In the spring, a boater's fancy turns to thoughts of long weekends cruising aimlessly, warm
nights spent lying on the foredeck and watching the stars, sleeping late and waking to beautiful
blue skies over glassy waters. When we should be worrying about seeding and fertilizing the
backyard, we're mooning over brochures and nautical charts. And we start thinking about how nice it
would be to have a brand-new cruiser, something around 28 feet or so, hitched to the back of our
truck right now, since it's a Wednesday morning and there's probably not a soul out on the water so
we'd have the whole coastline to ourselves. So why not pull into that dealership and just take a
peek at what's on the showroom floor?
One thing leads to another, calls are made to the office explaining how a sudden attack of
food poisoning means at least three days of bed rest ' doctor's orders, you know ' and
rationalizations start pouring out about how the boat's really not going to bust the budget if you
look at it in terms of monthly payment instead of total cost and besides, we can sleep on it! Think
of the money we'll save on hotels alone!
Sea Ray knows how boaters' minds work. That's why, every year, even though it may seem like
it already has a pretty full fleet, Sea Ray introduces a spiffy little cruiser. This year it's the
280 Sundancer.
The 280 Sundancer isn't just another boat; it's what you envision when you think 'cruiser.'
Semi-Euro body lines, a rising stainless-steel bow rail, an aggressively canted radar arch and an
optional extended swim platform (that should be made standard equipment). Sleeping room for six.
Room to entertain in the cockpit, room to stretch out and sun hedonistically on the foredeck. Sit
at the helm, close your eyes, and even if you're in the dealership you can't help but picture
yourself taking the family on a weekend run to Catalina or Hilton Head.
Out on the water, the boat mostly lives up to the imagination. The helm has a double-wide
seat with a flip-up bolster for better sight lines when docking or launching. The instrumentation
is minimal, but includes everything you need, including two 4-in-1 gauges that keep you well
informed about the status of each engine (the test boat is equipped with a pair of 4.3L MerCruiser
EFI Alphas; single-engine diesel packages are also available and change the instrumentation layout
accordingly). A standard VHF radio lets you keep in contact. A pair of waterproof electronic switch
panels replace virtually all the rocker switches on the Sea Ray helm. These waterproof switches
eliminate contact points so there's never any possibility of corrosion or loss of contact, as well
as reducing the amount of wiring you have to deal with in the unlikely event there's a problem.
There are a couple of other helm details worth mentioning. The tachometers have LCD hour
meters built-in, but these hour meters are designed so they don't start recording unless the
engines are at a minimum of 500 rpm. It may not seem like a big deal, but some hour meters record
any time the power is on, so even if the engine's not actually running, the hour meter thinks it
is, and when you go to resell the boat you may be stuck with trying to explain an artificially high
number of hours on the engines. Another little touch is that the trim tab switches are
touch-readable, with the 'bow down' switches
indented and the 'bow up' switches blistered so you can tell which way you're directing the
tabs without having to look down at the switches. Not a big deal if you're an experienced boater,
in which case you probably adjust your trim and tabs by feel anyway, but for less-experienced
skippers, this is a nice feature.
A feature that Sea Ray's proud of, but that could be improved, is the fold-down cockpit seat.
The rear-facing cockpit seat can be folded down and out, like a traditional runabout seat, to
transform the port seat into a good-sized sun lounge. The problem, though, is that when the seat
folds out, it doesn't quite reach the rear bench, so there's a gap of about three inches. It's not
a big deal, and it doesn't compromise the functionality of the seating, but it just doesn't look as
neat as it might. An excellent idea that works, but one that could work better.
An idea that works extremely well is putting hinges on the rear bench seat legs so you can
raise the engine lid without having to fold away the seat. The lid comes up, the seat folds itself
away and you have great access to the engine compartment, which also happens to be where the
cockpit dinette table is stowed.
To get to the cabin, you go through another excellent idea, a cabin door into which the steps
leading to the foredeck have been molded. This gives you nice, large non-skid steps without having
to sacrifice space at the helm. Sweet.
The cabin is a great example of how far a little eye candy goes. Let's be honest ' there's
only so much cabin room on a 28-foot boat, no matter how clever the engineers, and just about every
boatbuilder does a good job of using every inch of space. The trick is making that space and how
it's used seem like more than it is, and Sea Ray has done quite a nice job of that on the 280
Sundancer. There's enough headroom in the cabin for a 6-footer to stand comfortably, although the
shower/head is a little small for that (the headroom in there is 5 feet 11 inches). The galley is
cozy but fully equipped with a sink, a butane stove, a microwave and a refrigerator. Across from
the galley is the dinette that converts to a full berth, with the V-berth forward.
The upholstery is vinyl but looks like high-dollar, ultra-soft Italian leather. The cabinetry
is all cherry veneer with black and gold accents. The effect is to make you feel like you're not in
a
28-footer's cabin, but in a plush stateroom with loads of indirect lighting and a fridge full
of champagne and caviar.
The aft cabin is less claustrophobic than expected. While it's by no means roomy enough for
you to get overly rambunctious, there's enough hip room between the berth and the ceiling for most
people to roll over without banging the roof or getting stuck halfway.
The 280 Sundancer's performance matches the perception. Equipped with twin 210-hp, 4.3L
MerCruiser EFI Alpha I engines, the boat has cruiser-style acceleration, going from 0 to 30 mph in
11.7 seconds, and reaching a top speed of 45.7 mph. So you won't win many drag races and probably
won't do a whole lot of skiing behind this one, but that's okay ' it's really not meant for either
of those pursuits. The handling is solid, and the ride is dry and rock-steady in even moderately
rough waters. You might not want to face 300 miles of open ocean in the 280 Sundancer, but that
weekend jaunt to Catalina or maybe even a run from Miami to Bimini would be eminently doable.
That's exactly the kind of thinking ' that a weekend in Catalina isn't just possible, but
well within reach ' that leads a boater's fancy to turn to cruising, regardless of the season. And
it's the kind of thinking that puts the 280 Sundancer and all the reasons you really can and should
afford it front and center.