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Sea Ray

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Sea Ray Boats
IndustryBoat building
FoundedDetroit, Michigan (1959)
FounderC.N. Ray[1]
Headquarters
Knoxville, Tennessee
,
U.S.
ProductsMotorboats
Number of employees
1500[2]
ParentBrunswick Boat Group
Websitewww.searay.com
2005 Sea Ray 220 Sundeck[3] sport deck boat with wakeboard tower

Sea Ray Boats is an American manufacturer that produces recreational motorboats. It currently operates as part of the Brunswick Boat Group, a division of Brunswick Corporation.

History

It was founded in 1959 by C.N. Ray as an independent company, Ray Industries, in Detroit, Michigan. That company was bought in 1986 by Brunswick Corporation for $350 million. At the same time, Brunswick purchased the Bayliner brand, making Brunswick the largest pleasure boat producer in the world.[4]

Sea Ray opened a plant in 1972 at Merritt Island, Florida. It eventually grew to three plants at that location. It employed more than 1,500 workers at its peak. At that time, it produced about 20 sport yachts weekly, each retailing from $200,000 to $500,000. It largely phased out operations during the Great Recession.[5]

In 2017, Brunswick Corporation announced that they intended to divest the Sea Ray line. In July 2018, however, Brunswick announced they had reconsidered their decision and have since retracted any intent to sell.

Overview

Sea Ray designs, manufactures and markets boats ranging from 17-foot (5.2 m) power cruisers to over 65-foot (20 m) yachts, including the Sundancer brand and, starting in 2014, the "L" Series luxury yachts. Sea Ray is based in Knoxville, Tennessee, and it operates two factories in Tennessee and two in Florida.[6] Sea Ray designs and markets more than 40 models ranging in boats from 18 to 65 feet (5.5 to 19.8 m).

Sea Ray was the first boat manufacturer to use fiberglass in its pleasure boat construction, and it also pioneered the molded-in swim platform when it launched Ski Ray water skiing boats in 1991.[7] In 1995, it acquired a new subsidiary, Baja, the world's largest manufacturer of performance boats.[citation needed] Brunswick subsequently sold the Baja brand to another entity.

Other Brunswick boats built at Sea Ray plants

Notes

  1. ^ "Sea Ray Founder Dies at 84". Boat Test. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  2. ^ "Sea Ray to be sold in near future". Flagler Live. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
  3. ^ 2005 Sea Ray 220 Sundeck Brochure, dated 2004/2005, last accessed 3 November 2015
  4. ^ Reuters (1986-11-29). "Brunswick to Acquire Ray". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2010-05-23. {{cite news}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  5. ^ Price, Wayne T. (February 10, 2015). "Sea Ray Boats to resume operations". Florida Today. Melbourne, Florida. pp. 1A. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  6. ^ Silence, Michael. "Sea Ray lays off 5 percent of work force". Knoxville News Sentinel.
  7. ^ "Innovation Is What Leads Buyers to Sea Ray Boats". Retrieved 2014-05-15.
  8. ^ "Sport Boats : Sport Cruisers : Sport Yachts : Yachts : Sea Ray Boats". Sea Ray Boats. Retrieved 2014-01-06.

Further reading

  • Rodengen, Jeffrey L., edited by Stanimira Stefanova (2008). Commanding the Waterways: The Story of Sea Ray. Fort Lauderdale, FL: Write Stuff Enterprise. ISBN 978-1-932022-33-9. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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