Thread: Thoughts on Stringray boats....

Hey, i was wondering what are the outside thoughts on stringray brand boats... they are built in SC, so everyone has one, and my family personally has had 2 of them in the last 4 years...

everyone locally says they are the best boats around, and i agree that in the rivers around where i live they are pretty good, because of their size, but i don't like them overall... I have a jet boat for myself, because i am stubborn

just wanted to know what the experienced marine person thought of them

If you're buying new, be prepared to truck the boat back to the dealership for some minor repairs after purchase. All new boats are like this. Ive sold million dollar yachts that needed thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of repairs after the owners first week in it.. Fiberglass tends to "settle" a little after use so expect a few hairline gelcoat cracks around the windshield and motor hatch mounts. But those will be under warranty and fixed within a few days with a smile, if you get a good dealer.. Stingray isn't hurting in this market by any means, a lot of big boat owners have downsized to smaller boats and that market is where Stingray thrives. But they are getting a lot of owners who have high hopes of good quality at low prices so stingray has stepped up quite a bit to make sure those owners dont trade back up to bigger brands..

I "believe" they only give you a 5 or 6 year hull warranty, which is rough because some of the other manufacturers give you lifetime hull warranties. But they have a 3 or 4 year blister protection guarantee that comes in handy if you plan on leaving the boat in the water over very many weekends.. Check the boat out really well, point out every tiny imperfection and have them fix every slight detail on it so its absolutely perfect before you pick it up.. Good luck, let me know if you have any questions.

(oh, and dont do anything besides mercruiser, no volvo or etc.)

I've been on quite a few and always found them to be pretty well built in comparison to a lot of their competitors. They also tend to beat their competitors on fuel consumption in nearly every review/test/shootout I've ever seen. I've never noticed any major difference in the hull shape that would account for it, but that seems to be one of their strong points for some reason.

What is it exactly youre looking for in a boat?

its not that... i like the stringrays... growing up we had them, and my dad just recently sold his 24 foot with the mercruiser engine, and got a pontoon(wtf)...

i was just wondering because they are made about an hour from my house so everyone has them here, and i know my dad had a lot less issues with it. The only major problem we had with the stringray was when it was brand new... the throttle was backwards, so forward was reverse and reverse was forward.

I am thinking for the summer of ditching the jetboat, I have a Sea doo utopia 20 foot, and maybe getting a prop boat, so your probably the man to ask... I like the look of stringray. I need power, but not too much, because of skiers and tubes. I also need a tight turn radius, because the river is narrow in some parts, and i need it to be able to take shallow water (2.5-3 ft), so i can get back to a hidden island... I looked at a baja, but i dont want an outboard or a two stroke... The jet boat is good right now, but debris gets in the intake sometimes, and it is in the shop all the fun weekends...

know of anything that fits that description?

this is what i got now (winter storage looks a little rough)

Well if you need 2' draft you've alerady taken yourself out of the prop boat market. Unless you go with a 4stroke outboard. What about another jet? Yamaha makes some really impressive ones now, surpassing seadoos quality for sure.

thanks, i forgot all about yamaha... i might try to find something like the 212x floating around...

yeah, the shallow water thing isn't a huge deal, but i dont want to be the guy that gets stuck at the entrance to the cove... i have seen it happen...

Lifes a lot easier after getting sandbarred with a jet than with a prop.. Yamaha and sea-doo both are making some lux sport dual jets now that are very impressive.. And if you're used to the handling and manuevering of the jet, theres no point in giving all that up for a single prop thats going to use more fuel, require more maintenance, have a lesser top speed, higher insurance, deeper draft, sharp prop and american engineering..

Originally Posted by waterboy222

Lifes a lot easier after getting sandbarred with a jet than with a prop.. Yamaha and sea-doo both are making some lux sport dual jets now that are very impressive.. And if you're used to the handling and manuevering of the jet, theres no point in giving all that up for a single prop thats going to use more fuel, require more maintenance, have a lesser top speed, higher insurance, deeper draft, sharp prop and american engineering..

true... might just keep what i got... i practically stole it... literally

If you wanna fall in love with it all over again, take the money you *were* going to spend on the down payment, TTL, etc and put that into a FULL detail of the entire boat and a new sound system.. I always advise my customers to do that when they decide (not saying this is your issue) that they owe more on the boat than I could give them on trade. Plus, you're just increasing the value (not necessarily the MONETARY value) of the boat so when you do decide to trade it or sell it in a couple seasons, it shines a little brighter than an equally priced boat just down the street.. Ya dig?

Drop the $5k-$6l on a new snap-in carpet (youd be amazed what that does for the look of the boat),a couple of subs, new tower speakers, ipod stereo and remote, add a battery, etc. It always works, it makes the owner love the boat all over again. Id advise againt spending anything on performance upgrades though.. A jet is a jet and sea-doo runs their motors as close to the max as possible when they leave the factory so theres not a lot of HP to be gained by adding filters, etc like on cars..

Good luck brother!