor did I want one as my experience they are a pain and can wear the boat in spots. However, the passenger/middle floor mat flew out while trailering :(. In addition, the latch for the cooler/rear seat is not nearly strong enough to hold it down while trailering, so it flips up and flaps in the wind. That won't be good for the hinge. So now I am forced into getting a cover or trying to keep that seat from flapping and putting all my mats away everytime we trailer it (We don't have a slip). Checking into a custom cover, I assume the dealer/factory one will be overpriced/poor quality (Looking for others thoughts here??)

That's all I can remember at point. While I have complaints, I do like the various features of the boat, the ride, and overall layout. The 4.5L Mercury has been reliable so far, and after putting on a lower pitched prop it is getting me good whole shot. So not all negative, but......

EricN · ‎07-15-2018

Hey there. I'm in central Florida and have a 2016 19 SPX Select. I had a similar experience with what seemed like an absence of both factory or dealer QC before delivery. My dealer did ultimately make right on everything, which I appreciate. I've learned to put some of our heavier supplies on top of the seat in the boat while we're trailering. The factory cover seems high quality but I didn't get it and can't comment on the cost. I would suggest you may want to try to reach Rob Nye who is the factory representative for customer support, his number is 865-582-2244. I tried to reach him for nearly a year before I finally got a brush-off reply. My overall suggestion is to document everything - with letters or e-mails to the factory and to the dealer, and stay persistent with the dealer. It seems the factory is assuming the dealers will correct all of the delivery imperfections. They definitely haven't created a loyal brand customer in me.

jody_delicci · ‎07-15-2018

Same exact quality issues with 2018 SPX 190. Only I can add that the gauges didn’t work after about 4 hours. Took back to dealer and locknuts had not been put in connections so wires came apart. Also have a screw coming out of the deck for the carpet snap. Now I’m hearing a constant clicking in the helm when turning. Like you said with all there promotional hoopla should be a better quality. Unless they figure “we’ll we are giving a 5 year warranty”

Bojo · ‎07-15-2018

We had a pretty long lost of issues which include but craftmanship and functional items. The boat is perfect from a design and fit for our family but the factory quality control needs to be addressed. (I have 25 yrs of experience in quality in aother industry). The dealer worked hard to make sure we had the boat available for the weekends. As SeaRay restructures its product offering (announced a couple of weeks ago) hopefully they can make their quality processes more focussed and robust.

gilb2000 · ‎07-15-2018

Man I seems like deja vu reading all this. I have a 2017 19 spx. I have had a ton of issues both factory and dealer... bought the boat with the plastic wrap still on it. It was delivered with a hole in the hull. Multiple attempts to fix. Dealer offered my money back thankfully but my wife didn't want the hassle of dealing with somebody else bc she liked the boat we bought . I had the same seat lid for cooler flying open as well as losing the center passanger snap in carpet towing the boat from getting the passenger seat replaced from where the internal framework of the seat came apart. Come to find out the boat is only supposed to be towed with the cover on which I religiously do now. After months of contacting the dealer and Searay directly I got it covered under warramty instead of 560$. I have a hairline crack currently in gel coat where swim deck meets boat. Waiting on it to
Get worse but the dealers already taken pics.. overall I wasn't very impressed with my Searay boat after being told they are the golden standard of boats. But oh well. Lesson learned

livefortheweeke · ‎07-16-2018

Thanks for all your feedback. I at least might try and get some additional warranty coverage, like for my missing mat - after all I fixed my own dash! Also, took the boat out on Lake MI in Door County Wisconsin this weekend (after 20-hour service), speedometer didn't work? Add that to the list like I see some others. They've been making boats for how long???

Andy_H · ‎07-16-2018

My 190 SPX OB was assembled and inspected by meth addicts. I could go on and on about all the problems it had from the get go, including every issue already mentioned here. I will never buy another Sea Ray product again. If Brunswick thought that all the bids they received for Sea Ray were too low, they must've been smoking crack. Because I'd bet that every potential buyer discovered during due diligence that Sea Ray's brand is so tainted by poor manufacturing quality and unresponsive customer support, that the brand is worth maybe 1/4 of what Brunswick were asking for.

