Repowering an older Sailfish with twin OBs with a Big 300HP

[drseth]

Hey,

Any of you Sailfish, Dolphin owners repowered their boats going from twins to a big Single Outboard? Some of these 300HP motors are equivalent in HP to some of the Stern Drives. The decrease in cost and fuel consumption, as well as weight reduction.

Also, I see many GW 25 footers that are Sailfish, Dolphins, Kingfishers, Trophy Pro, and Wahoo's. What are the differences between the models?

Also, I see some of the boats advertised as having a Sportbridge. Was that optional, or were all of the same model Sailfish's Sportbridges?

Seth Anderson

1985 GW Seafarer 227
Looking at the GW 25's

 

[gw204]

The best way to see the differences is to check out the model year catalogs on the Grady White website.

http://www.gradywhite.com/customer/catalogs/

But in a nutshell....

1978 - Grady enters the 25' walkaround market with the Kingfish. V-berth, two aft quarter berth, no stand-up head, single or twin I/O power.
1981 - Grady adds to the 25' line with the Sailfish. Same hull as the Kingfish, v-berth, single aft quarter berth, stand up head, twin outboard power.
1982 - Grady adds two more 25'ers. The Swordfish and the Wahoo. Both are identical to the Sailfish except for power. Swordfish was twin OMC Sea Drive, Wahoo was single, straight drive inboard (very rare, very cool, discontinued after 1983).
1983 - Grady adds the 25' Trophy Pro. Same hull as the other 25'ers, smaller cabin, bigger cockpit.
1983 to 1990 - Swordfish is discontinued and replaced by the bracketed version of the Sailfish. Kingfish is discontinued and replaced by the IO Sailfish.
1990 - Sailfish is redesigned and given it the "Sportbridge" designation. It is the same hull, but the topsides were changed. The after berth now runs side to side, the galley is redesigned, still has a stand up head, and the helm is raised for more cabin headroom and better visibility. Power choices are twin ouboard (transom or bracket mounted) or single IO.
1991 - The Trophy Pro given a redesigned topside and renamed the Dolphin.
1992 - Sailfish and Dolphin get the new, varialbe deadrise Sea-V2 hull.
1994 - Sailfish goes to eurotransom and Dolphin is discontinued.
1995 - Sailfish is called the 272.
1998 - Running surface of the Sailfish is extended to the end of the eurotransom.
2001 - Sailfish is rebadged the 282.


If you're in the market, check out the Sailfish in my signature.

 

[BobP]

To add to nutshell.

The Sportbridge raised bridge added one more step up more from the cockpit over pre 1990 sailfish models.

Even though the use of "Sportbridge" was deleted, same continued on, total of two steps to get up on bridge from cockpit.

 

[Grog]

Brian's does have one CLEAN Sailfish.


As for a single Vs. twins, a single 300 would be marginal plus you loose the manuverabality of twins. A 25' Sailfish with a bracket is basically a 28' boat, it's nice to be able to spin the boat in place and other tricks that a single just can't do.