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Keith Yunger, president of Sea Ray since 2021, grew up with the iconic American brand because his father worked for the company. As teenagers, Yunger and his brother considered themselves the “crash test dummies” as they put various models through their paces. Sea Ray turned 65 last year, and in this interview with John Burnham, Rightboat.com content director, Yunger highlighted the evolution of Sea Ray's product development, especially the new design language introduced by the company beginning three years ago aimed to attract the next generation of boaters. He also emphasized the importance of multi-generational use of Sea Ray models and mentioned after the interview that his son has joined the business, too, working for Sea Ray’s parent company, Brunswick Corporation.
Interview with Sea Ray President Keith Yunger at the 2025 Miami International Boat Show
John Burnham: Keith, you became president of Sea Ray in 2021, but I understand your relationship with Sea Ray goes back a lot farther. Can you tell me about that?
Keith Yunger: Yes, it actually goes back to my childhood. So, in the long legacy of Sea Ray, which has been around for 65 years, we've had two owners. The first owner was the original founder, C.N. Ray, and the second owner is Brunswick. And what I think is a really cool thing with that is my dad worked for C.N. Ray back in the ‘60s, ‘70s and early ‘80s. So as a kid, I got to grow up on the boats and be part of what we referred to as the product development back then. Now we come full circle to where I get to lead this great brand and these great people that continue to make fantastic boats for the marketplace.
Burnham: So you were in R&D from the start, breaking the boats?
Keith Yunger: Absolutely. Lot of times, my brother and I used to joke we were the crash test dummies where my dad was putting us out in the water for when we were doing water toys or water skiing, seeing how the boats would plane off, but as they got into cabin boats, we would also overnight on the product. We had a family of four with my brother and mom and dad, and my dad would always come away with a legal pad worth of notes of what worked, what didn't work, and that became the next evolution of fixes or innovation.
Burnham: Well, it sounds like some great memories, and I'm curious, did you ever imagine that you'd have a position like this with a company?
Yunger: I knew I wanted to get into the boat business as second generation, because it's what I grew up with and what I knew, the lifestyle of being on the water was always near and dear to me as a kid and as I grew up into my adult life, probably never dreamed about being at the helm of Sea Ray, but it is a dream come true for me.
Burnham: It's pretty cool. I understand the company has just celebrated its 65th anniversary. How's the party going?
Yunger: The party's fantastic. The great part about the 65 years is there are a lot of people—customers, dealers and employees—that have all played a part of building this great legacy, and the brand has become an iconic American brand for premium boating. And from that standpoint, it's just great to see people I grew up with. There's a lot of dealers that my dad signed when I was a kid, and they're still a second generation into the business, whereas I come around, they're still dealers, and they're like, I remember you when you were this small. So it's great stories from that standpoint. And what it reminds me of, at the end of the day, we're in the people business. It's all about creating smiles, making memories, whether we're doing business or we're enjoying the product on the water.
Burnham: So you've got another anniversary this year. What's that? Yes,
Yunger: We do, and we're actually sitting on one of the products. It's the Sundancer 50th anniversary. The Sundancer series, back in 1975, reimagined what a cabin cruiser was going to be by adding the mid cabin to a traditional cabin cruiser back in the day. So that worked really well and invented, in essence, a new segment for everybody to play in and create overnighting for families of four or more. And just recently, within the past five, six years, Sundancer pushed that envelope again and re-imagined the mid-cabin cruiser with what we call a fourth social zone, which is the bow rider area. So, you can have a little bit of a day boat area up in the bow of the boat, as well as the cockpit, the transom and the cabin. You've got four great social zones on board for family and friends to gather and have a great day on the water.
The 370 Sundancer features four social zones—bow, stern, pilothouse, and cabin. Photo courtesy Sea Ray
Burnham: I know Sea Ray has been an iconic U.S. brand. I understand you also do a lot of business in Europe and overseas. And you’re building there as well. Where else are Sea Rays built?
Yunger: We build in four different plants globally right now. We've got two U.S. plants, one in Knoxville, Tennessee, as well as Merritt Island, Florida. And then we also build some product down in Reynosa, Mexico, and over in Augusta, Poland, and the Poland factory pretty much serves the European marketplace and the Middle East, because as we get into our products, 19 to 40 feet landed, cost and the value proposition to the consumer is important. And if we build the boat in the states and have ocean freight to get it over to Europe. There's a lot of non-value-added cost in it that the consumer can appreciate. By us building in region, it just creates a better experience for the folks.
Burnham: And so is, is the overseas business a big part of your annual sales?
Yunger: Yes, it is. North America has traditionally been the strongest market, quickly followed by Europe. So, Europe is about 25 percent of our business. The U.S. is typically in about the 60 percent range. If we go to Europe, it's about 25 percent and then Canada is about 10 percent.
