How Many Own Cruisers?

[JohnZ3]

I have a Cruisers Yacht 380. Love the Cruisers brand.
Like others have said, kinda like an RV on the water. Works for us. The Tige ties up nicely next to it when we anchor out.

My advice is Twin motors is a must and get the largest beam you can. If you end up liking a cruiser boat, you'll only want a bigger one very soon.
I would definitely start at 30 feet or above if you can. The 340 Sea Ray has a good lay out and nice cabin.

I do all the routine maintenance on mine. Oil and fluids are easy. Winterizing is easy to if you need to.

Good luck. Can't wait for summer.

[BlackoutATX]

Great replies in here. haha. I love the idea of a cruiser that could surf. But good lord anything available now is crazy expensive.

I have a Cruisers Yacht 380. Love the Cruisers brand.
Like others have said, kinda like an RV on the water. Works for us. The Tige ties up nicely next to it when we anchor out.

My advice is Twin motors is a must and get the largest beam you can. If you end up liking a cruiser boat, you'll only want a bigger one very soon.
I would definitely start at 30 feet or above if you can. The 340 Sea Ray has a good lay out and nice cabin.

I do all the routine maintenance on mine. Oil and fluids are easy. Winterizing is easy to if you need to.

Good luck. Can't wait for summer.

I will have to check out Cruisers. I'm going to go crawl around a few of these this weekend. Does anyone have any info on the cost of a trailer for one of these bad boys? I can't seem to find any info.

[boardman74]

We started buying cruisers when the kids started working. We have owed 2 Sea Rays now (340 Sedan Bridge and 340 Express). In used cruisers Sea Ray owns the market in my area. They hold up very well both physically and value wise.

There is more maintenance but its not a big deal. You get used to it.

What is you intention with the boat? We use the boat as a cruiser. We sleep in it and travel. They burn a lot of gas. That 340 will likely burn 10-14 GPH putting along around 7-8. On plane at 25ish you talking 30-40 gph!!

Over the winter we bought a Wellcraft Portofino that is a 47 ft LOA with a 15 foot beam. So we have went a size up.

You asked about a trailer. A 340 is not something you trailer around. With the beam they are not road legal. You need a permit to trailer it.

We are getting ready to start our 5th summer now so if you have questions fire away. We slip out boat in a marina.

Brands I's recommend: Sea Ray, Formula, Cruisers, Carver. We have a very large market here on the rivers and thats what you see. Stay away from Wellcraft unless you are going over 40 foot.

[LTWellman]

I'd go with a Formula myself, if I couldn't find a Formula then I'd go Sea Ray. Are you planning on tying it off your dock or do you have a slip for it? Living on Travis I know the water can really get going on the weekends.

[BlackoutATX]

We started buying cruisers when the kids started working. We have owed 2 Sea Rays now (340 Sedan Bridge and 340 Express). In used cruisers Sea Ray owns the market in my area. They hold up very well both physically and value wise.

There is more maintenance but its not a big deal. You get used to it.

What is you intention with the boat? We use the boat as a cruiser. We sleep in it and travel. They burn a lot of gas. That 340 will likely burn 10-14 GPH putting along around 7-8. On plane at 25ish you talking 30-40 gph!!

Over the winter we bought a Wellcraft Portofino that is a 47 ft LOA with a 15 foot beam. So we have went a size up.

You asked about a trailer. A 340 is not something you trailer around. With the beam they are not road legal. You need a permit to trailer it.

We are getting ready to start our 5th summer now so if you have questions fire away. We slip out boat in a marina.

Brands I's recommend: Sea Ray, Formula, Cruisers, Carver. We have a very large market here on the rivers and thats what you see. Stay away from Wellcraft unless you are going over 40 foot.

Thank you for the reply. Sea Rays are very popular down here as well. They also seem to hold their value.

I'm honestly not too worried about the maintenance. Just comes with the territory.