Shallow_waters · ‎08-19-2018

I’m curious what that boat cost

EricN · ‎08-20-2018

I think that a 190 SPX could have a retail cost somewhere between $35k and $50k depending on options.

livefortheweeke · ‎08-20-2018

MSRP around $40K. The "Select" package (which I don't' have) adds another $3-4K, the tower option adds another $3-4K, so a "fully loaded" SPX can be around $50K.

Sunstreaker · ‎09-02-2018

I have a 2017 SPX 190 inboard and have some issues too. My tachometer isn't working and there were scratches upon delivery of my boat. One seat cracked on the first day out. Dealer says they're going to make everything right and still waiting for everything to be done. Have had the boat since June.

DOC1 · ‎10-14-2018

After purchasing a 2017 SPX and having numerous problems, took it back to the dealer and traded for a 220 SDX. Found out after the fact that the SPX level SeaRay is manufactured in Mexico. Nothing against that country, but SeaRay should admit that an SPX does not come from a US location.

dougmorrow25 · ‎11-25-2018

I have a 2016 21 SPX. I understand your concern about the quality. I bought this boat new in 17 and what a let down it has been. I've had issues with the tech gauge ever since delivery. They delayed my delivery because they were waiting on a new gauge. Get a call days later telling me that boat was ready. Go for the delivery and gauge still wasn't replaced. After I took delivery dealer calls me two days later and has the gauge. Tells me to just bring the boat back at the 20 hr service. So I do, after that tach is at 0 hrs again and still doesn't seem right. But it was better then in October I noticed a stainon the seat can't seem to get it off. Figure when I bring it in November to winterized that I could get it covered under warranty. Bought the boat in July. Was told it was a month out of warranty from Sea Ray. So I paid to have cushion re upholstered. So this season the tach goes all erratic again and now noticed it doesn't light up at night. Take back to dealer for it to be winterized again and last time I had the boat out speedometer stopped working. They fixed speedometer and told me tach was bad again and I needed to pay labor. I told them I'm not paying anything boat has had a issue since I bought it. Boat had 40 hrs. Not impressed. My family has owned nothing but Sea Rays not impressed at all.

lkalch2 · ‎12-01-2018

I have some of the same issues on my ‘18 SPX 210. Just discovered dash screws are gone, 2 mat snaps are loose, one pulled completely out. Speaker wire disconnected from head unit. Will be taking back to dealer for repair in which they have been great in taking care of my first round which was a leaking transducer. Could do myself but Sea Ray needs to be alerted to these QC issues.
I have the motor cover fly up at highway speed due to not being able to securely latch it down. I now tie a line over it to hold it in place while trailering.
Make sure your center windshield is closed while trailering, this should help your center cooler cushion front flapping up.
Not sure if fuel gauge is operating correctly, it wants to stay near full even if I need 10-20 gallons to fill. Need to keep an eye on that.
Other than these minor QC issues, we love the boat.

SCJeep · ‎03-22-2019

My 2016 21 SPX has not been without issues but was manufactured in TN.
Initial Problems:
-> Tachometer was not reading proper RPM, this should have been caught in the tech inspection. However, it was an easy fix to flip the dip switch on the gauge and all was good.
-> One of the infinity mats had a snap screw come out of the deck. This was an easy fix with the 5200. I will say that I believe the dealers are the ones installing the snaps for the flooring so that quality will likely vary.
-> Speaker wire connection failed. I don't know what happened, the connector just wiggle loose. I just re clamped the wire end and haven't had an issue since.

Other than that we have enjoyed the boat. While they are expensive I would just challenge folks to look around at other competitors with similarly priced products. Most have similar or more significant quality issues .

Sea Ray

I have a brand new 2018 SPX 190...