About two years or more ago, I started to toy with the idea of a newer boat. I had the 2001 208 Adventure and another brand 25 ft walk around cabin. The 25 footer had Optimax twin motors, the 208 had the trusty SX 150, OX66. My wife had a few complaints about each model. We both agreed that the Grady tended to roll a lot in the waters it sailed (Jersey Shore/Toms River), Barnegat Bay.
The biggest complaint about the larger 25 footer which was based in Brooklyn NY was that going forward to unclog/tie off the anchor at the windlass was getting more and more challenging as I aged
I too am 75, with several parts of body feeling 90! That boat was also very sensitive to trimming and sometimes had a mind of its own.
I was interested in the early stages with the 232 a very nice big, small boat. Of course it still had the getting forward issue but more importantly, climbing over the very deep transom to access the swim ladder/platform was too difficult. Why didn't GW add a transom door to that model. I waited two model years and several conversations with Grady reps to get a feel for any 232 future upgrades. After a while the message that I was getting was that the 232 is not a big seller and GW development was concentrating on dual console styles. As timed passed, the need for safe and easy access to the bow and windlass became even more important.
So the more refined search shifted to DCs; a boat I never though I would own.
It became obvious that most of the small to mid sized DCs had pretty small heads, especially headroom. The need for a place to change clothes was important. To get anywhere near a reasonable head with at least enough headroom for my wife to 'stand' made us look at larger boats. My search narrowed down to Grady 275 or 285, Pursuit older DC 295 or older DC260 and Whaler Vantage models. We travelled a lot to look at boats and my wife became pretty good at noticing the things I was concerned with as well as learning to look at the quality or lack of for certain models.Skip ahead a year or more and I am this close to buying a Whaler Vantage 280. That was until I finally climbed onto one in the water and sat at the helm to imagine how good a fit the boat was for our needs, I had to smack myself back into reality. I am not up to managing such a big boat, nor did I need such a big boat. It's easy to be unrealistic.
The smaller Vantage (248 perhaps) was too small. The Grady Freedom had terrible access to the mechanicals and the new ones had quality issues with build quality.
The Pursuit had the best access to the mechanicals by far but like the Grady, the head was smallish, headroom wise.
As we were walking through one of the many boat shows in three states, I ran across a Edgewater CX model but the smaller version, 24 footer I think. It was the layout that caught my attention. The walk though is offset to port making the starboard helm area wider. Wide enough for a dual person captains bench seat helm. The head, unlike the other makes was on the starboard side in front of the helm and because the helm are was wide, the head was bigger and had more standing room.
The 262 model has a 9-3 beam which I wanted and the hull was heavier. It has twin F200 with electrical/hydraulic steering ( easier to turn, harder to over steer if you want that config) and a must have for me, digital throttle and shift,
It has a 16 in Garmin MFD that I can actually see without having to lean over and get whacked by the wheel It has Fantom dome radar which I also wanted, in addition to auto pilot, Seakeeper Ride , and you usual stereo, AIS VHF radio ( I think AIS).
I am not a die hard fisherman and this boat is a compromise between fishing and pleasure motoring. It has a tow pylon which I suspect I will never use. It has aft and port fold down bench seats which are insanely difficult to fold down and up. The Grady bench seat are also hard to fold. The pursuit bench seats are a dream to operate. The Edgewater 262 CX has no in deck fish boxes. That would be a problem for the more serious off shore fishermen but the slide out cooler will surfice. There is a pull out shower in the head, a pull out spray faucet on the starboard swim platform and a behind the helm prep station with a sink.
The sanitary system is fresh water pressurized with enamel bowl, pump out and overboard discharge with smart control of flushing and discharge.
There are no typical battery switches. The 4 batteries are all controlled with BlueSeas RBS ( remote battery switches), in addition to ACRS for charging the house batteries. There is a single rocker switch at the helm to remotely connects the batteries. It took me quite some time to understand what everything did but the technical folks sent me all the wiring diagrams for the standard equipment.
The feature that caught my wife's eye is the starboard side diving door with removable ladder. I am not sure how that will work with our styles of boating but it looks cool.
On the negative side, there are no nearby dealers but the support by the home office technical team has been outstanding. The boat is 4 years old so warranty on the hull is not a big issue. The motors are Yamahas with a little over 90 hours on them. They have Yamaha factory warrantees for almost another year.
