Sea Ray has so much experience in the express cruiser field that it has pretty much perfected this powerboat form. Cleanly styled, well built and comfortable to the point of luxurious — the 225 Weekender is all of these. But if you're looking for a revelation in the 225, you won't find it.

The real "newness" of the 225 is in the details and, once again, Sea Ray has spent a lot of time (and money) to find out what you, the buyer, want and what you dislike. Every year, they go through extensive surveys and interviews with prospective buyers, current owners and their dealers to find out how to improve the next year's product. As a result, they've gotten it down to a science, and the beauty is, as they say, in the details.

Take the helm seat on the 225 Weekender, for example. I think it's near perfect. That's speaking for my rear, of course — yours may be different. But the seat is just wide enough for two people to snuggle up together, yet it's very comfortable if you're not feeling friendly. Too many double helm seats leave the lone skipper without any side support, and that isn't the case here.

Down below, you'll find all the comforts of home in miniature. There's a full wrap-around settee that does double-duty as a V-berth when you retrieve the filler cushion from its dedicated storage area. Otherwise, there's a dinette table between the settees. Sea Ray has realized that when you are using the filler cushion, you'll need a place to stow the dinette table, so there's another dedicated storage rack for the big table. That table can also be taken into the cockpit where a bracket is waiting in the cockpit sole.

There's full sitting headroom for most people under 6 feet, a portable toilet is tucked to starboard behind a curtain, and the galley counter has a built-in ice chest, sink and storage bin. The expected Clarion AM/FM/digital cassette stereo has interior and cockpit speakers and includes a cockpit remote control.

The standard power is a 220-horsepower MerCruiser 5.0-liter with Alpha I stern drive.

Jump seats on each side of the motor box convert to a one-person sunpad.

Underway, the 225 was everything you'd expect. It delivered enough punch to lift skiers from deepwater starts, was quick to level off onto a plane and held a level attitude at low speeds.

This is one very-well-mannered boat that is going to find its way into a lot of hearts (and a lot of driveways) across America. The 225 does so much, so well.

2003 Trailer with new 1tires, Lights and Tires included