Sea Ray 290 Amberjack Review and Used Buying Guide

The Sea Ray 290 Amberjack, a Sundancer that learned to fish

The Sea Ray 290 Amberjack arrived for the 2000 model year with a simple pitch: one boat for the family that wants to cruise on Saturday and chase fish on Sunday. Sea Ray's own launch copy called it the answer to the prayers of sportfishermen and cruising enthusiasts alike, and the company quoted Chris Caswell of Boating World, who titled his July 2000 review "A Perfect World."

Underneath, the 290 Amberjack is a conventional Sea Ray express of its era: a 29-foot hull (31 feet 4 inches with the extended swim platform), a 10-foot-6-inch beam, a 21-degree transom deadrise and twin MerCruiser power. What changes is the deck. Instead of the wraparound lounges, wet bar and sun pad of a Sundancer, the Amberjack gives you an open cockpit, a fish box in the transom wall, a back-to-back lounger to port that folds out of the way, a removable aft bench and, with the optional fishing package, an aluminum arch with rocket launchers, a bait-prep station with a live baitwell and a seawater washdown.

It stayed in the catalog through the end of the decade. J.D. Power lists the 290 Amberjack for every model year from 2000 through 2009, and Sea Ray's website was still showing it in late 2009, describing it as a crossover with a 250-gallon fuel capacity by then.

The Amberjack badge from the 1980s to the 290

Amberjack has been Sea Ray's name for its fish-capable express boats for decades, and the 290 is the best known of them. J.D. Power's model-year listings trace it back to the SRV 255 Amberjack of 1982 and show the badge on everything from 24 to 34 feet since, summarized below.

That family context matters when you shop. The 340 Amberjack is a larger, rarer and more expensive cousin from the same years, and the later 270 Amberjack is the single-engine alternative for buyers who want a smaller slip. The 290 sits in the sweet spot: twin engines for offshore confidence, enough fuel for a long day on the troll and a real enclosed head below.

• SRV 255 Amberjack: 1982
• 255 Amberjack: 1983 to 1985; 245 Amberjack: 1984 to 1985
• 270 Amberjack: 1986 to 1990 and 2005 to 2009
• 310 Amberjack: 1992 to 1994
• 290 Amberjack: 2000 to 2009; 340 Amberjack: 2001 to 2003; 250 Amberjack: 2006 to 2007

Twenty-nine feet of hull, thirty-one feet on the listing

Sea Ray's 2000 specification sheet lists a hull length of 29 feet and an overall length of 31 feet 4 inches with the standard extended swim platform. That is why you will see the same boat advertised as a 29, a 290 or even a 31 Amberjack, and why searches for a 2006 Sea Ray Amberjack 31 usually end up at this model.

The 10-foot-6-inch beam is generous for a 29-foot hull and is the reason the cockpit works for fishing. Dry weight is listed at 11,300 pounds, which makes this a heavy, solid-riding boat for its length but also means you need serious power on the transom and a trailer rig few owners have. Treat it as a slip or lift boat.

Draft is modest: 34 inches with sterndrives down and 29 inches tilted up, or 35 inches with V-drive inboards. Tankage is 230 gallons of fuel in most years (250 gallons on the final 2009 boats), 30 gallons of water and a 28-gallon holding tank. Those are fishing-boat fuel numbers in a cruiser-sized package, and they are one of the strongest arguments for an Amberjack over a same-length Sundancer.

The fishing package is the whole point

Every 290 Amberjack has a fish box in the transom wall with extra storage for lines, fenders and gear, side storage and a dash with room for a fishfinder or plotter. The factory fishing package is what turns it from a sporty cruiser into a legitimate inshore and nearshore boat. In Sea Ray's 2002 sheet it included a tubular aluminum arch with rocket launchers, a bait-prep station with a live baitwell system, four rod holders, a cockpit toe rail and a seawater washdown. By 2007 the baitwell was specified at 26 gallons.

Buy a boat with the package if you intend to fish. Retrofitting an arch, plumbing a livewell and adding washdown to a cruiser-spec 290 costs more than the premium a package boat commands on the used market, and the factory parts fit properly.

Be realistic about what kind of fishing this is. The 290 is a comfortable trolling and bottom-fishing boat for two to four anglers in moderate seas, with a cabin for the night before. It is not a tournament machine, the cockpit is not as deep as a dedicated walkaround, and the sterndrive legs make fighting a fish around the stern awkward. Owners who run 30 miles offshore regularly should look hard at diesel power and at the condition of the hull bottom.

Below decks: V-berth, dinette and the mid-sleeper

The cabin is where the Sundancer DNA shows. Sea Ray's layout puts a double V-berth forward, a convertible opposing dinette with a solid-wood table, a galley with refrigerator, microwave, sink and granite-tone fiberglass counter, and a full stand-up fiberglass head with a sink, pullout sprayer and VacuFlush toilet.

Aft of the dinette, under the helm deck, is what Sea Ray called the mid-sleeper or storage area: a double bunk that most fishing owners fill with rods, tackle bags and coolers, and that families use for the kids. Sea Ray claimed in 2007 that the 290 was the only boat in its class to offer it. BoatTest describes accommodations for up to six, fair if two of them are children.

By 2007 air conditioning and heating were standard. On earlier boats air was optional, and a generator (Sea Ray offered 5.0 kW gas and 4.0 kW diesel Kohler units) is what makes the air usable at anchor.

Engines: 5.0 MPI, 350 Magnum, V-drives or diesel

The 2000 launch boats came with twin 5.0L EFI Bravo II sterndrives. From 2002 the standard package was twin MerCruiser 5.0L MPI Bravo III sterndrives at 260 hp each, and that remained the base engine through 2007. Sea Ray's option lists over the years included twin 350 Magnum MPI sterndrives at 300 hp, twin 350 Magnum MPI Horizon V-drive inboards, MerCruiser D4.2L diesel sterndrives at 225 hp, Volvo KAD 44P diesels at 240 hp, MerCruiser D4.2L diesel V-drives and, later, Volvo D4-260 and D6-310 diesels.

For most coastal owners the 350 Magnum sterndrives are the sweet spot: more torque to push 11,300 pounds plus fuel, gear and anglers, and shared parts with thousands of other boats. The base 5.0 MPIs work but have less margin once the boat is loaded. V-drive inboards give you shafts and rudders instead of outdrives at the cost of a slightly deeper draft and no trimmable legs. The diesel options are rare and command a premium; they make sense only with documented service and if you plan to run far.

No magazine or builder speed-and-fuel table for the 290 Amberjack turned up in our research, so treat any performance numbers in a listing as anecdotal. Ask for an instrumented sea trial and confirm the engines reach their rated wide-open-throttle rpm; one that cannot is usually over-propped, overloaded or tired.

What a 290 Amberjack costs to buy and run in 2026

J.D. Power's average retail values range from roughly $24,000 to $29,000 for 2000 boats up to about $61,000 for a 2009, while asking prices on clean, well-equipped examples run higher. Expect most gas sterndrive boats to sit between the mid-$30,000s and the $80,000s depending on year, hours, the fishing package and how recently the drives, canvas and upholstery were redone.

Budget $10,000 to $18,000 a year to keep one properly, excluding the loan: slip or lift, insurance, haul-out and bottom paint, annual sterndrive service (bellows, gimbal bearings, impellers, gear lube), manifolds and risers on a regular cycle in salt water, canvas and electronics. Twin gas engines burn real fuel at cruise, so a heavy-use fishing season can add several thousand dollars more.