Used Grady White Shopping- 24 ' range Recommendations and Insight

[Mustang65fbk]

Thx Mustang
More great info to consider.
did I see that you got a quote to have your boat shipped from Maryland to Seattle befor you decided to tow yourself?
$ ?
was it about $4500?

Would need to factor that into the price

thx
Sam

I did. I got quotes anywhere from just under $4k on up to over $5,500, and I think even one was in the $6k-7k range. The issue that I had was more the timeframe that it would take for them to get the job done as they said they couldn't get to the boat for 2-3 weeks and then it would take another week on top of that to get the boat back to Seattle from Maryland. I didn't want to wait 3-4 weeks to get the boat as I wanted to use it a few times before I had to put her away for the winter and figured I could do the trek myself for less than what I was quoted. So I rented a U-Haul truck, did the cross country road trip by myself, of which I figure I spent around $3,500 or so and did it in 4.5 days, as opposed to waiting 3-4 weeks. I also wasn't sure how the companies transport the boat for you... do they use a flatbed and put the boat/trailer on it to transport or is it just them using a pickup truck and towing your boat on your trailer? Do they inspect the trailer and everything else before they depart? What happens if they break down and there's an issue with the trailer? Am I the one liable even if I've never seen the boat/trailer before in person? As you might be able to figure out, I ask a lot of "what if?" questions about things like that and in the end I just decided to do it myself as I'd rather have an issue and be at fault as opposed to it being the fault of the shipping company as well as myself being a couple thousand miles away and feeling useless if there was an incident. Maybe I'm overthinking things, and I'm sure that most shipping companies likely do a decent job at what they do, I also just like to do things my own way and be in charge over things like this.

 

[SamRB]

For a kicker on a 22-24’ I would go 8-10hp. 8hp high thrust, long shaft (20 or 25”) ideally. Even 6hp would be fine for most purposes and would be lower weight hanging off the back of the boat. My 6hp on my sailboat is 60 lbs. my 9.9hp kicker is closer to 100lbs.

If you get a boat with dual batteries, having both on the opposite side of the kicker can offset the weight for balance. Ideal setup has your kicker steering connected to the main, and same with the fuel. A kicker will save hours on your main engine if you troll fish, as well as being a good safety net if you have issues with your main on the water.

Thx Pointedrose,

the 9.9 sounds perfect. I noticed on another post that a member with a 228 had a Saluki 9.9 that was hooked up to his main fuel and steering wow! That would be a nice way to go.

thx for the tips!

 

[SamRB]

I did. I got quotes anywhere from just under $4k on up to over $5,500, and I think even one was in the $6k-7k range. The issue that I had was more the timeframe that it would take for them to get the job done as they said they couldn't get to the boat for 2-3 weeks and then it would take another week on top of that to get the boat back to Seattle from Maryland. I didn't want to wait 3-4 weeks to get the boat as I wanted to use it a few times before I had to put her away for the winter and figured I could do the trek myself for less than what I was quoted. So I rented a U-Haul truck, did the cross country road trip by myself, of which I figure I spent around $3,500 or so and did it in 4.5 days, as opposed to waiting 3-4 weeks. I also wasn't sure how the companies transport the boat for you... do they use a flatbed and put the boat/trailer on it to transport or is it just them using a pickup truck and towing your boat on your trailer? Do they inspect the trailer and everything else before they depart? What happens if they break down and there's an issue with the trailer? Am I the one liable even if I've never seen the boat/trailer before in person? As you might be able to figure out, I ask a lot of "what if?" questions about things like that and in the end I just decided to do it myself as I'd rather have an issue and be at fault as opposed to it being the fault of the shipping company as well as myself being a couple thousand miles away and feeling useless if there was an incident. Maybe I'm overthinking things, and I'm sure that most shipping companies likely do a decent job at what they do, I also just like to do things my own way and be in charge over things like this.

Thx Mustang65,

you always give great advise and very through and thoughtful info.
Appreciate the cost of estimate, something to consider when looking at boats on he ‘Right’ coast.
Seems to me I can pay an extra $4-5k for a west coast boat and come out about even and avoid the shipping.
Lots of time to shop before summer.
hope something comes up.

you are a hell of a shopper!

I should just hire you to find me a good boat and take care of getting it to Redond beach. LOL

 

[Mustang65fbk]

Thx Mustang65,

you always give great advise and very through and thoughtful info.
Appreciate the cost of estimate, something to consider when looking at boats on he ‘Right’ coast.
Seems to me I can pay an extra $4-5k for a west coast boat and come out about even and avoid the shipping.
Lots of time to shop before summer.
hope something comes up.

you are a hell of a shopper!

I should just hire you to find me a good boat and take care of getting it to Redond beach. LOL

