Keeping up with the KYs...

[ocdansar]

Love the keys

 

[PointedRose]

Hooked on Grady,
my first Grady was a 192. I bought it used. I have 3 kids and my middle son is severely disabled . His name is Kyle and he is 21. He is blind ,has cerebral palsy,is mentally retarded and has a mild form of epilepsy. He had meningitis when he was 24 days old and his brain bled out. He is an awesome young man. I love the outdoors and when he was an infant and toddler life was straight up hard and miserable for me. Kyle was aweful . I would take him kayaking and he cried the entire time. When he was 4 we were in the keys and I was at my wits end. Kyle was cranky. The wife was more so and I thought my life was over. Everything I loved. I couldn't do any longer . So, I rented a 22 foot Angler from Pennekamp and strapped Kyle in his life jacket and the tears and screams flowed. Wife was pissed we spent the money and I was damned if I was going to let this ruin my one and only trip to the reef. So we pushed off. My daughter was 6 and my other son was 2. We were going come hell or high water .I was at my wits end .

We start the boat and Kyle is sitting next to me on the leaning post bench seat. We idle out and he is fussing. The wife is glaring.We come around a tight bend in the channel and the sign says resume normal operation. I gently put the throttle down and the engine came to life. Kyle sat up straight. He stopped crying and a huge smile came across his face . My life and attitude changed that day. Kyle loved boating! He loved going fast and this was one activity my entire family could do as a family! Three months later I was a proud owner of a1998 Tournament 192 with a Johnson Ocean Pro 150! Boating for us has been a blessing worth every hard earned penny we have spent on it. I didn't have the biggest house,the newest TV or nicest car. None of that matters , I had a boat baby!

When my youngest turned 8,I started taking Cole on father son fishing trips to Florida. I wanted him to have time with just me and not having to share it with his special needs brother. I have a buddy and we are sympatico and run the boat together quite well he brings his son too.We split the costs of the trips. It's our thing. Boating has been an amazing part of my life and my kids have grown up doing it. They have learned a lot not just about the boat,but weather, respect for the sea in terms of conservation, fishing responsibly and so forth. Cole is a sophomore in college in Orlando and is majoring in biology and thinks he wants to do sea turtle stuff,maybe fisheries or who knows run a charter boat .

Get fishing with your son. it's never too late.

Smoky - this is AWESOME - thank you for sharing. The primary reason I bought my GW last year is so that I can call my dad and have something fun to talk about (my family is in Boston). COVID year has sucked for a lot of reasons and boating has been more therapeutic for me than anything else for my entire life.

 

[SmokyMtnGrady]

I just polished the 232. Getting ready for Salmon this weekend.View attachment 20467

That's a big girl right there ! have a great time .

 

[hooked on Grady]

Hooked on Grady,
my first Grady was a 192. I bought it used. I have 3 kids and my middle son is severely disabled . His name is Kyle and he is 21. He is blind ,has cerebral palsy,is mentally retarded and has a mild form of epilepsy. He had meningitis when he was 24 days old and his brain bled out. He is an awesome young man. I love the outdoors and when he was an infant and toddler life was straight up hard and miserable for me. Kyle was aweful . I would take him kayaking and he cried the entire time. When he was 4 we were in the keys and I was at my wits end. Kyle was cranky. The wife was more so and I thought my life was over. Everything I loved. I couldn't do any longer . So, I rented a 22 foot Angler from Pennekamp and strapped Kyle in his life jacket and the tears and screams flowed. Wife was pissed we spent the money and I was damned if I was going to let this ruin my one and only trip to the reef. So we pushed off. My daughter was 6 and my other son was 2. We were going come hell or high water .I was at my wits end .

We start the boat and Kyle is sitting next to me on the leaning post bench seat. We idle out and he is fussing. The wife is glaring.We come around a tight bend in the channel and the sign says resume normal operation. I gently put the throttle down and the engine came to life. Kyle sat up straight. He stopped crying and a huge smile came across his face . My life and attitude changed that day. Kyle loved boating! He loved going fast and this was one activity my entire family could do as a family! Three months later I was a proud owner of a1998 Tournament 192 with a Johnson Ocean Pro 150! Boating for us has been a blessing worth every hard earned penny we have spent on it. I didn't have the biggest house,the newest TV or nicest car. None of that matters , I had a boat baby!

When my youngest turned 8,I started taking Cole on father son fishing trips to Florida. I wanted him to have time with just me and not having to share it with his special needs brother. I have a buddy and we are sympatico and run the boat together quite well he brings his son too.We split the costs of the trips. It's our thing. Boating has been an amazing part of my life and my kids have grown up doing it. They have learned a lot not just about the boat,but weather, respect for the sea in terms of conservation, fishing responsibly and so forth. Cole is a sophomore in college in Orlando and is majoring in biology and thinks he wants to do sea turtle stuff,maybe fisheries or who knows run a charter boat .

Get fishing with your son. it's never too late.

I rented in a lake community for 10 years waiting for my lakefront home to raise my family. I found it the year my son was born(he is now 22), we have 35' in the back yard with hybrid stripers, walleyes, large mouth, small mouth, pike, pickerel, channel cats. the trout in the big lake are off the charts. just today my son caught an eight pound rainbow on a 3/4 oz gold little cleo spoon 2' behind a half oz trolling drail. Our father son trip to the keys in april 2019 changed his life. As a 9th grader I did my career report about being a hunting or fishing guide. Now I am getting close to having my time in for capts. license and my son said he can see himself guiding people for the big fish we catch as a side gig. Who knows, we have enough invested in it we may give it a try a some point.

 

[Bird Blaster]

You guys inspired me to get after my 232 this weekend. One side of the boat done...one to go and the topside.

 

[Ky Grady]

Looks great Bird!!!!

 

[glacierbaze]

Yes it does look great Bird. Post your methods, some of us are still looking for that wipe on wipe off miracle.

 

[Bird Blaster]

Yes it does look great Bird. Post your methods, some of us are still looking for that wipe on wipe off miracle.

Boat is a 2008 - new to me. I must admit I am getting a bit lucky on the hull. I have no experience doing this but this thread inspired me. The hull is coming along really nicely. The top of the gunwale was pretty dull but are now starting to shine!! I have gone over it once with an rotary polisher and then doing it again with a dual action polisher. All wipe on/off with 3M Marine Fibreglass Restorer & Wax.

So far so good!