Sea Ray 500 Sundancer and the Three Generations of the 50-Foot Sundancer

The Sea Ray 500 Sundancer and the 50-foot express it defined

Say Sundancer to a broker and most will picture a Sea Ray express with a walk-through windshield, a mid or aft cabin under the helm and a cockpit made for a crowd. The 500 Sundancer is that idea at full scale. Power and Motoryacht's Mike Smith wrote in 2012 that Sea Ray's early-1990s 50-foot express combined a huge cockpit with an interior that flowed from social space to sleeping quarters, and that its like was not duplicated for decades.

The badge is confusing because Sea Ray used it three times. To shop intelligently you need to know which 500 Sundancer a listing describes, and that comes down to the model year.

• 1990 to 1991: sold as the 480 Sundancer; same hull renamed 500 in 1992 (per Power and Motoryacht)
• 1992 to 1999: the original 500 Sundancer with Detroit Diesel or Caterpillar V-drives
• 2003 to 2005: an all-new 53-foot-4 500 Sundancer with Cummins QSM11 or MAN diesels
• 2010 to 2012: the 51-foot boat previously sold as the 48 Sundancer, with Zeus pods

1992 to 1999: the 15-foot-beam original

Sea Ray's 1999 specification sheet lists a hull length of 50 feet 1 inch, 52 feet 9 inches with the bow pulpit and 55 feet 8 inches with the swim platform, on a 15-foot beam. Draft is 48 inches, dry weight 34,500 pounds, and the tanks hold 550 gallons of fuel, 150 of water and 68 of waste. Deadrise is 17 degrees, which helps stability and efficiency more than rough-water comfort.

Smith describes a cockpit that uses every inch of the beam, with seating all around, a big bench at the transom, an aft-facing settee against the forward bulkhead and a helm bench for four. Below, it is only three steps down to the salon, with a forward-facing circular settee, a counter with two stools, a workable galley with a full-size refrigerator and, forward, a master stateroom with a large berth and a head with a spacious stall shower. The guest stateroom has upper and lower berths and its own head. Sea Ray's 1999 list adds a washer and dryer, a Bose sound system, a 240-volt three-burner Kenyon cooktop and two VacuFlush heads.

Detroit, Caterpillar or Detroit again: 1990s engines

Power choices changed through the decade. Smith writes that the 480/500 was originally delivered with 485 hp Detroit Diesel 6V-71TI engines, with 550 hp 6V-92s and 735 hp 8V-92s as options. Sea Ray's 1996 sheet lists Caterpillar 3176TA diesels at 582 hp as standard with a range of Detroit Diesel 6V-92 and 8V-92 options, and its 1999 sheet lists Detroit Diesel 6V-92TA V-drives at 535 hp as standard, with Caterpillar C10-3176 (553 hp) and 3196 (640 hp) and Detroit 6V-92 DDEC, 8V-92TA and 8V-92 DDEC options up to 735 hp.

The 8V-92s are the performance choice; Smith reports they produce a speedy 28-knot cruise, and one owner he interviewed said his 8V-92 boat cruises easily above 20 knots even in rough seas. They are also mechanical two-stroke diesels that smoke on acceleration and are less efficient than modern electronic engines. Engine condition is the single biggest variable in a 1990s 500; insist on a full diesel survey with oil analysis and, ideally, documented top-end work.

2003 to 2005: QSM11 power, a hardtop and 32 knots

The second 500 Sundancer was a completely different boat. Power and Motoryacht's Capt. Bill Pike tested it in February 2003 at Sea Ray's Sykes Creek plant in Merritt Island, Florida, where most of the larger models were built. The specifications: 53 feet 4 inches overall, a 43-foot waterline, a 4-foot-2 draft, 560 gallons of fuel and 150 of water, with twin 635 hp Cummins MerCruiser QSM11 diesels standard and 690 hp MAN engines optional, through ZF V-drive gears.

Yachting's Jay Coyle recorded 32 knots at 2,330 rpm with the QSM11s, 28.6 knots at 2,100 rpm burning 47 gallons per hour, and 22.2 knots at 1,800 rpm on 34 gph, with full throttle reached in about 25 seconds. Deadrise is 19 degrees at the transom. A fiberglass hardtop was standard, along with a 13.5 kW Onan generator; Pike's test boat added a hydraulic swim platform, a 24-volt bow thruster and Sea Ray's PC-based Navigator plotter.

Inside, the owner's cabin forward has an island berth and a private head with a separate shower; the guest cabin has upper and lower berths beside a second head with its own shower; and the salon has an L-shaped settee with a pullout berth for two. Coyle described a hand-laid laminate with a vinylester skin coat, a separately molded fiberglass grid and balsa coring in the cockpit sole and foredeck. Sea Ray's 2007 sheet for the 52 Sundancer lists the same 53-foot-4 length and 560-gallon fuel capacity, and J.D. Power lists the 52 from 2006 to 2009.

2010 to 2012: the renamed 48 with Zeus

The last 500 Sundancer is the 48 Sundancer under a new name. Power and Motoryacht's test of the 48 lists a 51-foot overall length, a 14-foot-8 beam and 400 gallons of fuel, exactly what Sea Ray's 2010 page gives for the 500. It was the first Sundancer with a semi-enclosed helm, built at Sea Ray's Palm Coast, Florida plant according to Yachting, and it replaced the long-running 460 Sundancer.

For 2010 Sea Ray listed twin Cummins QSC 550 diesels with Zeus pods as standard and QSC 550 or 600 V-drive inboards as alternatives; by 2011 Zeus with joystick and Skyhook was the standard package. The 48 version Yachting tested with 540 hp Cummins V-drives reached 30.9 knots and burned 32.6 gph at 21.4 knots. Layout features include an island berth forward, a mid-stateroom with its own head whose two single berths slide into a queen, two large opening hardtop hatches and an optional washer and dryer.

What surveyors find on 1990s 500s

Surveyor David Pascoe examined a 1996 and a 1998 500 Sundancer and was impressed by heavy, well-encapsulated stringers and solid hull sides that showed no panting in rough water. His criticisms are useful checklists: engine room vent cutouts sit too close to the hull-to-deck joint, so minor impacts had dented the joint, buckled the vent grills and distorted the rub rails; the earlier boat had a blistered bottom; and boarding from the swim platform over the high cockpit was awkward. He also found engine trouble on the 1998 boat and warned that fast diesels need serious money to keep running.

Powerboat Reports' October 2002 article, as Pascoe summarized it, covered complaints about wet balsa core in the bottoms of 40 to 55-foot Sea Rays built from 1995 to 2002, which includes later 1990s 500s. Brokers quoted by Power and Motoryacht in 2012 boiled it down to condition, condition, condition, noting that a 20-year-old boat often had only about 1,500 engine hours.

Prices across three generations

Expect roughly $70,000 to $160,000 for 1990s boats in 2026, depending mostly on engines and refits; $170,000 to $290,000 for the 2003 to 2005 QSM11 boats; and $270,000 to $430,000 for 2010 to 2012 Zeus boats. J.D. Power's average retail values (about $63,000 for a 1992, $125,000 to $142,000 for a 1999, $193,000 to $224,000 for 2004 and 2005, and $278,000 to $364,000 for 2010 to 2012) are a reasonable floor.

Annual costs are those of a 50 to 56-foot diesel yacht: $35,000 to $60,000 before fuel for dockage, insurance, engine and generator service, bottom work, canvas and systems. A 1990s boat with tired two-stroke Detroits can add a five or six-figure repower to that.