want general advice on 22 seafarer

[gillyzonker]

Hi,

I'm new to the site and am seriously wanting to buy a 22 foot seafarer. I've look around a little and have some general questions about this model. I live in the pacific northwest and would be using the boat up on the west coast of british columbia. I would appreciate any advice I can get.

1. I've noticed that the seafarer 22 and 226 have beams of 8feet whereas the 228 has a 9ft beam. What difference does the 9ft beam make versus the 8ft beam?

2. Is the beam width the only difference between the 22 and 226?

3. Are there any years that I should avoid? I've seen quite a few 22's in the late 80's to early 90's vintage. Are these good years?

4. Has anyone had problems with the Gill brackets that were used on some of these 22's?

5. Are there any weakness or failures that I should look out for as I shop for a 22 seafarer?

6. How much minimum horsepower show a 22 seafarer have?

thanks.

 

[magicalbill]

Hi Back..
great all-around, trailerable boat.

Didn't know a 228 had a 9 ft. beam. In any case, a wider beam makes for a better, more stable,sure-footed ride. I have a Gulfstream 232 with a 9' 3" beam and it rides incredibly well.

I have heard that the SeaV2 hulls were better than their predecessors. I had a 92 Seafarer and it was the first year the SV2 hull was introduced. Unless you find a killer deal on a good boat, go for the SeaV2 hulls, 1992-present.

I had a Gil, or Grady drive, I think it was called on mine. No problems at all in the 10 years I owned it. I prefer them; to me the transom without the cutout for the outboard is a better deal. Safer and better looking.

Weaknesses? As many have said on here, any boat that old is susceptable to water intrusion, soft stringers, thru hulls that need replaced; soft spots in decking, etc. best to have a qualified surveyor look any potential candidate from the years you mention. Obviously, any outboard that old would need a thorough inspection.
If the boats your viewing have been in salt water, pitting of the stainless rails, the piping (if they have hardtops), corrosion inside the outboards and oxidization of the gelcoat are other concerns.

Minimum HP would be 200. Ideal would be 225 or 250. I had a 250 Saltwater VX series on mine and it was great. Cruised at 30-31 at 3900. Hit 47-48 regularly. Got 2 MPG or maybe a little better.

There may be no more versatile boat than the Seafarer. Trailerable, as I said and salty enough to run offshore given reasonable conditions. Plus, it's small enough for one person to handle around the dock and loading and unloading at the ramp. 2 can sleep in the berth and it has a nice size cockpit.
Grady's do-it-all SUV so to speak.

 

[JiminGA]

BOTH the Seafarer 226 and 228 have 8ft beams. You need to go up to a 232 Gulfstream for a 9 ft beam (it is 9-3). Agree with the above answers to your post. Try to get as late a model as you can afford. We love our 228.

 

[Doc Stressor]

I've owned both the older 22 and a 226.

The 226 with the SV2 hull has a softer and drier ride. The older hull design is lighter and requires less hp. It is a slightly more stable fishing platform. The older hull has excellent low speed handling characteristics and is very easy to dock. The newer hull wanders quite a bit at low speed and the bow swings out when when tucking against a dock in reverse. 200 hp is plenty for the older hull. 225 is minimum for the SV2. All and all, the SV2 is a better boat.

The info posted above answers the rest of your questions.

 

[rcrudder]

I am the second owner of a 228G. I would buy another in an instant. The boat has a 200 HPDI Yami. I do not have a hardtop. This weighs about 200 pounds. The boat is faster with the bimini and gets better gas milege. The only regret is that I waited so long to pony up and buy the Grady.

 

[dwain]

I also have a Seafarer 228. It does have a hardtop and a 225HP. I would not hesitate in purchasing another 228. Perhaps if you are ocean fishing then perhaps the Gulfstream may suffice. My boat does take a few seconds to get up and plane. I wish I had perhaps a 250HP on the back. Either way you will not be disappointed. Dwain in London, Ontario :lol:

 

[SmokyMtnGrady]

The SUV of the Grady line...yep that is perhaps what it is. I have a 228 with the F250. We use her for water sports on the mountain lakes around here to offshore fishing in the Gulfstream down Florida way. She is quite a capable boat. We have a fully loaded 228 with hardtop and she took some getting use to with bracket and cross winds while docking and recovering her on the trailer. The soft top may make the boat faster, but I love the hardtop when the foul weather kicks up or doing camp outs on her. It adds a second weather tight space with front, side and rear drop curtains.

I would say nothing less than 200 hp would be suitable for the boat and I would love to hang a new 300 on mine. The 228 has a bracket and full stern, and the cockpit is really opened up by the use of the bracket compared to the 226. I would get the newest boat your wallet will allow and definitely go with at least a CV2 hull boat versus a non-cv2 hull.

Good luck in your search for that 228...

 

[gillyzonker]

What differentiates the 226 from the 228? Does the 228 have a bracket whereas the 226 doesn't? Does any one know what the length of a 228 with bracket and motor measures out at?

