Count the people you actually take out. Not the four who come every time — the eighteen who show up on the one Saturday a year when everybody says yes at once. Sea Ray designed the seating on this boat around that number, and then hung two V10s on the back so it still gets there quickly.
The Sea Ray SLX 350 Outboard is the large dayboat for the owner who wants capacity, speed and a service life that fits into a Sunday morning.
Longer, Lighter, Faster — By Sea Ray's Own Numbers
There is a sterndrive SLX 350 as well, and this is not it. Read the two specification blocks side by side and the gap is not subtle.
This boat is 38'0" long — two feet longer than the sterndrive — and yet its published dry weight is 13,027 pounds, which is 1,208 pounds lighter. It draws 32 inches with the outboards down and 23 inches with them up, against 37 and 26 on the sterndrive. And Sea Ray publishes a wide-open throttle band of 48 to 64 mph, where the sterndrive's is 44 to 52.
Longer, lighter, shallower, faster. That is what happens when the machinery comes out of the hull and goes onto the transom: the engine bay, the drives and their beds are gone, the running gear moves aft of the boat entirely, and the length you add to carry the motors costs you almost nothing in weight. Beam stays 10'6" and fuel stays 160 gallons on both.
The number that is not in the specification block is the one to be careful with. Sea Ray publishes no cruising speed, no fuel burn and no range for this boat — only the throttle band. Sixty-four miles an hour is a ceiling, not a plan.
The Head Moved. Here Is Why That Matters.
Sea Ray's own description of the redesign is one sentence long and easy to skim past: the head is moved to the starboard side under the helm, giving additional space for the portside hideaway.
Unpack it. On the sterndrive boat the Port Hideaway is an air-conditioned interior retreat, and it is one of the best features on any open boat this size. Here it is larger, because the head compartment was relocated across the boat and tucked beneath the helm console — dead space on most bowriders — freeing the port side for the room you actually spend time in. The hideaway keeps its air conditioning; a berth upgrade is on the option list; the 27-gallon holding tank stays, with the macerator and seacock interlock available as an option rather than standard.
That single change is the strongest argument for the outboard version that has nothing to do with engines.
Room for Eighteen, and Shade Over the Bow
The cockpit is a social area anchored by concealable transom loungers — seats that face the swim platform when you want them and fold away flush when you want the deck.
Forward, Sea Ray fits an easy-up bow shade over an ample bow seating area with center walk-through access from the cockpit. Shade on a large open boat is not a luxury item in July, and the walk-through means the bow stops being a place people get stranded once the boat is moving.
Standard electronics are more complete than the class usually manages: a Dual Digital Dash with two Simrad GO9 9-inch touchscreens carrying Mercury VesselView Link data, NAVIOP digital switching, a preloaded chartplotter and a transducer for depth, water temperature and fishfinder. A 12-inch dual Simrad SelectResponse dash is optional, as are Halo 24 radar and an RS40 VHF. The stereo is a Fusion Apollo 770 with Bluetooth and Apple AirPlay, fitted as standard rather than sold as an upgrade.
quietRIDE hull technology is standard, aimed squarely at noise and vibration — which is worth more on an outboard boat than a sterndrive one, since the noise now sits directly behind the aft seating rather than under the deck. Dynamic Running Surface, Sea Ray's automatic pitch-and-roll system, is optional and worth a look on a hull with a 21-degree deadrise.
Living With Outboards
This is the practical half of the decision, and it is where the outboard version wins on ownership rather than on paper.
Standard power is twin Mercury 350 Verado V10 FourStroke outboards with Joystick Piloting — T-350 hp, in black. The same package is offered in white, and above it Sea Ray lists twin Mercury 400 Verado V10 outboards at T-400 hp. Three published propulsion choices, all Verado V10, all with the joystick.
What you are buying alongside the horsepower is access. Everything routine happens under a cowling at standing height. There are no bellows to inspect on a schedule, no gimbal bearing, no drive to pull and re-seal, and a salt-water flush is a hose fitting rather than an afternoon. Sea Ray's own catalogue tells you how completely the market has moved this way: every SLX model from the 260 upward is now offered in an outboard configuration alongside its sterndrive sibling, and the SLX 360 Outboard exists in no other form.
The counterweight is the transom. Two V10s occupy the back of this boat, so the walk-across swim platform of the sterndrive version is not what you get, and the automated submersible swim step Sea Ray offers on the sterndrive 350 is not on this option list. If your day ends with six people in the water, go and stand on both boats before you decide which transom you want.
Coverage is the same either way, and it is generous: as an SLX Sport Boat this carries Sea Ray's five-year SURPA5S+ bow-to-stern factory warranty plus a Limited Lifetime Structural Hull/Deck warranty to the original owner. Only the SLX 400 and SLX 400 Outboard are excluded from that scheme.
Published Specifications
| Specification | SLX 350 Outboard |
|---|---|
| Length Overall | 38'0" |
| Beam | 10'6" |
| Draft | 32" outboards down / 23" outboards up |
| Dry Weight | 13,027 lb |
| Deadrise | 21° |
| Fuel Capacity | 160 gal |
| Water Capacity | 30 gal |
| Holding Tank | 27 gal |
| Standard Propulsion | Twin Mercury 350 Verado V10 FourStroke with Joystick Piloting (T-350 hp) |
| Optional Propulsion | T-350 hp white cowl; twin Mercury 400 Verado V10 (T-400 hp) |
| Wide Open Throttle | 48–64 mph |
| CE Capacity | Yacht Certified |
| Cruise Speed / Range | Not published by Sea Ray |
Where to Start
Ask the dealer for both 350s on the same day. Bring the same six people. Run the outboard boat first, because 48 to 64 mph is a real published band and you should feel where in it the boat settles.
Then do the arithmetic Sea Ray has left to you: hold the speed you would genuinely cruise at, read the fuel flow off the VesselView screen, divide 160 gallons by it and keep ten percent back. Ten minutes of work, and it is the only performance number on this boat that will be yours.
Talk it through with us: TS@MintedYachts.com, +1 (404) 805-9819, or the form on this page.