Sea Ray 450 Sundancer Buyer's Guide, 1990s Diesel to 2010s Zeus

Sea Ray 450 Sundancer for sale: two boats a decade apart

Listings for a Sea Ray 450 Sundancer for sale fall into two groups that should never be compared directly. J.D. Power lists the first 450 Sundancer from 1996 to 1999, a traditional diesel inboard express. The second arrived for the 2010 model year as a completely new design built around pod drives; J.D. Power lists it through 2015, and Sea Ray's website still carried a 450 Sundancer page in 2016.

One more name to rule out: Sea Ray also built a 450 Express Bridge in the late 1990s and early 2000s, a flybridge design that shares only the number.

The 1996 to 1999 boat: Caterpillar diesels and two private heads

Sea Ray's 1996 specification page lists the original 450 at 45 feet 6 inches, 48 feet 1 inch with the bow pulpit and 50 feet 10 inches with the swim platform, on a 13-foot-11-inch beam. Draft is 43 inches, dry weight 23,500 pounds, and tankage is 400 gallons of fuel, 100 of water and a 60-gallon holding tank. Deadrise is 19 degrees.

Standard power was twin Caterpillar 3116TA diesels at 292 hp, with 340 hp 3116TAs and 407 hp 3126TAs as options. Standard equipment included an 8.0 kW Westerbeke diesel generator, 25,000 BTU of air conditioning, a Glendinning synchronizer, dual Racor filters with crossover fuel valves and a gas-assisted bilge service hatch.

The layout is the classic big Sundancer. Forward is a stateroom with a full-size bed, cedar-lined lockers and a sliding privacy door, plus its own head with a fiberglass shower stall. Amidships is a second stateroom with a double berth, a curved pocket door and a second head with shower. The cockpit has U-shaped seating with Euro-style tables and a sun pad, a wet bar, an icemaker and a fiberglass sport spoiler with overhead lighting.

Honesty in sizing: the 2010 boat that was smaller than the 43

When Yachting's Chris Caswell reviewed the new 450 in September 2009, he expected a refresh of the 43 Sundancer. Instead he found a new boat, and a smaller one. Sea Ray had begun what he called an honesty-in-sizing policy: the 43 Sundancer had actually measured 47 feet 3 inches, while the new 450 fit in a 45-foot-6-inch box. The 43 continued as the 470 Sundancer.

Sea Ray's 2010 figures give an overall length of 45 feet 5 inches, a 13-foot-2-inch beam, 21,750 pounds dry with the standard gas Axius package, 285 gallons of fuel, 70 of water and a 42-gallon holding tank, with 19 degrees of deadrise. Draft is 38 inches with Axius drives down and 46 inches with Zeus. By 2014 Sea Ray listed 24,362 pounds for an Axius boat, 27,205 pounds for a Zeus boat and 292 gallons of fuel.

A fiberglass hardtop with a large retractable sunroof covers the cockpit, the windshield has remote-controlled opening panels, and the after section of the cockpit sole, including the sun pad, rises hydraulically to reveal the engine room.

A media room where the mid-cabin used to be

The defining feature of the 2010s 450 is the aft media room. Sea Ray used the space freed by compact pod drives and dropped the bulkhead of a conventional amidships stateroom to create a lounge with an Ultraleather settee, a 37-inch flat-screen with DVD and a gaming port, two flip-top ottomans and blue accent lighting. The settee converts to a full double berth behind a privacy curtain, with hanging lockers and ports.

Forward, a shoji-style pocket door closes off the owner's cabin, whose berth extends electrically and has a powered backrest; Boating's Kevin Falvey described a reclining berth controlled by remote. The head has a VacuFlush toilet and a completely separate shower compartment with a seat and tiled sole. The galley runs down the starboard side with a two-burner cooktop and a stainless refrigerator and freezer.

Falvey summed up the intent well: three separate social zones (cockpit, salon and media room) for a crowd during the day, and a private master for a couple at night. The tradeoff is that you lose a true second stateroom and second head, which the 1990s boat had.

Axius gas or Zeus diesel

At launch, standard power was twin MerCruiser 496 Magnum gas engines driving Bravo III sterndrives through Axius joystick control, at 375 hp each, with 425 hp high-output gas engines as an option. Diesel buyers chose Cummins MerCruiser Zeus pods, first QSB 380 (364 hp) and QSB 480 units, and by 2014 QSB 425 HO and QSB 480 versions. The 2014 gas package moved to MerCruiser 8.2 MAG engines at 380 hp.

Most of the boats that matter on the brokerage market are Zeus diesels, and with good reason. Caswell wrote that the Zeus diesels really define the 450, and Falvey praised the joystick, Skyhook station keeping and automatic trim tabs. Gas Axius boats are cheaper to buy, but J.D. Power does not even publish retail values for them, which tells you how thin that resale market is.

How the Zeus boats perform

Yachting's prototype test with twin 364 hp QSB 380 Zeus diesels topped out at about 32 knots, with Sea Ray's engineers still adjusting props, and burned 31 gallons per hour at a fast cruise of 27 knots. That is roughly 0.87 nautical miles per gallon at a speed many owners will actually use.

Boating's test of a Zeus boat reported efficiency approaching 1 mile per gallon between 24 mph and wide-open throttle, meaning owners can run as fast as conditions allow without a big fuel penalty. Do the arithmetic on Yachting's figures and 285 gallons at 31 gallons per hour is a little over nine hours at 27 knots before you keep a reserve, which makes a Bahamas crossing or a long coastal leg straightforward in decent weather.

Prices, from under $100,000 to half a million

Because the two generations are so different, the 450 badge spans one of the widest price ranges in Sea Ray's used market. J.D. Power's average retail values for 1996 to 1999 boats run from about $71,000 to $89,000, and clean diesel examples ask somewhat more; we expect $85,000 to $150,000. For 2010s Zeus boats, J.D. Power's averages of roughly $293,000 to $331,000 for 2011 to 2013 compare with the $399,000 to $512,928 asking range Yachting found in 2019. In 2026 we expect most to ask between about $300,000 and $500,000.

Annual costs are substantial: plan on $25,000 to $45,000 before fuel for a 45-foot slip, insurance, Zeus pod and diesel service (or Caterpillar service on the older boat), generator, air conditioning, canvas and bottom work.

Core, pods and other survey points

For the 1990s boat, keep in mind that Powerboat Reports' October 2002 article, as summarized by surveyor David Pascoe, dealt with complaints about wet balsa core in the bottoms of 40 to 55-foot Sea Rays built between 1995 and 2002. A 1996 to 1999 450 sits squarely in that window, so the hull survey should include thorough moisture readings and sounding of the bottom. For the 2010s boat, the big-ticket items are the Zeus pods, their seals, anodes and software, plus the hydraulic hatch and sunroof mechanisms.