This boat will spend most of its life cruising on Lake Travis. I would love to take it on some road trips. But I just don't know if that will happen. It will really depend on the size and if I can find a trailer for it. The trailer discussion really is more for the ability to pull it out of the water on our property. Not necessarily take it around to different lakes. Although it would be nice to have that ability. Even if it requires permits and what not. Again, this will most likely depend on the size. I think it can be done with the 31ft boats right now. Anything bigger than that might be pushing it.

I'd go with a Formula myself, if I couldn't find a Formula then I'd go Sea Ray. Are you planning on tying it off your dock or do you have a slip for it? Living on Travis I know the water can really get going on the weekends.

I really like Formula. Honestly, I am going back and forth between the two. Formulas are much more scarce down here. But I kind of like that. In the research I continue to do the only negative a hear about Forumulas are they are a bit dated and are expensive. Other than that I can find anyone saying anything bad about them. The Sea Ray opinions appear to be more mixed. Right now I'd say a Forumula 31 is a hair ahead of the Sea Rays I've looked at.

For this to work I will have to find a way to keep it on our property. Whether that be on a trailer or tied to the dock. Travis water can definitely turn into a washing machine on the weekends. We are in a cove that offers some protection. But not anywhere what a marina would. We definitely see our share of big waves. Our current dock has a slip that fits the RZ4. But is not big enough for one these. It would need to be tied off to the decked area on the side. I'm not a huge fan of having it uncovered. But I think it would work until we make other arrangements. Our neighbors keep a smaller (maybe 26ft) cruiser tied up to their dock 24/7/365 and I've never seen it have any issues. Their dock is also not anywhere near as secured as ours. I'll be meeting with our dock guy to see what he has to say. But I have a feeling he will want to recommend expanding. IDK we'll have to see. I really like the idea of a trailer though. I contacted Loadmaster about a custom built trailer for a 14 Sea Ray 310. They came back with a roughly 10k quote. That is honestly better than I expected. 10k new makes me think I could find one around here used for much less.

[JohnZ3]

Blackout,

10-15K for a trailer is good from what I've seen. I had to have one built as well.

Towing a big cruiser from lake to lake is tough, but not impossible. I tow my 38' to different lakes each summer. It takes a BIG truck, but it can be done.
Permits here in Utah and surrounding states are not expensive. $75 annually in Utah.

There are also towing companies that will move the boat for you as well.

[freeheel4life]

We have had a couple big boats riding on EZ Loaders that have been dropped in the salt and they seem to hold up a long time (like late 90s vintage boats obviously still on their first trailer). One got hit by another car at wishbone and it pushed the boat off of bow cradle and bent a whole roller assembly on the beam, but frame rails and crossmembers didn't budge at all. Was amazing. Obviously they have all been galvanized for salt use. Might be worth looking into and you could probably get a painted one instead of galvanized for your needs. Usually I don't care for their smaller trailers that come under a lot of Bayliners but their trailers Ive seen in the 28-30 ft range seem to be solid.
Havent done one on an I/O but I will say that the impeller on the Merc 8.1 Horizon sucks to replace and the thought of doing one right after the other is not one I would look forward too.

[boardman74]

In most cruisers impellers are not an issue at all. Reason being is you have something you don't have in a ski boat....space. My 47 literally has a engine room. I'm 6"1' and can just about stand up straight. Took less than an hour to do impellers on the twin 502's.

[freeheel4life]

In most cruisers impellers are not an issue at all. Reason being is you have something you don't have in a ski boat....space. My 47 literally has a engine room. I'm 6"1' and can just about stand up straight. Took less than an hour to do impellers on the twin 502's.

Good to know. I've never had the chance to service a cruiser newer than 99 and obviously a lot has been changed since then on the engine side. Just know that the 496 and 502 Mercs have been the go to for twins for a while,and volvos DI 6.0l on the other side(unless you option diesel). Have yet to see a EFI cruiser come thru our shop but that's Idaho. We don't really have the lakes to support cruisers until you get to Puget Sound and the coast.
Stoked you are shopping and should probably bow out, as I'm out of knowledge now...

[sandm]

Great replies in here. haha. I love the idea of a cruiser that could surf.

