2017 or newer 208 - how do you like?

[SB Grady Hope]

Hi All,
Anyone have a 2017 or newer GW 208? I’m on the hunt for one (200HP four stroke) and am wondering how you like yours?
Any issues to know about? Is the composite transom/stringers holding up well…etc. anything you want share?

Thank you!

 

[trapper]

I think you will find not many changes in the 208 after 2000 over the years. Mine is 2006 and appears very close to the newer ones, the exception being they are a lot more expensive to purchase! I have the Yam 200 on mine at it is great match for the 208. I would guess the composite transom etc. must be a better addition to the model as mine is greenwood with no issues. I guess your question was about "composite" so my 2 bits may not count.

 

[luckydude]

I have it's bigger brother, the 228 and it's fine. Mine is 2020, a buddy has a 1999 version and his shows some age but you have to look really carefully to see it. I don't think Grady changes much once they get the hull done. I put a custom pilot house on mine, my buddy got my hardtop. 21 years older hull and the hardtop dropped into place perfectly. There are some side by side pics here:

Custom Pilot house by Charlie Hicks and Miguel's boat repair, lots of help from Peter and Jens

So in terms of build quality, what you are looking at is going to be great.

My concern would be size. My 228 is definitely too small a lot of the days on the Pacific. Your profile doesn't say where you are, if it is someplace like Florida, the adventure is more than enough boat for those waters (still have to pick your days but you'll have plenty). I do tuna runs, mostly on my friends' Canyon 271 because the tuna tend to be 30-70 miles offshore. That's a long way to go in a 22 foot boat. Your adventure is even shorter, it will handle most of what I can handle but it will pound a little bit more in the slop coming home.

That said, I've made these points before and someone popped up and described horrible conditions that they came home in in a 208. So it will handle *way* worse ocean than anyone wants to be in, it's a safe boat. Probably about the same as my 228, maybe slightly less safe because of the open transom vs a swim platform but any competent captain can work around that. You really want 25-27 feet as your lower bound in our waters for tuna runs. My buddy is adding a 37 foot cat to his fleet, that's a game changer, we can do the tuna runs in half the time and twice the comfort.

All of those concerns go away if you pick your days and the weather models are correct. I've seen 16 foot boats on the tuna grounds 60 miles from the harbor. Absolutely a flat day. Would I do that? Oh, hell no, I'm 62, you have to be young and dumb to do that. I've seen the weather turn when the models said it was going to be flat. You are pretty screwed if that happens, even in my boat, I've had it where I couldn't get on plane and had to motor home at 12-18mph. Not fun.

So pick your days carefully.

 

[Sdfish]

Lucky - your pilot house came out great! Enjoy that comfort!

 

[Peter A]

Here is a long note…

I have ‘21 208, hardtop and F200. It is a great pocket battlecruiser. Note that I didn’t say battleship, as no 20’ boat can quite get there. With a hardtop and bowsprit it looks bigger than it is. I run out of Waretown NJ so Barnegat Bay and the inshore/nearshore ocean.

Sips fuel, handles weather and waves well, shallow draft for beach days, lots of room for two people fishing.

The limitations are a function of length and width. It’s hard to keep a small boat from pounding and I have found that I use a lot of tab to really keep the sharp end of the boat cutting the waves. The hull cannot carry the higher deadrise very far before it starts to flatten. I’ve been out in some cranky waves and run Barnegat inlet many times. Bigger boats are going faster but I am good. Rides better with a full fuel tank and heavier load. I’d feel safe going pretty far out on a nice day. 200hp is sufficient and I changed out to a 14x14 four-blade Powertech SCE4. 41mph GPS if the hull is clean. 250hp would be better and not overpowered, maybe I wil do the Nizpro tune to 231 for some extra punch.

The cockpit is narrow so the bucket seats are small. They could use more bottom padding and the sides are hard plastic and narrow (front sides) which can make for some pain in rough conditions. I am considering looking for a different seat or have padding added underneath and up/around the sides. Running rough water my right elbow will sometimes hit the switches - I wish they were up on the dash. My bilge pump ran dry for a long time and nav lights on. Rod storage, get two piece rods, when I store rods in the cabin I remove the hatch to the anchor locker to fit. The cockpit rod holders are length compromised as well. Good thing the rocket launchers have eight slots - a must have. No place to put a big fish, I have a cold bag. I don’t have a livewell but believe the config is not great.

A couple of fixes. I have a heavy duty Yakima roof bag up on the hardtop. Bumpers, lines, extra life jackets, gear, inflatable paddle board for beach days etc goes up top. I also have a wheeled Yeti Cooler that sits nicely strapped in front of the motor well (it will also fit in front of the porta potti but if loaded it’s hard to get in there) - so if you have a livewell you can still have an iced fish box available. I am going to add a cutting board to the top of the cooler. BTW that space in front of potti is good to drop a gear bucket, bumpers, spare anchor in a canvas bag, etc.

