Under The Design Influence—Celebrating 50 Years Sundancer Style

Though the expression is a bit overused, it’s still a compliment to say a powerboat looks fast and nimble when it’s sitting still. That look, regardless of how fast the boat actually goes or how well it handles, is a function of styling. And no mainstream powerboat series does that better—and has for 50 years—than the Sundancer line from Sea Ray.

The Sea Ray Sundancer series is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Photo courtesy/copyright Sea Ray.

That’s right, the Sea Ray Sundancer line is celebrating its Golden Anniversary this year.

So why should you care? After all, a Sundancer probably doesn’t make your dream-list of high-performance powerboats. Nor should it.

But then, nothing exists in vacuum. Now consisting of four models from 32 to 37 feet long, the Sundancer line has influenced a generation or three of designers. Even when the Knoxville, Tenn., headquartered company offered Sundancer yachts of 60-plus feet—the line now stops at 37 feet—those yachts looked fast sitting still.

“The evolution of the Sundancer series has been really beautiful,” said John Cosker, who not only owns and founded high-performance catamaran and center-console builder Mystic Powerboats in DeLand, Fla., but also is a trained naval architect. “I always liked their long, flowing, swoopy lines.

Mystic Powerboats founder John Cosker (left) has admired Sundancer styling for decades.

“When I was a kid, we used to go out to dinner at Cedar Point Marina,” he continued. “I would finish my dinner early so I could go outside and look at this one Sea Ray Sundancer that I think was a 36.”

Years before he started Mystic, Cosker revisited his Sundancer connection as a young designer with Rolla Propellers.

“They built a 63 with Arneson drives that we developed propellers for,” he said. “I even got to test drive it. That was pretty cool.”

No one takes the Sea Ray brand more personally than company president Keith Yunger, who took the job in 2021 and was the president of Bayliner for 20 years. Yunger is a second-generation Sea Ray man. His father, Chuck, was the vice president and general manager of Sea Ray operations in Phoenix from 1965 through 1982. So Yunger essentially “grew up” with the products of the 65-year-old company in his life.

“The Sundancer product looks like it is in motion because of the style lines we have created such as the ‘center crease’ and the ‘S’ sheer-line,” Yunger explained.

Four models—two outboard- and two sterndrive-powered—currently comprise the Sundancer line.

In the early 2000s, Yunger continued, “100 percent” of the Sundancer models produced were equipped with sterndrive engines. As with other segments of the powerboat world, most Sundancer builds are now set up with outboards.

Yet regardless of power, all Sundancers look as if they’re moving when they’re not. The builder has gone to considerable lengths to ensure that all four models it currently offers will continue that signature look.

In short, an outboard-powered Sundancer is not a sterndrive model modified for outboard use, or vice versa.

“There is a separate hull mold and a separate deck mold for every Sundancer we produce,” Yunger explained. “Outboard and sterndrives have very different centers of gravity for optimal performance and aesthetics. So we need a separate hull and deck for each model.”

Keith Yunger: “Good design is carried by your design and your brand.”

The marine industry and hull-splashing laws being what they are, that look has been mercilessly imitated. Though he doesn’t love that reality, Yunger takes it in stride.

“Good design is carried by your design and your brand,” Yunger said. “On certain brands, you can find Sundancer design elements like the center-crease and S sheer-line. On one side, the imitation can be a little frustrating. But it also means you’ve been doing something right, so it’s flattering.

“Either way, it keeps pushing us,” he added. “We have to continually think about what’s next.”

For the Sundancer powerboat series, that approach has been golden for the past 50 years. The boats still look fast, even when they’re sitting still.