You want to leave at eight, be somewhere worth being by ten, and not spend the run doing fuel maths in your head. That is a reasonable thing to want, and it is remarkably hard to satisfy — because most builders in this class will not tell you how far their boat goes.
Sea Ray tells you. The SLX 360 Outboard is the one boat in the range that publishes the full set.
Who It's For
This is the owner-operator's 38-footer. You have outgrown the low 30s, you are not hiring a captain, and you want the boat to be simple enough that a Mercury dealer can look after it anywhere you go.
It suits the buyer who runs the boat hard and often — six to eight people aboard most weekends, a real run to get somewhere, and the confidence to dock it yourself. Sea Ray positions it as a dayboat, and the equipment list backs that up: this is a boat built around the day, with a cabin that can take the edge off a long one.
Design & Layout
The cockpit is engineered around hosting. A rotating helm seat so the driver joins the conversation at anchor. A fold-down swim terrace that opens the aft end to the water. A seat backrest that transforms into a countertop — the kind of detail that sounds like marketing until you are the one making drinks for eight people.
Forward, the seating carries Sea Ray's current design language, and the helm is the most advanced in the range: steering-wheel-integrated controls for audio and key functions, dual Simrad Ultrawide NSX displays, USB and wireless charging, concealed small-item storage, and a finish mixing teak, electroplated accents and stitched vinyl.
Below, there is a V-berth cabin. Sea Ray's option list confirms it — cabin air conditioning and heating, a flat-screen TV for the V-berth — but the builder publishes no berth count, no "sleeps" row and no description of the head. The specification block does give a 28-gallon holding tank. Read the cabin as useful shelter and a place to change, and go look at it in person before you assume it is more.
Performance
Standard power is triple Mercury 300 Verado V8 outboards with Joystick Piloting and e-Steering — 900 horsepower on the transom of an 18,100-pound boat. The option list adds triple Mercury 425 Verado V10s, which is a genuinely different boat.
Here is what Sea Ray publishes, all of it the builder's own:
| Figure | Sea Ray's number |
|---|---|
| Cruising Speed | 35–38 mph |
| Wide Open Throttle | 49–52 mph |
| Range at cruising speed | 238 mi |
| Range at WOT | 178 mi |
| Deadrise | 21° |
| Fuel Capacity | 275 gal |
That 238-mile figure is the one to hold onto. It is the builder's own arithmetic against a 275-gallon tank, and it is the reason you can plan a long day rather than hope for one.
Three technologies do the heavy lifting on the ride. The hull architecture cuts noise and vibration, which matters on a forty-minute run more than any single speed figure. Pro Control auto-levels the trim tabs as conditions change — less lean in turns, quicker onto plane, softer re-entry in waves. And gyro stabilisation takes the roll out at anchor, which is where you actually spend the afternoon.
One flag worth carrying to the dealer: Sea Ray's descriptive copy on this model's own page calls it "this 36-foot dayboat" while the specification block on the same page says 38'1" Length Overall. We use the specification figure. So will your marina.
Ownership
Outboards are the reason a lot of buyers land here. Service happens at the transom, not through an engine hatch. Diagnostics can be run at the dock. Replacement is a bolt-off, bolt-on job rather than a yard project. For an owner without a captain or a standing relationship with a yard, that is a meaningful difference in how the boat fits into a life.
Fathom e-Power is the system worth understanding before you configure the boat. A Mastervolt lithium-ion pack replaces the generator and runs the accessory systems for roughly eight hours on a full charge under typical loads. No generator means no generator noise, no generator service and no generator hours — at anchor, which is where the boat spends the good part of the day.
On coverage: the SLX 360 Outboard is an SLX Sport Boat, which puts it under five-year SURPA5S+ bow-to-stern terms plus a Limited Lifetime Structural Hull/Deck warranty to the original owner. That is the longer of Sea Ray's two schemes.
Where to Start
Configure the engines first, because the triple 425 option changes the boat more than anything else on the list, and Sea Ray's published figures are for the standard triple 300s. Then ask to see the boat at anchor with the gyro running and the generator absent, because that is the pitch — and it is a good one.
Talk it through with us: TS@MintedYachts.com, +1 (404) 805-9819, or the form on this page.