Somebody is going to ask you how fast it goes. On most 40-foot sport boats you have to shrug, because the builder never says. On the Sea Ray SLX 400 you can answer: 47 to 50 mph wide open, Sea Ray's own figure, printed in its own specification block. That is rarer than it should be, and it tells you something about how confident the yard is in this hull.
Who It's For
The SLX 400 is for the buyer who wants a 40-foot sterndrive sport boat and does not want engines hanging off the back of it. You entertain. You run the boat yourself. You want a transom you can lounge across without stepping around powerheads, and you want the machinery weight carried low and inboard, where it settles the ride instead of sitting up on a bracket.
You are also, quietly, a performance buyer. Twin 8.2-liter V8s and a published 47–50 mph band is not a cruising-speed proposition.
Two Boats, One Badge
Sea Ray sells an SLX 400 and an SLX 400 Outboard, and the difference runs deeper than the transom.
This sterndrive boat is 39'9" overall and carries 250 gallons of fuel at 20,794 lb dry. It drafts 44" with the drives down and 33" up. The outboard model is a longer boat with a bigger tank and an entirely different power package — read its own spec block rather than assuming this one transfers.
What the two genuinely share, because Sea Ray publishes the same figures for both: a 12'1" beam, 21° of deadrise, 50 gallons of water, a 28-gallon holding tank, Yacht Certified capacity and a Sleeps: Four rating.
The headline difference is the one at the top of this page. Sea Ray publishes a wide-open-throttle band for the sterndrive and none at all for the outboard.
Power
Standard is twin Mercury MerCruiser 8.2L MAG ECT engines on Bravo Three X SeaCore drives, rated T-430 hp — 860 horsepower in total. The option list adds the 8.2L MAG HO ECT version of the same package with Joystick Propulsion, and that is the one to look at if you dock in wind or current, or if your slip has an audience. Note the split carefully: joystick control comes with the optional engine package on this boat, not with the standard one.
SeaCore is the closed-cooling, corrosion-resistant specification, which matters more in salt water than any brochure line about it will convince you of. Bravo Three X runs counter-rotating twin propellers on each drive — more blade area in the water, better bite out of the hole with a loaded boat, and a hull that tracks straight instead of walking under acceleration.
Quiet Ride is Sea Ray's hull-level answer to noise and vibration rather than a trim package. Listen for it specifically on the trial, because it is the kind of thing you only notice after two hours aboard. Dynamic Running Surface is on the option list here too.
The Cockpit and the Water
The fold-down swim terrace extends the platform out over the water. On a sterndrive there is nothing bolted to the transom behind it, so the platform is uninterrupted — a real difference in how the back of the boat gets used at anchor.
The option list is where this boat gets built: dual electric grills in the cockpit, dual 12-volt refrigerators in the cockpit wet bar, a cockpit hot-air vent for cold mornings, a teak bow table with dedicated storage, and a swim platform with an automated submersible swim step — the last of which changes boarding for anyone who is not twenty-five any more.
Forward, the bow carries a row of touring seats with armrests plus additional benches around a bow table that converts into a sunpad. It is a second cockpit rather than an afterthought.
Below
For overnighting, Sea Ray describes a queen-sized bed in the aft section and a forward bunk that converts to form a social gathering area, with the specification block giving a 28-gallon holding tank and a Sleeps: Four rating.
Now notice what is missing. Sea Ray publishes no head or shower description for this model. There is a holding tank and a macerator on the option list, so there is plumbing aboard — but go and open the door yourself instead of assuming a layout. It is a two-minute check that saves an argument in October.
At the Helm
The helm runs dual 9" Simrad touchscreens, with 12" displays optional, carrying VesselView Link engine data, chartplotting, and depth and fishfinder functions. Mercury VesselView Mobile puts customizable gauges and fuel-consumption monitoring on your phone.
The Sea Ray+ app covers the boat when you are not on it: geofencing, engine data and alerts, and — on shore power — battery and bilge status. That last one is the difference between learning about a bilge problem on Thursday and learning about it on Saturday.
Specifications
| Specification | Sea Ray's published figure |
|---|---|
| Length overall | 39'9" |
| Beam | 12'1" |
| Draft (drives down / up) | 44" / 33" |
| Dry weight | 20,794 lb |
| Deadrise | 21° |
| Fuel capacity | 250 gal |
| Water capacity | 50 gal |
| Holding tank | 28 gal |
| Standard propulsion | Twin Mercury MerCruiser 8.2L MAG ECT, Bravo Three X SeaCore (T-430 hp) |
| Optional propulsion | Twin MerCruiser 8.2L MAG HO ECT, Bravo Three X SeaCore with Joystick Propulsion (T-430 hp) |
| Wide open throttle | 47–50 mph |
| CE capacity | Yacht Certified |
| Sleeps | Four |
| Cruise speed / range | Not published |
What Sea Ray Still Doesn't Tell You
A wide-open-throttle band is a start, not the whole picture. There is no published cruising speed and no published range for the SLX 400, which means the number you actually care about — the one you will hold for four hours on a Saturday — is still yours to find.
Find it on the trial. Settle the boat at the speed that feels right, read fuel flow off the Simrad at that RPM, and work it against 250 gallons with a reserve you would genuinely respect. Then load the cockpit with the crowd you really bring and do it again.
Coverage is Sea Ray's three-year SENTIN3L bow-to-stern warranty plus a 10-year Limited Structural Hull/Deck warranty to the original owner. Worth knowing: for warranty purposes Sea Ray groups the SLX 400 with its sport cruisers rather than with the smaller SLX boats.
Where We Come In
The SLX 400 and the SLX 400 Outboard look like the same boat in a photograph and shop like two different ones. Email TS@MintedYachts.com or call +1 (404) 805-9819 and we will lay the two specification blocks side by side with you before you put a deposit on either.