We tried to surf a 46ft formula a few summers ago on the green bay. it was a great time but not possible with the setup he had. ended up with 2 waterski ropes tied together and tried to surf the second wave as the first one was too hard.
guy who's dad owned the boat got up but no way you could drop the rope. I never got up as it was very hard to time popping the board up 150ft back and the slow momentum of the twin engines trying to move the boat. not to mention the 5 minutes it took to slow the boat, turn and come pick up a downed surfer and pull slack out of the rope again.
spent a lot of time adjusting the twin trim tabs and speed to see what the wake could do. I can only imagine the gas he spent doing it.....

[Bakes5]

Hmmmm....40 GPH, 10k trailers, double to triple the maintenance cost. That $12k Party Hut is looking better and better.

[boardman74]

Cruisers are not a cheap game. Hence the reason I asked what his intended purpose was. We use ours like a camper/ lake home. We spend a lot of nights both on the water and in the marina. We have a lot of boat/ dock friends. With that said no way would I ever put a big cruiser at a lake home. No reason in my mind. Big cruisers are designed to be used as a home on the water, so to me its 2 of the same. There are a lot better day boats than a 34 foot cruiser. I'd have a go fast or a big open bow without the expensive to maintain systems that come with a cruiser(Gen., A/C, complex water systems, etc.)

And yeah....I'm betting the new boat we boat would beat my 40 GPH number if I held it to the stops for long. Twin 502's pushing a roughly 25,000 lb boat, I am sure it loves the gas dock!!! But its huge boat that we are hoping to spend 30-45 nights on this summer.

[bsreid]

I have no idea what your lake is like and if this would be suitable. But what about a house boat? Probably cheaper maintain and run, not sure on the initial buying cost though....

[Bakes5]

^^^30-45 night on the water is living right!

I get about 20 nights a year on my Z3. Poor mans Cruiser....drive it to the cove, drop anchor and enjoy a perfect night. I do want to come up with a slick storm cover though. I screwed around with a tent like structure that ended up being a flapping beast all night. After that, I just brought my mooring cover but have never had to use it.

Some of my favorite moments in life are sleeping under the stars on the lake.

[BlackoutATX]

Cruisers are not a cheap game. Hence the reason I asked what his intended purpose was. We use ours like a camper/ lake home. We spend a lot of nights both on the water and in the marina. We have a lot of boat/ dock friends. With that said no way would I ever put a big cruiser at a lake home. No reason in my mind. Big cruisers are designed to be used as a home on the water, so to me its 2 of the same. There are a lot better day boats than a 34 foot cruiser. I'd have a go fast or a big open bow without the expensive to maintain systems that come with a cruiser(Gen., A/C, complex water systems, etc.)

And yeah....I'm betting the new boat we boat would beat my 40 GPH number if I held it to the stops for long. Twin 502's pushing a roughly 25,000 lb boat, I am sure it loves the gas dock!!! But its huge boat that we are hoping to spend 30-45 nights on this summer.

I see what your saying. But our lake house is not large at all and shared by our entire family who are all in very different life stages. So the idea of having another "house" away from the main house is appealing. I also love the idea of having all those amenities out on the water. The possibilities are endless. Of course the real dream is to have a few different boats. But we're not there yet.

I have no idea what your lake is like and if this would be suitable. But what about a house boat? Probably cheaper maintain and run, not sure on the initial buying cost though....

There are some monster house boats out here that are very cool. But we are not setup to have one at our home. Our dock just isn't large enough.

^^^30-45 night on the water is living right!

I get about 20 nights a year on my Z3. Poor mans Cruiser....drive it to the cove, drop anchor and enjoy a perfect night. I do want to come up with a slick storm cover though. I screwed around with a tent like structure that ended up being a flapping beast all night. After that, I just brought my mooring cover but have never had to use it.

Some of my favorite moments in life are sleeping under the stars on the lake.

Thats impressive! I've never thought about sleeping on the RZ4. But I guess theres no reason why you couldn't.


I'll be looking at some Formulas and Sea Rays over the next few weeks. I'll report back with my thoughts. I'm also going to swing by Magnum Trailers here in Austin to see what they have to say. Even if I don't end up with a trailer. Maybe it will be useful information for someone else.