- Founded
- 1959
- Headquarters
- Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
- Shipyard location
- Vonore, Tennessee and Merritt Island, Florida, USA
- Official website
- https://www.searay.com/
Brand Overview
American sport-boat and sport-cruiser builder founded in 1959 and part of Brunswick Corporation since 1986 — thirty sterndrive, outboard and surf models from the 6.6-metre SPX 210 to the 12.9-metre SLX 400 Outboard in four series, SPX, SDX, SLX and Sundancer, built mainly in Vonore, Tennessee.
YachtCodex Analysis
AI-generatedAn independent reading of this builder written by AI. Unlike the specifications and descriptions elsewhere on this page, it is interpretation rather than a sourced fact — treat it as a starting point, not a citation.
What this builder is
Sea Ray was founded in 1959 by C.N. Ray, who bought the assets of Carr-Craft, a small fiberglass builder in Detroit, and began with three people, among them the designer Jerry Michalak and his business partner Arch Mehaffey. Production grew in Oxford, Michigan; in the 1970s the company moved its headquarters to Phoenix, opened the Merritt Island, Florida plant that still builds Sea Rays, and released the Sundancer, which the yard says defined the cabin cruiser. The Vonore, Tennessee plant followed in the 1980s and builds most models today; in 1986 Sea Ray joined Brunswick Corporation, and by the late 1980s it offered more than fifty models, later stretching from the 16-foot Ski Ray to the 65-foot 650 Cockpit Motor Yacht. After the L-Class yachts of the 2010s it refocused on sport boats and sport cruisers under 40 feet, with its headquarters in Knoxville. Today's range runs in four series — the SPX bowriders, the SDX family watersports boats with Surf versions, the SLX luxury sport boats and the Sundancer cruisers — and the yard says every model is offered with sterndrive or outboard power, from Mercury MerCruiser sterndrives to triple Verado outboards. The Europe pages print metric specifications: length, beam, draft with the drive up and down, tanks, dry weight without engine, cruising and wide-open-throttle speeds and range.
Who sails them
Sea Ray owners are American and European families and buyers moving up — lake and coastal day boaters on the SPX and SDX who tow, swim and wakesurf, hosts on the SLX who want a touchscreen helm and wraparound seating, and couples on the Sundancer who want a cabin for a weekend aboard, all backed by a large dealer network and the Sea Ray Owners Club.
Signature models
The Sundancer, the cabin cruiser line the yard says defined the type in the 1970s, is the signature; the Sundancer 370 introduced today's design language, and the SLX 400 Outboard on triple Mercury Verado V8s is the largest boat in the range.
Strengths
Sea Ray is known for more than sixty years of fiberglass sport boats, a broad four-series range from bowriders to cabin cruisers, sterndrive and outboard versions of most hulls, Surf versions with the NextWave surf system, Mercury power with Simrad touchscreen helms and joystick piloting, production in Vonore and Merritt Island, and Brunswick's dealer network and three-year bow-to-stern warranty on the Sundancer and SLX 400.
Considerations
The US pages print imperial units only; the Europe pages print metric and are the source here, with horsepower taken from the US page where Europe prints kW alone. Weight is dry without engine; speeds are printed as kph ranges, converted to knots, and some are marked as estimates; no cabin, head or (with one exception) CE figures are printed; each sterndrive, outboard and surf version is a separate model; the SPX 190 sterndrive (5.97 m) is not entered, and the Sundancer 265 is listed only on the Europe and Global sites.
Analysis generated 10/17/2026
Part of
Brunswick Corporation↗ · since 1986
Also in the catalogue
Fleet at a Glance
Calculated from the models in the YachtCodex catalog, not from the builder's claims.
- Models in catalog
- 30
- Length range
- 6.6–12.85 m
- Hull forms
- Motor Monohull 30
Models by this brand
30 models
SPX3
SDX11
SDX 230
LOA: 7.06 m
SDX 230 Surf
LOA: 7.06 m
SDX 230 Outboard
LOA: 7.16 m
SDX 250 Surf
LOA: 7.67 m
SDX 250
LOA: 7.68 m
SDX 270
LOA: 8.28 m
SDX 270 Surf
LOA: 8.28 m
SDX 250 Outboard
LOA: 8.49 m
SDX 290
LOA: 8.89 m
SDX 270 Outboard
LOA: 9.12 m
SDX 290 Outboard
LOA: 9.5 m
SLX11
SLX 260
LOA: 7.85 m
SLX 260 Surf
LOA: 7.85 m
SLX 260 Outboard
LOA: 8.71 m
SLX 280
LOA: 8.74 m
SLX 280 Outboard
LOA: 9.58 m
SLX 310
LOA: 9.6 m
SLX 310 Outboard
LOA: 10.31 m
SLX 350
LOA: 10.97 m
SLX 360 Outboard
LOA: 11.6 m
SLX 400
LOA: 12.12 m
SLX 400 Outboard
LOA: 12.85 m
History
Sea Ray was founded in 1959 by C.N. Ray after he bought the assets of Carr-Craft, a small fiberglass manufacturer in Detroit; it began with three people — Ray, Carr-Craft's fiberglass specialist and designer Jerry Michalak, and Ray's business partner Arch Mehaffey. In the 1960s production ramped up in Oxford, Michigan, the first lineup was unveiled and a dealer network was built. The 1970s brought a new headquarters with production and product development in Phoenix, the Merritt Island, Florida plant that still builds Sea Rays, and the Sundancer, which the company says defined the cabin cruiser. In the 1980s it opened the Vonore, Tennessee plant, which builds most models today, joined the Brunswick family of brands in 1986, opened its first international plant and by the end of the decade offered more than fifty models. The 1990s range ran from the 16-foot Ski Ray to the 65-foot 650 Cockpit Motor Yacht; the Sea Ray Owners Club began in 1996, and all plants operated under ISO 9002. In the 2000s Sea Ray reintroduced outboard models, adopted touchscreen helms and robotic manufacturing, and moved its headquarters to Knoxville, Tennessee. After the L-Class yachts of the 2010s it refocused on sport boats and sport cruisers under 40 feet, and the Sundancer 370 launched its current design language, with each model offered in sterndrive and outboard versions.
History written fromsearay.com/us/en/why-sea-ray/our-legacy· Our Legacyread 10/17/2026