You don't have to live on a beach to get the urge to leave land behind. Completely behind, as in far enough out so that you can't see the shore. And even if you don't get offshore fever, there's a good likelihood that you'd at least like to have a boat that could handle just such an undertaking. It's good to know you could do it if you wanted. At the same time, you don't have to have a family of 12 to want a bowrider. Even if you and your best friend are the only two people that ever set foot on your boat, it's nice to know that if you wanted, you could pile most everybody you know on board, and then take 'em off to sea. With Sea Ray's 290 Bow Rider, you can scratch both itches.

Start with that offshore thing. At 29 feet 6 inches in length, with a 9-foot-8-inch beam and weighing some 7,200 pounds, the 290 Bow Rider is more than big enough to handle a trip way out into the blue water. Fully loaded, the 290 can hold 130 gallons of fuel and 24 gallons of freshwater, so you don't have to worry about running dry, even if you're making a multi-day run, such as the one from San Diego, California, to Cabo, Mexico.

Making offshore adventures even more possible is the availability of twin-engine power packages, both gasoline and diesel. The low end of the twin-engine options provides either a pair of 5.7L MerCruiser Bravo I motors (250 hp each) if you want gas, or two 2.8L MerCruiser D-Tronic Bravo IIIs (150 hp each). On the opposite end of the spectrum, the top-end options are a set of MerCruiser 6.2L Bravo I engines (320 hp apiece) or matched Volvo-Penta 32P/DPs (157 hp each). If you're not going to be needing the extra power of a twin-engine setup, the 290 has plenty of choices there as well.

No matter what engine package is installed, access to the engine area is flat-out excellent. The entire rear U-lounge seat lifts via an electric assist, giving you or your mechanic almost totally unfettered working room in the engine compartment.

Then there's that bowrider aspect. A 29-foot bowrider isn't unheard of, but it's unusual enough that you may do a double-take the first time you see it. The good thing is that Sea Ray's designers didn't simply rip the top off a 29-foot cruiser and call it an open bow, nor did they give the cockpit 26 feet and shortchange the bow. The 290's bow area is a legitimate seating area, even for adults, with a place for a cocktail table and filler cushions that turn the bow into a queen-sized sunpad or nap zone.

That leaves all the stuff that's great for either a long offshore run or joyriding with friends and family on a Saturday afternoon in a runabout. The cockpit is, if you're used to runabouts of less stature, huge. It's even pretty big if you're used to cruisers of this size, since the lack of a cabin has freed up a lot of interior cockpit space. With the standard seating (featuring a back-to-back passenger seat), the cockpit can easily accommodate nine, primarily in the spacious rear U-lounge seat. The space is well-used, with the U-lounge and rear-facing port-side seat forming a natural conversation pit. Set up the cocktail table and you're ready for a rousing game of dominoes or just some tasty mid-afternoon snacks.