Roughest Seas You’ve Endured - Seafarer 228?

[Summertop511]

I completely disagree about your comments on plane speed. Not true at all. I have had both. Perhaps power and prop were a factor?

Yes, not technically more hull in the water, but the ride characteristics are very different, downsea stability is improved with a bracket. More space on the boat (depending on model of course and size of splashwell).

I’d agree both can have advantages in different areas, entirely up to personal preference but for me the downsea ride here in some scary seas is what matters most. I’d agree that the weight pushed back does have an added porpoise effect going upsea, but disagree about planing speed.

Either way 226 and 228 both great boats.

If brackets were so great with so little cons then why does all newest Grady design boats like freedom and fisherman’s have no brackets??

 

[glacierbaze]

The bracket got rid of the open transom, which Grady Whites no longer have.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

Bracket doesn’t make boat bigger. Waves hit center which is under seat. Now….. a non bracket boat can put the V right in the wave with no added bow weight. And not fall off plane till much slower speeds.

It pushes the motor(s) out further as opposed to hanging off the back of the boat making the length overall of the boat longer. It also gives you more fishing space not having the motor(s) in the way, especially when trying to land a fish, and gives you the live well in the back whereas the 226 doesn’t have that.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

If brackets were so great with so little cons then why does all newest Grady design boats like freedom and fisherman’s have no brackets??

The 232 Gulfstream still has a transom bracket on the back of it. I’m assuming on the others, like the Freedom or Fisherman, that it’s different since they’re an open bow or center console boat. Maybe it has something to do with the weight distribution of the boat and they don’t want the motor(s) back even further when there’s next to no weight in the bow? I don’t know, it seems like it’s mostly something seen on walk around boats, of which Grady seems to be going more away from and focusing on the CC and DC boats instead.

 

[GEII]

I have owned a 226 with a two stroke and a soft top and a 228 with bracket and hard top. The 228 , IMHO, was a much better riding boat. The extra weight and bracket really made a difference. I used the boat primarily coastal fishing in Massachusetts generally 1-30 miles offshore. Mostly close to shore. 228 is great boat in their line up for first time boat owners.

 

[glacierbaze]

I had a 22 Tournament, and now a 228. Same hull, and the ride is much better with the bracket. GW no longer has the flat, open transom, the preference for the Euro style transom/integrated swim platform pretty much did away with that option.

 

[SmokyMtnGrady]

I don’t think that most of these folks following this site really have an idea of what the sea can do.

Perhaps you are correct. I have seen the sea go from relatively calm to a tempest when a severe thunderstorm blow across Key Largo with 60 knot straight line winds. I was in my old Grady 192 dual console when it happened. NOAA weather radio said the storm was heading from the Everglades to South Miami and Biscayne Bay. I paid attention to the sky but it shifted and quickly grew. We got pinched on the reef by it .Then again I was on White Banks Reef with a commercial snorkel boat the Sunny Diver II when we got caught in the storm. That captain followed the sane NOAA warnings thinking the storm would blow by to our north.

The sea would be calm but it reacts to the atmosphere. The cruel bitch is not the sea but the atmosphere which drives the seas mood . . A good mariner will keep his or her eye to the sky especially the larger synoptic weather pattern hundreds a miles away . With that said sometimes , especially in the south eastern US big storms pop up quickly and you need to react and adjust your plan to it quickly as well. Taking a small boat out when NOAA post small craft advisories is not sound .

 

[Viking 1]

Helped my son drive his 38ft Sea Ray from Chicago to Muskegon Mich in October and had 6-10 ft seas every 5-6 seconds off the starboard bow. Gail force winds and should not have been out there...another story...we made it without stuffing the bow. I have a 335 Freedom and all the way I kept thinking.....I wish we were in my Grady. we had these conditions fairly often in the Outer Banks in North Carolina and I never was concerned...

 

[blindmullet]

The sea would be calm but it reacts to the atmosphere. The cruel bitch is not the sea but the atmosphere which drives the seas mood . . A good mariner will keep his or her eye to the sky especially the larger synoptic weather pattern hundreds a miles away . With that said sometimes , especially in the south eastern US big storms pop up quickly and you need to react and adjust your plan to it quickly as well. Taking a small boat out when NOAA post small craft advisories is not sound .

Yep, just a regular Florida afternoon in the summer. Looks like the world will end one min and then bright and sunny the next. If you wait for the small craft advisory it's to late with the afternoon storms. You get caught now and again but they are expected. The worst ones are the early morning storms offshore that pop up out of no where. I'll take seas over lightning!

 

[Gradywhiteonthehorizon]

Congrats on your boat. She’ll serve you well. i ran up to Staten Island for mine back to Florida during Covid. Long haul but, worth it. I run out in the Gulf. Last trip was out 55 miles or so with good conditions. We’ve got different conditions here than you. In the Pacific the wave spreads are different (timing in between waves). I’ve done 3-5‘s to may 6 here. I’ve taken a couple over the pulpit and backed down. She’s a very seaworthy vessel but, you have to respect Mother Nature. I’d recommend speaking with some of the charter captains in your area. They’re a great help. If you throw some business their direction you may end up with some numbers and be able to communicate with them while out in the water as I have done. Don’t be over confident. I’d also make sure that you have all you safely equipment including good electronics. Satellite phones, Eperbs , offshore life jackets…you get the picture…EXPECT THE BEST AND PREPARE FOR THE WORST.

 

[Halfhitch]

EXPECT THE BEST AND PREPARE FOR THE WORST.

I agree, because the worst is out there....