What was most interesting and also scary was how many times we had to modify our wants and needs as well are make sure we were being realistic in what was best for us.
I am sure that in several months I will have a lot more info on our new to us 262CX.
The biggest complaint about the larger 25 footer which was based in Brooklyn NY was that going forward to unclog/tie off the anchor at the windlass was getting more and more challenging as I aged
I too am 75, with several parts of body feeling 90! That boat was also very sensitive to trimming and sometimes had a mind of its own.I was interested in the early stages with the 232 a very nice big, small boat. Of course it still had the getting forward issue but more importantly, climbing over the very deep transom to access the swim ladder/platform was too difficult. Why didn't GW add a transom door to that model. I waited two model years and several conversations with Grady reps to get a feel for any 232 future upgrades. After a while the message that I was getting was that the 232 is not a big seller and GW development was concentrating on dual console styles. As timed passed, the need for safe and easy access to the bow and windlass became even more important.
So the more refined search shifted to DCs; a boat I never though I would own.
It became obvious that most of the small to mid sized DCs had pretty small heads, especially headroom. The need for a place to change clothes was important. To get anywhere near a reasonable head with at least enough headroom for my wife to 'stand' made us look at larger boats. My search narrowed down to Grady 275 or 285, Pursuit older DC 295 or older DC260 and Whaler Vantage models. We travelled a lot to look at boats and my wife became pretty good at noticing the things I was concerned with as well as learning to look at the quality or lack of for certain models.Skip ahead a year or more and I am this close to buying a Whaler Vantage 280. That was until I finally climbed onto one in the water and sat at the helm to imagine how good a fit the boat was for our needs, I had to smack myself back into reality. I am not up to managing such a big boat, nor did I need such a big boat. It's easy to be unrealistic.
The smaller Vantage (248 perhaps) was too small. The Grady Freedom had terrible access to the mechanicals and the new ones had quality issues with build quality.
The Pursuit had the best access to the mechanicals by far but like the Grady, the head was smallish, headroom wise.
As we were walking through one of the many boat shows in three states, I ran across a Edgewater CX model but the smaller version, 24 footer I think. It was the layout that caught my attention. The walk though is offset to port making the starboard helm area wider. Wide enough for a dual person captains bench seat helm. The head, unlike the other makes was on the starboard side in front of the helm and because the helm are was wide, the head was bigger and had more standing room.
The 262 model has a 9-3 beam which I wanted and the hull was heavier. It has twin F200 with electrical/hydraulic steering ( easier to turn, harder to over steer if you want that config) and a must have for me, digital throttle and shift,
It has a 16 in Garmin MFD that I can actually see without having to lean over and get whacked by the wheel
It has Fantom dome radar which I also wanted, in addition to auto pilot, Seakeeper Ride , and you usual stereo, AIS VHF radio ( I think AIS).I am not a die hard fisherman and this boat is a compromise between fishing and pleasure motoring. It has a tow pylon which I suspect I will never use. It has aft and port fold down bench seats which are insanely difficult to fold down and up. The Grady bench seat are also hard to fold. The pursuit bench seats are a dream to operate. The Edgewater 262 CX has no in deck fish boxes. That would be a problem for the more serious off shore fishermen but the slide out cooler will surfice. There is a pull out shower in the head, a pull out spray faucet on the starboard swim platform and a behind the helm prep station with a sink.
The sanitary system is fresh water pressurized with enamel bowl, pump out and overboard discharge with smart control of flushing and discharge.
There are no typical battery switches. The 4 batteries are all controlled with BlueSeas RBS ( remote battery switches), in addition to ACRS for charging the house batteries. There is a single rocker switch at the helm to remotely connects the batteries. It took me quite some time to understand what everything did but the technical folks sent me all the wiring diagrams for the standard equipment.
The feature that caught my wife's eye is the starboard side diving door with removable ladder. I am not sure how that will work with our styles of boating but it looks cool.
On the negative side, there are no nearby dealers but the support by the home office technical team has been outstanding. The boat is 4 years old so warranty on the hull is not a big issue. The motors are Yamahas with a little over 90 hours on them. They have Yamaha factory warrantees for almost another year.
What was most interesting and also scary was how many times we had to modify our wants and needs as well are make sure we were being realistic in what was best for us.
I am sure that in several months I will have a lot more info on our new to us 262CX.
