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.
 | |
| Industry | Boat building |
|---|---|
| Founded | Detroit, Michigan (1959) |
| Founder | C.N. Ray[1] |
| Headquarters | , |
| Products | Motorboats |
Number of employees | 1500[2] |
| Parent | Brunswick Boat Group |
| Website | www |
History
editSea Ray was founded in 1959 by Cornelius Ray as an independent company, Ray Industries, in Detroit, Michigan, with fiberglass boats being made at a factory in Oxford, 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 and that the Sea Ray would their efforts on building the best sport boats and cruisers up to 40 feet. In doing so, Sea Ray will discontinue production of sport yacht and yacht models. [6][7]
Today
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Sea Ray designs, manufactures and markets boats ranging from 17-foot (5.2 m) power boats to over 65-foot (20 m) motor 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.[8] 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 dedicated water skiing tow boats in 1991.[9] In 1995, it acquired a new subsidiary, Baja. Brunswick subsequently sold the Baja brand to another entity.
Other Brunswick boats built at Sea Ray plants
editNotes
edit- ^ "Sea Ray Founder Dies at 84". Boat Test. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
- ^ "Sea Ray to be sold in near future". Flagler Live. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
- ^ 2005 Sea Ray 220 Sundeck Brochure, dated 2004/2005, last accessed 3 November 2015
- ^ "Brunswick to Acquire Ray". Wall Street Journal. Reuters. 1986-11-29. Retrieved 2010-05-23.
- ^ Price, Wayne T. (February 10, 2015). "Sea Ray Boats to resume operations". Florida Today. Melbourne, Florida. pp. 1A. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
- ^ "Sport Yacht and Yacht Production Discontinued FAQs".
- ^ "Decision to discontinue Sea Ray yachts was "a difficult one"".
- ^ Silence, Michael. "Sea Ray lays off 5 percent of work force". Knoxville News Sentinel.
- ^ "Innovation Is What Leads Buyers to Sea Ray Boats". PopSells. Retrieved 2014-05-15.
- ^ "Sport Boats : Sport Cruisers : Sport Yachts : Yachts : Sea Ray Boats". Sea Ray Boats. Retrieved 2014-01-06.
Further reading
edit- 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.
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