New Sundancer Boat a BMW Designworks and Sea Ray Collaboration

Designworks, BMW’s California design studio, has announced their first collaboration with Sea Ray, the storied boat builder, on their new Sundancer 370 Outboard. Released to coincide with the 45th anniversary of the Sundancer series, it’s a swoopy-looking departure for the iconic maritime manufacturer.

According to Sea Ray, their agenda is to move Sea Ray forward, with four design characteristics: Sleek, confident, athletic, and distinctive. Sea Ray pointed to the Sundancer’s s-sheer line in the sides of the boat as indicative of its sleekness. What they referred to as a strong character jawline is where confidence comes in, and they say athleticism is the angularity of the design. Lastly, the Sundancer 370’s use of the Sea Ray hull emblem is what makes it distinctive. Think BMW design aesthetic on the water, and a complete rework of what is a Sea Ray boat.

Sea Ray looked to Designworks for their next generation of boats, backed by their core values. “Sea Ray has a rich history as a leading boat manufacturer for more than 60 years,” said Johannes Lampela, Director of Industrial Design at Designworks. “The Sea Ray look is very recognizable, and our goal in working together was to further strengthen that design DNA by bringing forward the most iconic features through a modern design execution.”

“Working together with Designworks, we were able to produce a fresh set of design principles that pay homage to our brand’s past while indicating the future, resulting in a look that is undeniably Sea Ray,” said Charlie Foss, Sea Ray Design Director. Delving into a project outside the norm for Designworks, luxury and performance cars and motorcycles, no doubt gave their designers an opportunity to extend their reach, working alongside Sea Ray’s own team to determine what the end product would look like.

It is helpful that Sea Ray noted the base price of $749,828 on their website, lest you be mesmerized by the Mercury 300 Verado tri-300-HP outboard engines with Joystick Piloting, or the dual 12-inch Simrad touchscreen displays on the digital dash. Almost every other feature or amenity is prefaced with the word optional, which tells me you’ll need to bring a lot more to the table than the base amount if you want to be the envy of most at the local marina. According to nadaguides.com, marine fuel is averaging about $3.25 per gallon, and the Sundancer 370’s 250-gallon capacity will run $812.50 to top off for a weekend of fun on the water. Sea Ray’s VesselView data monitor not only allows you to monitor all three engines on the boat’s screens, you can also customize data points and connect it to your mobile device, so you receive an alert at the point of failure.

At 39 feet, nine inches long and 12 feet wide, and 18,100 pounds, you won’t be taking this cruiser in and out of the water, parading it through the streets, and parking it in your driveway. Well, at least technically you wouldn’t, but then again, you don’t have a neighbor like mine that’s had his boat in what amounts to the entirety of his front yard for the past two years, maybe longer. Ah, the pride of boat ownership.

[Images: Sea Ray, DesignWorks]