Dave1972

Hey group,

We are looking at getting a "new to us" boat sometime in the not-so-distant future and I came across Sonic. I'm not overly familiar but I do know they went through a restructuring (new owners?) a few years ago? Tell me the history and talk about quality for let's say the last 5 years or so. They are built in Stuart,FL and I see they picked up the Mares cat molds...what else do I need to know?

Thank you in advance for your info

Jupiter Sunsation

Cool boats that have been around forever. I still like the arch/wing boats from the 80's. Non-stepped hulls are a little slower/safer. Look out for underpowered boats since they are heavy. There was a well priced 386 on here awhile back with 496 Mags that wouldn't break 65 MPH or so. I look at them at the show every year, nice solid boats at a good price but design is getting tired.

They also produce Dakota CC's.

pullmytrigger

Built tough (Florida built)...If you need a boat that you can overnight in the cabins are amazingly roomy.......the 31 with its pull out centre section gives like a full queen size bed and hasa head that a 6' man can actually get inside.......certainly not the fastest but not the slowest either.......havnt changed a whole lot over the years so an older one can be cosmeticly updated to look like a brand new one.............doug

runafever

Great lines. Tall deck. You could have a party in the cabin with all of your friends and even there pets. And thats just in a 31! Straight vee bottom. good ride. not the fastest around but very comfortable. Heard they run better with extension boxes. I would consider one.

TeamSaris

http://www.offshoreonly.com/esvon/page-13301.html

A Good Deal on a 31

Dave1972

Thanks guys...keep the info coming. As I looked at their current website looking at the detailed specs...I'm curious what this means "Composite Resin Infusion Molding (a more complete lay-up available upon request)". What does the first mean and what would make the lay-up more complete?

Keep it coming!!!!

Jassman

I had a 2000 42SS with 500 efi's. Tops was 70-71 mph. Great cabin for overnighting, very comfortable, cabin liner for ease of cleaning, built well, really never had too many problems. Boring ride, but good rough water ride. It did porpoise slightly, when not using tabs, you really didn't feel it at speed too much but it was evident until I was being filmed or better yet when we were filming a 45 when I was on my 37 A.T. run to KW in 03. Good Luck. Jeff

Sydwayz

iTrader: (1)

1990s through 2002 were built VERY solid.
Jay Ross at the helm of the company. (The man builds an incredible boat, VERY solid and is now building Active Thunder Boats in Pompano with Pat Haughey.)

Sometime in 2002-2003 Richard Hewitt III bought out Sonic and the Sonic building. He introduced the Infusion Hull process of Vacuum Bagging, and unfortunately there were some bugs in the process. A few hulls had to have work redone, but I don't know of any boats with outstanding issues from this time period. Richard Hewitt also brought Sonic together with Dakota Center Console boats, so there are some build similarities.

Sometime in late 2005ish time frame, CSI Marine (owner of Mares Cats) bought Sonic/Dakota and brought them into CSI Marine. Now Mares and Sonic fly the Sonic name, and I don't know if Dakota still flies the Dakota name, but they are all owned by CSI Marine. They have built a few boats under the new company ownership, but the past year or so has been a lot of moving factories and facilities further north to Stuart. Some of the painting is being done by INXS Motorsports, also owned by Pat Haughey (of Active Thunder.)

I'd say, depending on the particular boat you look at, if you go used, make sure to run it by the OSO community, as we are a small community. Again, late 2002-2003 boats should be paid more attention too, just to make sure the hulls are sound with vacuum bagging process done to them. They started by just bagging the hulls, but now I believe the current boats are built with hulls, decks, and liners all vacuum bagged/"Infused".

There are also a couple of Sonics for sale at the Active Thunder factory; a 358, and a 42SS. http://www.activethunderboats.com/pr...e-preowned.htm

I started in a 1999 26' Sonic, and it was a fantastic boat. Big, heavy, and a tad slower than other similar sized/powered boats, but VERY forgiving.

If you can give us an inkling of what you may be in the market for; size, price, power... there are bound to be plenty of suggestions.

Sydwayz

iTrader: (1)

Vacuum bagging in a nutshell is when they lay up the hull, deck, and liner individually, they essentially place the whole mold into a giant plastic bag with tubes hooked to the whole getup. These tubes are hooked to pumps which pull/pump the resin though the layers of fiberglass, and remove the excess and place it back into buckets to be trashed. This essentially makes the hull lighter, a little thinner, but in theory, stronger. This also helps in the finishing area, as less prep to each piece needs to be done to begin fitting all three pieces together.

Most boats are built this way today, BUT, Sonic adds a hull LINER (entire cockpit, head, floors, couches, v-berth are all one piece), built the same way as the hull and the deck. This is part of what creates such a solid build/boat for Sonic, being three solid pieces. Many other boats are built with combinations of the aforementioned, as well as piece built interiors; depends on the builder and the options you choose.

I surmise, that if you wanted a heavier boat, you could opt out of the vacuum bagging process for a "more complete layup".

Dave1972

Thank you guys for the info...this is the stuff I've been looking for!!!!

Sydwayz...awesome info about the vacuum bagging. I knew what it was but wanted to make sure that the "Composite Resin Infusion Molding" was the same as vacuum-bagging...nice high-tech term for the same thing?

As for what I'm looking at...let's just say that I'm looking at all of my options and just want to make an informed decision.

How about resale on Sonic's?