I have a Oceanpro beanbag - good if a passenger wants to stay dry and comfortable on a long run. Goes in the cuddy when fishing starts. The rear jump seats and side fishbox seats can be a wet ride.

I might have the front strataglass modified so I can unzip and roll up. Even in warm weather I will run with the canvas as spray over the bow happens, but would like to ventilate sometimes. The side strataglass rolls up nicely.

228 will definitely give more space so I’d consider that option. 232 would be a game changer for me but I have been learning how to make the 20’ work for me as the cost to buy/run/maintain a 232 is a lot higher.

One last comment, there are days when I go out alone, it’s an easy boat to manage in/around the slip on a windy day. I have also had 7 passengers + dog on a beach day with a west marine inflatable dock folded in half and jammed between the cockpit and rail . And I wouldn’t get one without a hardtop.

 

[luckydude]

Peter, if you dig through my posts, you will find me talking about changing out the trim tabs from 9x12 to 12x18. If you can do that on your boat, the ride gets substantially better. Bennett says for 9 inch deep tabs, they need to be one inch for each foot of boat length. So those 9x12s are for a 12 foot boat.

After I switched to bigger, I roll over most swells. Before, those swells launched me.

 

[Peter A]

Peter, if you dig through my posts, you will find me talking about changing out the trim tabs from 9x12 to 12x18. If you can do that on your boat, the ride gets substantially better. Bennett says for 9 inch deep tabs, they need to be one inch for each foot of boat length. So those 9x12s are for a 12 foot boat.

After I switched to bigger, I roll over most swells. Before, those swells launched me.

Yes, I have seen those posts, good idea and added to my list with priority. Run heavy, use tabs! LOL. She is a great little boat. Safe water travels.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

As mentioned, there aren't a ton of outward differences with the 208 Adventure over the years, except for some smaller things like the interior of the cabin cushions, some of the instrumentation at the helm and so forth. I briefly considered buying one instead of my 228 Seafarer over the year that I was looking for a boat but for a few reasons, I passed on that idea. For myself, I wanted a slightly larger boat than only 20' as well as I wanted one that was heavier, would be more comfortable in the chop and nasty conditions, etc. I'd also heard multiple problems from people that had owned them where they'd had water intrusion issues because of the bang cap/plate and water getting into the transom that way. The motor well style of transom also wasn't something that I liked and it seemed to take up a good deal of potential fishing space. On the other hand, I didn't need a 232 Gulfstream for my particular fishing/boating needs as it's a considerably bigger boat and that imo was a bit overkill for myself personally. The 228 Seafarer with the fully enclosed transom, transom bracket, swim step and so forth opens up the boat considerably and gives it a bit more room. The difference in weight between the two boats is also pretty substantial in that a 208 Adventure test boat with an F200 on it had a test weight of around 4,200 lbs whereas the 228 Seafarer with an F225 was at just over 5,300 lbs.

Imo, and yes I know that I might be slightly biased, but it's the Goldilocks of walkarounds between the 208 Adventure and the 232 Gulfstream. Small enough to handle on your own... towing, launching, captaining and retrieving by yourself. But also to where you can take it out in considerably worse conditions than you'd want to experience in a 208 Adventure. And it'll even just handle the normal everyday chop/current/wind considerably better with the extra length as well as the additional 1k lbs of weight. The 232 Gulfstream on the other hand is a completely different beast and one that I didn't really feel the need to buy for the relatively protected waters in front of my beach cabin on Whidbey Island. As mentioned above, I wouldn't get any of these boats without a hardtop, unless it was an absolute steal of a deal, trim tabs also help out quite a bit as well as the outboard being propped appropriately. I've got a 3 blade prop on my boat, of which she'll hit 43-44 mph in perfect conditions and with a moderate amount of fuel onboard. I think the 4 blade, from what others have said on here, is probably the better option and one that would get me slightly better numbers, but I don't need to go much over 25-30 mph and the added expense to me isn't worth pulling the boat out of the water just for that reason. Maybe over the winter I'll give Ken at Prop Gods a call and see what he recommends, but I'd rather put that money elsewhere first. I think the best thing that you can do is to step onto a 208 Adventure as well as any other boats you might be interested in first and see what you think. Is there enough room for you, your fishing/boating needs, gear and so forth? If not, perhaps looking at a slightly larger boat like the 226/228 Seafarer might be the better option?

