Sea Ray Sundancer 320 Review, Specs and Price Guide

A Sea Ray Sundancer 320 is a bowrider that learned to sleep aboard

For decades the Sundancer name meant a classic express cruiser: a closed foredeck, a walk-through windshield, a cockpit full of wraparound seating and a mid-cabin tucked under the helm. The current Sea Ray Sundancer 320 keeps the cabin and the mid-berth but throws away the closed bow. Up front you get a proper bowrider seating area with powered headrests and armrests, so the boat spends its days looking and behaving like an oversized dayboat and its nights like a small cruiser.

That hybrid identity is the whole point. BoatTest's reviewers called it a dayboat topside and a cabin cruiser below, and that is the right way to think about it as a buyer. If you mostly anchor off a sandbar with eight friends and occasionally spend a weekend aboard as a couple, the 320 fits that life better than a traditional express of the same length. If you plan to cruise for a week with two couples, it will feel small, and you should be looking at something closer to 37 or 40 feet.

Sterndrive 320 or Sundancer 320 Outboard

Sea Ray builds the boat in two forms. The sterndrive version measures 32 feet 10 inches overall with a 10 foot 7 inch beam, weighs about 14,000 pounds dry and carries 158 gallons of fuel. Standard power is a pair of 300 hp MerCruiser 6.2L engines on Bravo Three X drives, with 350 hp versions and the SeaCore saltwater package on the options list. Joystick Piloting comes standard, which is not true of every rival at this size.

The Sundancer 320 Outboard stretches to 34 feet 9 inches overall with the motors hanging off the transom, weighs about 14,566 pounds dry and carries a larger 220 gallon tank. It runs twin Mercury Verado 350 V10 outboards with Joystick Piloting, digital throttle and shift and electric steering as standard.

Which one should you buy? On fresh water, where corrosion is not a daily enemy and slip length is often priced by the foot, the sterndrive boat makes a strong case. It has a full-width swim platform, a lower purchase price and familiar MerCruiser service. In salt water, the outboard version is the easier boat to live with. You can tilt the motors clear of the water between trips, there are no bellows or gimbal bearings to replace, and the extra fuel adds useful range. The trade-off is a cluttered stern, slightly more slip length and a higher price.

• Sterndrive: 32 ft 10 in LOA, 158 gal fuel, 2 x 300 or 350 hp MerCruiser 6.2L
• Outboard: 34 ft 9 in LOA, 220 gal fuel, 2 x Mercury Verado 350
• Both: 10 ft 7 in beam, 21 degree deadrise, 32 gal water, 27 gal holding, sleeps four

Three social zones on one deck

Sea Ray describes the deck as three entertainment areas: the bow, the cockpit and the cabin. The bow lounge is deep enough for adults to stretch out, and with the optional bow sunshade it becomes the coolest seat on the boat at anchor. Aft, the cockpit has convertible seating that turns into a dinette or a sun lounge, a wet bar with an optional grill and a cockpit refrigerator.

The helm uses Sea Ray's Dual Digital Dash with twin Simrad touchscreens, 9 inches as standard and 12 inches as an upgrade. Our advice is to take the larger screens on a new boat. They make the engine data readable at a glance and resale buyers notice the difference. A hardtop with a retracting canvas section is available, and it is one of the options that holds its value best because it transforms the boat in summer heat.

What the cabin really offers

Below, the forward area is a V-shaped settee around a solid wood table that converts into a berth with a filler cushion. Seated headroom over the settee is around 3 feet 7 inches, so this is a lounge and bedroom, not a saloon you stand up in. Aft, under the cockpit, two berths of roughly 30 by 72 inches can be joined into one larger bed. A privacy curtain separates the mid-berth from the rest of the cabin.

A small galley area aft to port has a refrigerator and microwave, and the enclosed head has a vessel sink on a solid surface counter, a VacuFlush toilet and a handheld shower wand, which makes it a wet head. Hull side windows and opening ports keep the space bright. Air conditioning and heat are optional, with a second zone for the cockpit available.

Realistically, the cabin works for a couple for a long weekend, or a family with two small children for a night or two. Four adults can sleep aboard, but they will be on intimate terms by breakfast.

Speed, fuel burn and range with twin 350 hp sterndrives

BoatTest ran a sterndrive Sundancer 320 with the optional twin 350 hp MerCruiser 6.2L engines, at a test weight of about 14,384 pounds with three people and 46 percent fuel. Top speed was 44.7 mph, or 38.9 knots, at 5,400 rpm while burning 54 gallons per hour. The boat planed in 7.1 seconds and reached 30 mph in 17.4 seconds.

The sweet spot is 4,000 rpm, where the boat ran 29.7 knots on 33 gph, roughly 0.9 nautical miles per gallon. At 3,500 rpm the boat made 23.3 knots on 26 gph with almost identical efficiency, which is a calmer pace for a choppy bay. Using 90 percent of the 170 gallon tank the test boat carried, range at cruise works out to around 138 nautical miles, and the current 158 gallon specification trims that further. Range is the boat's real limitation. This is a day and weekend cruiser, and you will plan fuel stops on any longer run.

Handling is predictable rather than sporty. The 21 degree deadrise crossed wakes without slamming in testing, and the hull felt solid. Dynamic running surface trim helps the boat find a comfortable attitude without constant fiddling.

Quiet Ride, SeaCore and the engineering you cannot see

Sea Ray laminates composite damping panels into the hull, tunes the transom where the drives pass through it and uses acoustic foam around the machinery. The result is a noticeably quieter ride than older Sundancers, with test readings in the low to mid 80s dBA at cruise.

The SeaCore option is worth seeking out on any boat that lives in salt water. It adds closed cooling so raw water does not run through the engine internals, special anodized drives, a freshwater flush system and an extended corrosion warranty. A sterndrive 320 that has spent its life in a Florida slip without SeaCore deserves a closer look at the risers, manifolds and drive housings.

Sea Ray also listed a twin diesel option for the sterndrive boat in some years, a pair of 260 hp Mercury TDI engines. They are rare on the US market and harder to service at smaller dealers, but they extend range considerably.

Budgeting for a Sundancer 320

Expect to spend roughly $22,000 to $40,000 a year to keep a late model Sundancer 320 in good order, excluding depreciation and loan costs. A 35 to 40 foot slip, insurance, winter storage on northern lakes, bottom paint in salt water and the annual engine and drive service make up most of that figure.

Fuel is the variable. At about 33 gph at cruise, a 50 hour season of real running costs roughly $8,000 to $10,000 in gasoline at current marina prices. Sterndrive owners should budget for bellows and gimbal bearing replacement every few years, and outboard owners for the Verado service schedule, including lower unit oil and anodes.

Buying used, and the older 320 Sundancer

The current boat holds its value well because the Sea Ray dealer network is the largest in the country and the boat suits so many buyers. Late model sterndrive boats with 300 hp engines and modest options start in the low $200,000s, while one or two year old outboard boats with a hardtop, generator and air conditioning trade in the mid $400,000s.

Buyers searching for a 2003 or 2005 Sea Ray 320 Sundancer should know that the name was used earlier on a different, more traditional express cruiser with a closed foredeck and twin gas engines. Those boats are now 20 years old, trade for a fraction of the price of the current model and need to be judged on engine hours, soft spots and maintenance history rather than on the reputation of today's boat.