August 20, 2026
Sea Ray SDX 290 Outboard: What the SDX Line Is Actually For
The SDX 290 Outboard is 31'2" on a 9'0" beam, runs twin Mercury 200 FourStroke outboards as standard, and carries 131 gallons behind a stand…
Read the articleThe Sea Ray SDX Series
The deck boats — SDX 290 Outboard, 31'2", twin Mercury 200s, 131 gal and a published 54–55 mph
If your boating is a full cockpit, a sandbar and people who want to swim, the question is not how much boat you can buy — it is how much usable deck you get per foot of slip. That is what the SDX line is built to answer.
SDX is Sea Ray's deck-boat family, and it sits deliberately apart from SLX. SLX is the premium sport-boat line, where the standard equipment list and the finish level do the selling. SDX trades some of that content for beam-forward volume, capacity and range at a given length. Same builder, same Mercury power, different priority.
One SDX model is reviewed here, the SDX 290 Outboard, and it is the interesting one to start with: on twin Mercury 200s it publishes a higher wide-open-throttle number than the SLX 280 Outboard manages on twin 250s, and it carries a longer published cruising range. Sea Ray offers no explanation for that in its own material, and we have not invented one.
The SDX Lineup, Smallest to Largest
Every Sea Ray SDX model we review in depth, in the order owners step up through the series.
Photo credit Sea Ray.
A 31'2" yacht-certified deck boat with a standard wet bar and a head compartment with a vanity and sink, running twin Mercury 200 FourStrokes to a published 54-55 mph — and a Sea Ray-published 271-mile cruising range, 91 miles further than the SLX 280 Outboard's.
Don't see the SDX model you're after — or a brand-new launch? Request specs through Yacht Specs Direct.
Moving Up the SDX Series
The SDX 290 Outboard is 31'2" on a 9'0" beam, carries 131 gallons and weighs 7,677 lbs dry. Standard power is twin Mercury 200 FourStroke outboards; Joystick Piloting is not standard on this hull — it arrives with the optional twin 250 Verado package, which is the reverse of how the SLX 280 Outboard is specified.
Sea Ray publishes a full performance set for it: 54–55 mph wide open and 28–29 mph cruising. That is a faster published top end than the SLX 280 Outboard's 50–52 mph on twin 250s, on a hull of almost identical length. It also carries a longer published range — 91 miles further than the SLX 280 Outboard.
Below the deck-boat framing, the practical content is a head compartment with a 20-gallon water system, a watersports tower, and a cockpit laid out around capacity rather than around a single social zone. There is no cabin and Sea Ray does not claim one.
Our Take
SDX is the line people skip past on their way to an SLX, and on the 290 Outboard that is a mistake worth catching. You are getting Sea Ray's build and Sea Ray's Mercury package, a published performance set — which is more than several of its stablemates get — and more range than the SLX at the same length.
What you give up is the finish level and the standard-equipment density that make an SLX feel like a more expensive boat the moment you step aboard. That is a real difference and I would not talk anyone out of caring about it. But if the boat's job is carrying eight people to a sandbar and back with the fuel to go somewhere further on a good day, the SDX is the more honest answer.
The one specification to check before you order is the joystick. It is optional here and it comes attached to the bigger engine package, so the decision is bundled whether you like it or not.
Sea Ray SDX Articles & Guides
Official Sea Ray Premieres
Videos courtesy of Sea Ray.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Sea Ray's SDX line, and how does it differ from SLX?
SDX is Sea Ray's deck-boat line and SLX is its sport-boat line, and the difference is priorities rather than quality. An SDX puts its budget into open space and usable capacity: on the SDX 290 Outboard that means a standard wet bar with sink and faucet, convertible aft-facing transom loungers with an optional sunpad, and a head compartment with a portable head, a vanity and a sink.
An SLX spends more of it on finish and on standard equipment you can see and touch — the SLX 280 Outboard, for instance, has Joystick Piloting in its standard propulsion package where the SDX 290 Outboard does not. Both lines carry the same warranty scheme.
Does Sea Ray publish performance figures for the SDX line?
For the SDX 290 Outboard it publishes four: a 28 to 29 mph cruising speed, a 54 to 55 mph wide-open-throttle band, 271 miles of range at cruising speed and 165 miles at wide-open throttle, all from 131 gallons. Those are Sea Ray's own numbers rather than arithmetic done from tank size.
What Sea Ray does not publish is fuel consumption or gallons per hour at any rpm, an rpm-by-rpm test sheet, a seating-capacity number, or a weight with engines and fluids aboard. Where a figure is absent it stays absent on this site rather than being estimated.
Is the Sea Ray SDX 290 available with a sterndrive?
Yes. Sea Ray states on its own page that the SDX 290 is available with sterndrive or outboard propulsion, and publishes the sterndrive version on a separate page with different figures.
Every specification on this site belongs to the outboard boat and came from the outboard page: 31'2" overall, 9'0" beam, 7,677 pounds dry, twin Mercury 200 FourStroke outboards standard, 131 gallons of fuel. If you are comparing listings, check which of the two a broker is actually quoting before you measure it against anything here.
Which SDX Fits Your Life?
Tell us how you plan to use the boat — guests, range, crew or no crew — and we'll give you the straight story on where in the SDX series you belong, new or brokerage.
Explore All Sea Ray ModelsOr reach Tony directly: TS@MintedYachts.com · +1 (404) 805-9819