 

[Peter A]

Those test weights are light for both boats. Leaving the dock with three on board for a full fishing trip and full fuel I estimate close to 4900. Leave a guy at the dock and burn 2/3 tank 500lbs lighter at the end of the day.

2900 boat
500 motor
200 hardtop/canvas
500 fuel (80 g)
600 3 dudes
200 boat/fishing/crew gear, electronics, ice etc

That 2.8 F200 getting a workout!

 

[luckydude]

One other 208 note, the cockpit is 2 feet shorter than a 228, I believe they are identical hulls from 2 feet forward of the 228 transom to the bow, like I wouldn't be surprised if a 228 and a 208 hardtop were identical.

Anyhoo, I looked at a 208 when I bought my 228. I think for 2 guys fishing, it's fine. For 3 guys, very crowded, you'll miss the extra space. And if you want to crab, it's 228 hands down, the missing 2 feet of cockpit means you really don't have any room after you have stacked pots.

It's the eternal two-foot-itis, doesn't matter what size you have, you want bigger. I'd own a 232 if I could get it down my twisty mountain road, I lust after that boat. But even a 232 isn't really big enough for tuna runs. If Grady brought back a 27 or 28 foot sailfish, yeah, I'd get a slip and buy that boat. That's a comfy boat for long runs.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

Those test weights are light for both boats. Leaving the dock with three on board for a full fishing trip and full fuel I estimate close to 4900. Leave a guy at the dock and burn 2/3 tank 500lbs lighter at the end of the day.

2900 boat
500 motor
200 hardtop/canvas
500 fuel (80 g)
600 3 dudes
200 boat/fishing/crew gear, electronics, ice etc

That 2.8 F200 getting a workout!

The dry weight of the boat doesn't really mean anything to me at all as it's just adding up numbers and then guessing from there. The much closer number is going to be the weight of a test boat and then going from there with additional persons, gear and so forth. Obviously they're going to use as little fuel and additional weight as possible to get better fuel economy numbers. That being said, when I first bought my boat, I launched it at a location that had a sling with a scale attached to it and my boat with half a tank of fuel and minimal gear was right around 5,600 lbs. My boat has a 92 gallon fuel tank, so an extra 45 gallons of fuel at 6 lbs/gallon would be 270 lbs, and then depending on how many people are onboard, that could be another 500-750+ as well. I will say though that I generally do a good deal of my fishing either by myself or with only one other person, with minimal fishing gear - 2 downriggers, 4 rods, tackle box, etc... and then typically 1/2 - 3/4 of a tank of fuel at the most. I have a beach cabin as well as a mooring buoy and to where I'll row out to my boat, unhook from the buoy and literally start trolling from there, so I can get through a summer/season on less than 50-60 gallons of fuel. Is what I do typical of every boater out there? Definitely not. Though I will say, I'm guessing a fair amount of the average pleasure craft owners out there probably run something similar in terms of additional weight onboard like I do. Not every boater is going to have an extra thousand pounds of persons onboard as well as an extra thousand pounds of gear, tackle, ice, etc. Lots of boat owners just want something that they can take to the sandbar or take the wife/family for a cruise while having a White Claw or two. So, while it might not be typical for your style of fishing/boating... the 5,300 lbs listed for the 228 Seafarer is pretty close to what my boat weighs, with the exception of me not being onboard. Lastly, the weights of the 208 Adventure have changed since the early 2000's until they stopped making the boat... going from 2650 lbs in the early 2000's up to 2,900 lbs in 2019/2020, which right there adds an extra 250 lbs.

 

[Peter A]

Uh, I I didn’t indicate 1,000 pounds of people and another 1,000 gear? What’s your point? After indicating you don’t use dry weights, you quote dry weights. I won’t get to a scale, don’t trailer my boat. Just my estimate for how I run. Take it, leave it.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

Uh, I I didn’t indicate 1,000 pounds of people and another 1,000 gear? What’s your point? After indicating you don’t use dry weights, you quote dry weights. I won’t get to a scale, don’t trailer my boat. Just my estimate for how I run. Take it, leave it.

It was a hypothetical in that one could run their boat solo with no gear and another might have 4-5 other people consistently on board with 1k lbs of gear, ice, bait, water and so forth. Also, my comment was meant more along the lines of the "dry weight" of the boats are posted in the brochures as well as on the GW website. Which yes, gives you a very, very basic idea as to how much a boat might weigh. But as you indicated, you have to add up other items individually such as the fuel, engine(s), persons, gear, extra weight and so forth... which at the end of the day is again as you say, just your estimate. I'd have to imagine the scale weight that I obtained launching my boat, along with the test weights in the performance data sheets, are considerably more accurate. Which would be my point, and I'll "leave it" at that... pun intended.