Burnham: OK, so let's bring it back to the U.S. Imagine that I'm at my first show in eight years. I own an older Sea Ray, but it's 12 or 15 years old. I'm kind of behind the times in terms of what Sea Ray has to offer. Now what's the biggest improvement or change that you guys have made to Sea Ray over that time?
Yunger: I think the biggest thing—and it'll turn into about a six- or seven-year journey—but about three years ago, we decided to come up with a new design language to take us into the next generation of boaters, and that that new design language goes across each of our product series. We've got our SPX, which is our access to the brand. Those are 19- and 21-footers. We have our SDXs, which are activity boats for water toys and surfing and things of that nature. We have our SLX, which is our premium performance runabouts, and then our Sundancer series. And what we did with this design language is create some elements that are consistent, like our sheerline, which gives the boats a look of motion, even when sitting still. Our new logo and some of the hull-side sculpting and what that does. It makes it look like a family of boats across all series, which is important for us. It's highly recognized on the water. People can associate with it and feel proud that, hey, I own a Sea Ray, and other people can recognize the fact that they own a Sea Ray as well.
Burnham: You mentioned four ranges from the SPX up to the Sundancer, and if you go down to the Sea Ray Marina that I'm imagining you've got on in Tennessee or Merritt Island, and you can pick any boat to go out for an hour or two, which do you choose?
Yunger: I would probably pick our new SDX 270 Surf. And the reason I say that is, I'm in my 60s but I can surf behind the boats. And we came out with the SDX series last year and just launched those. But it becomes a great all-around activity boat. The great part about surfing is you can have small kids, you know, 6-7-8 years old, all the way up through grandparents and everybody in between. It's a great generation link that you can have out on the water. But it's also a great boat—after surfing for a little bit with the group—to go out and cruise or picnic or cove with it. So, a great boat to bring family and crew on board and have all the room and the activities everybody wants to play in.
Fun for multi-generational water activities and cruising, the Sea Ray SDX 270 Surf. Photo courtesy Sea Ray
Burnham: Great well, Sea Ray is 65, going on 66 now. What can we expect by the time Sea Ray is 70?
Yunger: I think by the time Sea Ray is 70, we're going to have a couple new products come out in our larger SLX lineup, and we will start to bring some of the design DNA into that product with our bigger day boats. So those are typically our 310, our 350, and our 400; that'll be big news over the next three or four years. And then, I think also with our recently introduced surf products, we have that on our 230, 250 and 270 SDX models. That will become a big push for us, because we're seeing folks that want to go out with generations of family, grandparents to grandkids, but have something for everybody to do, and that brings the family together and creates a great day on the water.
Displaying the new Sea Ray design language of bow-riding social zone, sculpted hull and distinctive sweeping sheerline—the Sea Ray SLX 400 comes with outboard or inboard power.
Burnham: So you said you're in your 60s. As you move towards your 70s, or even now, do you have multiple generations that you're bringing along for those rides?
Yunger: Yes, we do. My son recently got married, and I know my wife is anxiously awaiting grand babies, but we're not there yet. We'll tell him to take his time, but when we do get a chance to go out, we're usually two to three different generations on board, and it's just great to see everybody with a smile on their face. And I always try to encourage everybody to be at the helm and drive the boat. And at the end of the day, I'm the guy at the helm, making sure everybody's staying safe and they're enjoying their time.
Burnham: It seems like with Sea Ray, the advancement in technology is a given—and now you’re tweaking the boats’ design so that they better suit multi-generational use and the families of 2025. Is that accurate?
Yunger: It is. And I think there are a couple nuances or things we need to be thinking about to make sure that we're always staying out in front of the consumer expectations. There's a lot of touch points they have in today's world. There's the digital side of it, with their phones and TVs and electronics back in their house or their car. So, on a boat, we need to keep up with that type of innovation with connectivity and touch points for ease of use and ease of navigation, but also on a boat, especially when you bring in multi generations on board, storage is always a premium. So regardless of the size of boats you have, how do you ensure you develop enough storage that's smart storage for wet and dry goods on board, for a great day on the water with the family and friends.
Burnham: OK, well, we're in Miami here. What's, what's the brand new model that I should go look at when we're done talking?
Yunger: The biggest one here that's great for the Miami market, but also the coastal markets is our SDX series with outboard propulsion. So we've got our 230, 250 and 270 here, all outboard powered, which is great for the coastal environment. But what we've also done with those products that you won't see here is we also build that in a stern drive for inland waters, or the surf model for people that are activity based. So, the team's done a great job in creating the propulsion variants for the product depending on the type of water and type of boating that the customer wants to do.
Burnham: Thanks for your time, Keith, good luck at the rest of the show and getting back on the water as soon as you can
Yunger: Fantastic, John. I hope to see you out on the water.
Learn more about current models by Sea Ray and Sea Ray boats for sale on Rightboat.com.
