Hi all! New to the forums here and am in hot pursuit of a new to me Grady! Grew up on the Trent River in Eastern NC and have been boating since I got my 13’ Boston Whaler at 12 years old. Since GW’s are made about 45 min away from there in Greenville, NC, I have been around them my entire life but have not owned one although family members and past neighbors have – so I have been on plenty. I even built the dock/boat house on the Tar River for one of the VP’s there circa 1988 in a high school summertime job in marine construction. Can’t recall what his name was though. Anyway…
My budget wants to be in the $50k range - $60k max - and I want a hull as new as I can afford – I want a newish/good hull that I can repower in the future, not an older hull that has already been repowered. My intended uses include probably 60% of the time fishing between 20 and 40 miles, 20% of the time inshore (fishing, cruising, water sports, etc), 10% of the time fishing from the inlet out to 20 miles and 10% of the time 40 miles and out. The gulf stream is ~55+ miles from the inlets here in Wilmington, NC. I don’t expect overnighting to be done routinely by any stretch. But wouldn't rule out a camp out or 2 at some point.
I have been looking at several of the walkaround models. The 228 Seafarer, the 232 Gulfstream and the 258 Journey. I have not stepped foot on any of them – all of my research to date has been done while sitting behind a computer. My gut feel is that with an 8’ beam the 228 is just going to be too small. However I do like the single power (to an extent) and the economy this boat provides. To me it seems that the 232 and the 258 are going to feel about the same size overall – the power options and the economy (~2.4 mpg at cruise) appear very similar – and there is an amount of security felt being 40+ miles with twins on the transom - it’s just that one will have the size in beam and one will have the size in length. I typically fish with 3 folks total (including myself) on board but on occasion there are 4 of us. I generally will start with trolling and finish the day bottom bouncing – how long for each depends on how the trolling is going.
So with this very limited information, can any of you provide some real world insights for me into the ride and economy of these hulls and how they will fit my purpose the best? As an aside yet perhaps critical piece of information, I also have a wife and 8-yo daughter that want to be a part of the boating/fishing experience. They will primarily be on the boat for the inshore and 0-20 mile trips, but their comfort while onboard is critical to my boating happiness. Hence the walkaround and a porta-potti at the minimum being required.
Thanks in advance for your insights and I look forward to soon becoming an owner and contributor to this board!
My budget wants to be in the $50k range - $60k max - and I want a hull as new as I can afford – I want a newish/good hull that I can repower in the future, not an older hull that has already been repowered. My intended uses include probably 60% of the time fishing between 20 and 40 miles, 20% of the time inshore (fishing, cruising, water sports, etc), 10% of the time fishing from the inlet out to 20 miles and 10% of the time 40 miles and out. The gulf stream is ~55+ miles from the inlets here in Wilmington, NC. I don’t expect overnighting to be done routinely by any stretch. But wouldn't rule out a camp out or 2 at some point.
I have been looking at several of the walkaround models. The 228 Seafarer, the 232 Gulfstream and the 258 Journey. I have not stepped foot on any of them – all of my research to date has been done while sitting behind a computer. My gut feel is that with an 8’ beam the 228 is just going to be too small. However I do like the single power (to an extent) and the economy this boat provides. To me it seems that the 232 and the 258 are going to feel about the same size overall – the power options and the economy (~2.4 mpg at cruise) appear very similar – and there is an amount of security felt being 40+ miles with twins on the transom - it’s just that one will have the size in beam and one will have the size in length. I typically fish with 3 folks total (including myself) on board but on occasion there are 4 of us. I generally will start with trolling and finish the day bottom bouncing – how long for each depends on how the trolling is going.
So with this very limited information, can any of you provide some real world insights for me into the ride and economy of these hulls and how they will fit my purpose the best? As an aside yet perhaps critical piece of information, I also have a wife and 8-yo daughter that want to be a part of the boating/fishing experience. They will primarily be on the boat for the inshore and 0-20 mile trips, but their comfort while onboard is critical to my boating happiness. Hence the walkaround and a porta-potti at the minimum being required.
Thanks in advance for your insights and I look forward to soon becoming an owner and contributor to this board!
