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When Sea Ray invited
me to do a ride-along boat test on its new 500 Sedan Bridge, the guys
said they were leaving from the marina behind the Sanibel Resort at five
o’clock in the morning. So I checked into a room at the resort the
night before, caught a couple of winks, and wandered out into the dark
well before dawn. Luckily, a glimmer of light emanated from the 500, which,
for reasons too complicated to go into here, simply had to be in Miami
200 miles away that evening, and then in Merritt Island, at Sea Ray’s
big facility clear on the other side of Florida, the evening after.
But travelin’
conditions were good. The weather report was optimistic—I figured
we could sea trial virtually anywhere along the coast, although it had
to be before Miami, where other boat-test commitments dictated I get off.
The boat’s twin 660-hp Cummins QSM11 diesels were brand new and
presumably ready to go. And if the spec sheet Sea Ray had sent me ahead
of time was accurate, there was enough navigational firepower on the bridge
to make it safely and surely to Tahiti.
“Hey Pike,”
came a voice from the darkness. “Hurry up, man... we’re fixin’
to leave.” And without further ado, we did.
The jaunt down the coast
was gorgeous. As the sun rose, the coastline receded, and eventually all
I could see from my comfy spot at the helm station on the flying bridge
was a vast, all-encompassing blue expanse. Since our Raymarine Smartpilot
ST8001+ autopilot was experiencing technical difficulties, we’d
decided to take turns steering, a far from onerous task, given the smoothness
of Teleflex Sea Star hydraulics (with power-assist) and the test boat’s
delightful proclivity to track like an arrow.
I spent part of my time
on the wheel playing with the coolest aspect of our electronics package—two
dashboard-mounted Sea Ray Navigator II touchscreens (see “Eat Your
Heart Out, Columbus,” this story), one a backup and both seamlessly
interfaced with our Koden PC radar (with 42-inch open-array antenna) and
our Koden WAAS GPS sensor. Play was the operative word, by the way. Despite
its serious purpose, the Navigator II’s seemingly innumerable features
and capabilities made it more fun to fool around with than a barrel of
marine catalogs.
Of course, I also spent
plenty of wheel time actually driving the boat—a top priority even
for folks with high-falutin’, optional electronics packages. Sightlines
from the helm were excellent in all directions. Top speed was rousing:
37.1 mph. Cruise was good: 30.1 mph. Tabs were unnecessary, except for
windage adjustments. And the level of climate-control on the flying bridge
was inspiring—for staying awake and alert on long trips, nothing
beats the combined effects of shade from a fiberglass hardtop (with opening
Bomar hatch), wind protection from an EZ2CY enclosure, and arctic blasts
from the dashboard plenums of the optional 24,000-Btu Cruisair air conditioning.
I did a little poking
around below decks while the other guys drove us around Cape Sable and
into Florida Bay. From the get-go, it was obvious our test boat—a
prototype—had been put together the same way most other Sea Ray yachts
are these days. More particularly, the bottom, hull sides, and stringers
were composed of solid glass, the superstructure was cored with Baltek
end-grain balsa, and the hull-to-deck joint was secured with through-bolts
and then fiberglassed. Moreover, although stitched and woven fabrics and
polyester resin highlighted the laminate schedules for parts and components
above the waterline, vinylester resin was used below, to obviate blistering.
Conventional, tried-and-true methodology? Most assuredly.
Next page >
Part
2: The Sea Ray 500 Sedan Bridge is a stylish,
exceptionally comfortable cruiser. > Page 1, 2,
3, 4, 5,
6, 7
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