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Model profile · for Great Loop buyers
Sea Ray 40 Motor Yacht
The published record on this model and what owners report, with the
questions worth asking while a boat is still a listing. This page covers the model.
Every boat still needs its own homework.
The published record
| Length overall | 41.75 ft |
| Beam | 14.25 ft |
| Draft | 3'0" |
| Fuel | 300 gal |
| Water | 100 gal |
| Holding | 54 gal |
Source: YachtBuyer, Sea Ray 40 Motoryacht specifications.
If a listing disagrees with these numbers, the listing may still be right. Settle the
difference before it costs you.
An aft-cabin cruiser with two staterooms and two heads, asking about $175,000 to $220,000. The homework is the engines' history and what she burns at Loop speeds, which nobody publishes.
The Sea Ray 40 Motor Yacht and the 390 Motor Yacht before it are the same boat as far as the published specs go: YachtBuyer dates the 390 from 2003 to 2005 and the 40 from 2006 to 2008, with identical dimensions and tankage. She is 41'9" overall with a 14'3" beam, a 3-foot draft and 300 gallons of fuel, with a full-beam master aft and a guest cabin forward, each with its own head. Most boats for sale have twin Cummins diesels, and twin MerCruiser 8.1 gas engines were offered. Listings we read ask about $175,000 to $220,000.
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Where the listings disagree
Published numbers for this model don't agree. Settle these on the
boat you're looking at before they cost you.
QUESTION
Length is listed as 39 feet, 40 feet and 41'9"
YachtBuyer gives 41'9" overall for both names. Jefferson Beach listings give 39 feet for a 2004 390 and 40 feet for a 2007 40. Marinas charge by length, so the number matters.
src:
YachtBuyer (390 and 40 Motoryacht specs); Jefferson Beach listings (2004, 2007)
Your move: Measure her overall, swim platform and pulpit included, before you price slips.
How to read the tags on this page.
PATTERNtwo independent sources agree; confirm it on the boat you're looking at
CLAIMstated by one source, not yet confirmed
QUESTIONopen, and settled by looking at the boat itself
Sources are linked where published.
Buying
CLAIM
Listings ask about $175,000 to $220,000
Listings we read in 2026 ask $174,900 for a 2004 390 in Brunswick, Georgia, $199,900 for a 2006 40 in Morehead City, North Carolina, $215,000 for a 2006 40 in St. Petersburg, Florida, and $219,500 for a 2007 40 in Pasadena, Maryland. In that handful, boats sold as a 40 asked more than the 390, though the published specs are the same. Two of the brokers pitch their boats as Loop boats.
src:
Jefferson Beach Yacht Sales listings (2004, 2006, 2007); Denison Yacht Sales (2006), read Oct 2026
Your move: Price her on her engines' hours and records more than on the name or the model year.
Cost to keep
CLAIM
Owners say the 8.3 can be rebuilt in place and the QSB has to come out
In a 2023 YachtForums thread about buying a 40, one owner said the 8.3s "might be rebuildable in place" while the QSBs "would have to be pulled out for rebuild on the bench." Another, quoting an engine surveyor, said the CTA and QSC "can be overhauled in-frame." How the engine comes out decides a lot of what a rebuild costs.
src:
YachtForums, Sea Ray 40 Motor Yacht purchase thread (Aug 2023)
Your move: Ask for the hours and any rebuild history on each engine, and bring a Cummins mechanic to the sea trial.
PATTERN
Low hours can mean an engine that sat
Owners in two separate YachtForums threads warn about engines that don't run. One in 2013: "When they sit they corrode." Another in 2023, about a low-hour 40: "Salty humid air coming in thru the exhaust for weeks can do a lot of harm."
src:
YachtForums (May 2013; Aug 2023)
Your move: Ask how many hours she ran each year, not just the total, and get oil analysis on both engines.
CLAIM
One owner found a windshield leak and water-stained ceiling panels
A 2006 40 owner wrote in 2023 that the boat had "a water leak at windshield," which the owner called no big deal since the seals can be replaced, and that two fabric access panels in the salon ceiling had water stains.
src:
YachtForums, 2006 40 Motor Yacht windshield thread (Aug 2023)
Your move: Look for stains on the salon headliner and around the windshield, and have the surveyor water-test it.
Livability
CLAIM
A full-beam aft master and a guest cabin forward, each with its own head
The master runs the full beam aft with a queen, and the guest cabin forward has twin berths that convert to a double. NautiStyles' review of a 2003 390 says the aft cabin setup "works so well for liveaboard life" and that "everywhere you open a door or lift a cushion there's another cavity or locker." It calls the galley "a solid one-person working space."
src:
NautiStyles review of a 2003 390, on YachtBuyer; YachtBuyer 390 Motoryacht specs
Your move: Stand in the galley with whoever cooks with you and see whether it works for two.
CLAIM
Steps between every level
In NautiStyles' review, the raised cockpit is reached by a staircase and the salon is a step down from there. The same review says the salon headroom "might feel snug if you're very tall." Count the steps if you're bringing a dog or bad knees.
src:
NautiStyles review of a 2003 390, on YachtBuyer
Your move: Walk her from the swim platform to the master and back, carrying something.
Engine access
CLAIM
A tight engine room under the salon table
NautiStyles says the engine room "sits right under the salon table" and that opening it "feels a bit like dropping a dungeon," though everything is laid out well. Yachting's 2007 test found "easy-to-service systems and neat and tidy workmanship."
src:
NautiStyles review of a 2003 390, on YachtBuyer; Yachting (Oct 2007)
Your move: Have whoever will change the oil climb in and reach the filters, the strainers and the back of each engine.
Fuel & range
QUESTION
What does she burn at 7 to 9 knots?
We found no published fuel burn at any speed for either name. She carries 300 gallons, and one listing gives her cruise as 10 knots. Holding back 10%, the 250 miles from Alton to Paducah needs her to make about 0.9 miles per gallon.
src:
YachtBuyer 40 Motoryacht specs (fuel capacity); Jefferson Beach listing (2004)
Your move: Ask the owner for real fuel numbers at 8 knots, and check them on the sea trial.
Handling
CLAIM
Built for coastal cruising
NautiStyles calls her capable of fast coastal runs and says "no one should mistake her for an ocean-crosser." On the Loop that matters on the open-water legs, like the Gulf crossing and Lake Michigan.
src:
NautiStyles review of a 2003 390, on YachtBuyer
Your move: Plan the open-water legs around weather windows.
Air draft & routes
CLAIM
About 13'8" to 15'6": fine for the Illinois bridge, close at the western Erie Canal
NautiStyles gives a bridge clearance of 13'8" on a 2003 390, and two broker listings give 15'6". All are under the Loop's 19'6" limit on the Illinois River. Loop guides give about 15 feet for the western Erie Canal, so the higher figure would rule it out. None of the figures says whether the antennas or radar were up.
src:
NautiStyles review of a 2003 390, on YachtBuyer; Jefferson Beach listings (2004, 2007)
Your move: Measure her with the antennas and radar up before planning the western Erie Canal.
Engines
The engines research is part of the full profile inside the
product. It covers factory options, tested performance and the engine-specific
questions in our members' dossiers, and it travels with every dossier and survey brief
built on this model.
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