Thanks! Although, I honestly don't think you'll find a 1998 and newer Grady White 228 Seafarer out here on the west coast in the mid $20k price range on up to even the high $30k price range. If you do, it's either a steal and the seller doesn't know what he has or what it's worth, it's a scam, or it's a project boat and/or needs a ton of work done to it. To give you an example, right after getting back from the cross country road trip to get my boat, I was looking on Craigslist and found an almost identical boat to mine. It was a 2004 GW 228 Seafarer with a hardtop as well as the same motor as mine and it sold for $55k. While the Craigslist boat did have a kicker motor, newer GPS and radar, I don't see how those three things would equate to more than say $5k or so in profit above my boat. And my boat has a newer, nicer, aluminum I-beam trailer. You can buy a brand new kicker motor for around $3k, a brand new Garmin MFD for around $1k as well as a brand new Garmin radar for just over $1k, and that's if you're buying brand new. I have my boat insured with an agreed upon valued at $45k because I don't have those things but I think if I added them that the boat would be worth the same price at around $55k. I don't have a need for a kicker motor, so I doubt I'll buy one since I have towing on my insurance, but I'll likely buy radar and a new Garmin MFD for my boat since mine is outdated. Long story short, even if you bought my identical boat out here on the west coast, I don't think you'd be able to do it for under $45k, or so. You might be able to find an older one, a project boat or one that's in need of a re-power, but even still I don't think you'll find anything decent for under $40k. Even as much as I wish you could. I wish I didn't have to go out to Maryland to buy my boat and it would be awesome if you could buy them out here all day for $26.5k. Coming back down to reality though, the boats out here on the west coast, as well as just about everything else like homes, cars, taxes and so on, seem to be way more than what you pay on the east coast for pretty much the same thing.

 

[mdscole]

As a 1998 248 Voyager owner - I have to agree that it's pretty much the same as the 228. One includes the motor mount length and one does not. With twin 150 original OX66 engines, I get 1 mpg when plowing through rough chop and 1.7 at best cruise (25-30 mpg) The two strokes smell terrible, give a headache when trolling, and drink like a sailor. I've had zero problems with them over the 8 years of ownership - but there are big negatives. The up front bump in price for the 4 stroke is worth it.

I'm in the year long process of repowering to a single 4.6L V8 300 Mercury (ridiculous lead times) for a rigged cost of $32k. So if you think a 10k penalty for the 4 stroke is alot - rethink that.

The twin engines also add a significant amount of weight to the transom of this boat. The new single merc will shave off more than 350# from the back and help out with the ride angle and deck scuppers. Full of gear, people and fuel - that rear section can be underwater. The twin 150s do have a ridiculous amount of power and responsiveness. Not so much for top speed - but hole shot and midrange torque is like a ski boat. 15x15 props. The replacement won't have nearly that much traction with a single screw in the water.

228 is a better boat. The Euro-transom of the Voyager is better than the old open transom - but the full transom and outboard bracket of the 228 is the best design. 228 Transom is also easier to add a kicker since it's flat and tall.

And yes - get the hard top.

248 Voyager with the twin Yamahas + Honda kicker:

 

[Mustang65fbk]

As a 1998 248 Voyager owner - I have to agree that it's pretty much the same as the 228. One includes the motor mount length and one does not. With twin 150 original OX66 engines, I get 1 mpg when plowing through rough chop and 1.7 at best cruise (25-30 mpg) The two strokes smell terrible, give a headache when trolling, and drink like a sailor. I've had zero problems with them over the 8 years of ownership - but there are big negatives. The up front bump in price for the 4 stroke is worth it.

I'm in the year long process of repowering to a single 4.6L V8 300 Mercury (ridiculous lead times) for a rigged cost of $32k. So if you think a 10k penalty for the 4 stroke is alot - rethink that.

The twin engines also add a significant amount of weight to the transom of this boat. The new single merc will shave off more than 350# from the back and help out with the ride angle and deck scuppers. Full of gear, people and fuel - that rear section can be underwater. The twin 150s do have a ridiculous amount of power and responsiveness. Not so much for top speed - but hole shot and midrange torque is like a ski boat. 15x15 props. The replacement won't have nearly that much traction with a single screw in the water.

228 is a better boat. The Euro-transom of the Voyager is better than the old open transom - but the full transom and outboard bracket of the 228 is the best design. 228 Transom is also easier to add a kicker since it's flat and tall.

And yes - get the hard top.

248 Voyager with the twin Yamahas + Honda kicker:
View attachment 24527

I considered a 248 Voyager in my search for a 228 Seafarer but as you mentioned above, I really like the enclosed transom that the 228 Seafarer provides, as well as the transom bracket. I've heard of others who claim that the transom bracket isn't as good in a following sea or trying to navigate in reverse at the dock, but those are definitely things that I can live with. I'm actually not opposed to having a slightly larger boat, and it wouldn't be bad to have the 8'6" beam as opposed to just an 8', but for my boating/fishing needs I think it would be overkill. I also wasn't a fan of the step that the 248 Voyager's have, as I prefer the floor to be all one level, and I also prefer a single main motor. Smaller sized twin motors I could definitely live with as twin motors are nice for redundancy in the event of having issues with your motor starting or if it fails. That being said, twin motors definitely add quite a bit of weight to the rear of the boat and will oftentimes keep the scuppers underwater.

I think the 228 Seafarer is probably even close to the 248 Voyager though in terms of the length, given the added depth of the transom bracket on the back of it. 248 Voyager's also seem to be more difficult to find since they stopped making them after the 2002 season, and most all of those have 2 stroke motors on them, which I wanted to get 4 strokes. And the ones that had been re-powered were quite a bit out of my price range. It's funny because I was just looking at the Grady White website and it looks like the 248 Voyager turned into the 258 Voyager which then turned into the 258 Journey. The 248 Voyager stopped being produced after 2002, which then the 258 Voyager took over in 2003 and then the 258 Journey took over after that in 2004. The boats all appear to be mostly the same but the 248 Voyager has a 105 gallon fuel tank whereas the other two have 127 gallon fuel tanks. That and the 258 Journey has a slightly larger hull draft at 16" vs the other two that are 15", but everything else including the weight, appears to be the same. Funny how the 258 Journey was produced up until just recently but there is only one for sale on BoatTrader.com and it looks like it has a pending offer already.