Boat test for the 2007 Sea Ray 55 Sundancer including boat specifications, photo galleries, boat videos, boat layout diagrams, boat test numbers, boat test results, and boat speed graphs. Also includes pricing, engine test reviews, ratings, standard features, and gear for the 2007 Sea Ray 55 Sundancer.

We ran the test, and the 55 turned in good numbers—Sundancers always do. And then I took the wheel. After not much more than a few minutes, I came to the inescapable conclusion that this is the best-running Sundancer I’ve ever been aboard. Maybe not the fastest or the quickest, but the 55 is without question the most rewarding to drive. She planes effortlessly—you’re never quite sure when you’re on top, but I’d guess the transition comes at around 1600 rpm with no hump and bow rise never exceeding four degrees. And even that is scarcely noticeable, given the downward-sloping foredeck. As you can see in the test results, sound levels are low. I don’t know what happened with those holes in the engine-room overhead, but they didn’t seem to have any negative effect on my dB meter. I do know that Sea Ray made a big change in the exhaust system. Bucking not only the Sundancer norm but that of boat design in general, it eliminated the underwater exhausts in favor of big corner outlets reminiscent of what you’d see on a convertible. For whatever reason, they work, and moreover, I could discern no station-wagon effect. The 55 also responds nicely to wheel input, until you put the helm hard over at full speed, where the turning radius gets a bit wide. In fact, it almost feels like the rudders lose their bite at the extreme. There is also a fair, but not unusual, amount of heel during top-speed, full-over turns, to the point that you lose vision out of the inboard side, nothing unusual in boats of this genre. My only beef: I didn’t like having to look up to the MAN displays to get engine rpm. I’d prefer them on the instrument panel.

By the time I returned the 55 to her handlers at the company’s Sykes Creek facility in Merritt Island, Florida, I was ready—no, eager—to write. This is one of those cases where a builder chose to really up the ante on a successful model, instead of just tweaking it. And when you get a boat like that, the story just kind of writes itself.

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