 

[SmokyMtnGrady]

Gillzonker: (cool screen name by the way)... the bracket adds just under 3 feet to the LOA which the factory says is 22.2 feet, this makes it just under 25 feet from the bow to bracket not including the motor add a couple more feet if you include a pulpit. The 226 does not have the bracket and the motor is tucked into the notched out stern. The 228 has a full stern with a centerline live well and two jump seats on either side. They move the live well on the 226...not sure where as I have actually never seen a 226. We have the full width swim platform on the boat which is nice for water entry on either side of the motor or putting snorkle/dive gear on when entering or exiting the water. For our family the full width platform adds an extra space for an adult to help our disabled son in and out of the water. We really appreciate the full width swim platform.

 

[SwampGrizz]

We got our boat the first part of last August and have enjoyed every minute of it. It's big enough that we feel good about being out in the sounds and rivers around here, but not so big that we can't handle it fairly well. The line above about it being the SUV of boats is spot on. You won't go wrong with one.

SwampGrizz

 

[magicalbill]

gillyzonker;

To add to my above post. Depending on how much you trailer it, this might be helpful.
My Seafarer had the GradyDrive/Bracket, as I mentioned and a bow pulpit. Back when I owned it, I had a mini-barn that was tight on room, so I measured it.

Overall length from the prop to the tongue of the trailer was 33 feet. when the engine was tilted for trailering.
She weighed 5800-6000 lbs. depending on fuel load, ice in livewell, etc. This is overall weight, including the tandem painted trailer.
Height was 8' 2" I think with the bimini folded down. (I didn't have a hardtop.)

Make sure your trailer is in good shape and is big enough to support the boat adequately. I am tempted to rant on how dealers under-equip trailers to make the package deal more attractive price-wise, but I won't unless you want details.

As you've seen from the responses, this site is a 1st-rate source of info from nice, knowledgeable Grady owners.

 

[SmokyMtnGrady]

Magic:
I think my trailer is under sized although Magic Tilt says it is 7,500 pound trailer. It may well very be, but it is short in my opinion. The wench stand is all the way forward and there is about a foot of boat beyond the wood. When I say foot of boat, I mean the hull, not the bracket. I questioned this when I bought her and was rest assured it was fine by the dealer and trailer manufacturer. I am still not rested or assured....the dealer could not or would not bring in another trailer from another company or a bigger one from this company. So, I caved and I regret it. :?

 

[Sully4755]

I have a 1989 228G with a 225 Johnson and no pulpit. From the very front or tip of bow to back of outboard measures 24 feet.

 

[magicalbill]

Smoky;
7500 is marginally alrite, I imagine. A foot of hull exposed plus the bracket seems like a lot to me, especially if the winch is all the way forward. The dealer and manufacturer are of course gonna say it's fine. THEY'RE not going to pay for the roadside assistance if you have a breakdown. They assume you'll pull short distances to the ramp as opposed to your long treks from the Carolinas to the Keys. You can have bigger axles put under it, but I would think you'd have to add to the frame to extend it. You might keep an eye out for a bigger trailer at some point.

Oops, I said I wouldn't rant on trailers and look what happens.

Gillyzonker, keeps us in the loop as to which boat you buy. I echo everyone's sentiments here; You'll be happy withe the Seafarer.

 

[SmokyMtnGrady]

Magic,
If and when the economy turns around and our vacation rentals pick up, I will look into a bigger trailer. It does have some nice torsion axles and my next trailer will have them for sure...significantly less bounce than leaf springs for sure...I think each axle is rated at 7,500 pounds, but I would have to read the specs again to be sure. But your comments about short trips did kind of ring true when I questioned this. They said most people only drive short distances and I replied I am not most people. silence....

I had an issue with the pulpit hitting the wench stand on steep ramps. I was recovering the boat at the Port Canaveral public ramp. That ramp is very steep and as I eased the boat on the trailer the pulpit hit the wench stand and the wench stand won. I bought the boat from Lockewood near Savannah, GA and upon my return trip home I showed them what had happened. I will say this, Lockewood ponied up and repaired the pulpit like new and magic trail ponied up and put one of those cow catcher "V" shaped pads to catch the bow. So now we have a turnbuckle and a wench strap securing the bow which is quite nice. Initially Magic Trail said well in most applications the trailer is set up fine for the 228 and I told the rep that I frequent steep ramps because I live in the mountains and not on flatland near the ocean. They did make a fix and did so at no charge.

 

[mashenden]

What differentiates the 226 from the 228? Does the 228 have a bracket whereas the 226 doesn't? Does any one know what the length of a 228 with bracket and motor measures out at?

Techincally the 226 has a cutout for an outboard whereas the stern of a 228 continues all the way across at the same height (without a cut out). Presumably the 228 was designed to be powered with an inboard/outboard motor, then people liked the seating in the stern but not the I/O motor so they started using them with a bracket and an outboard motor.

The 228 is approx 2" longer than the 226 because the 228's stern continues all the way arcoss, which given the arc of the transom makes it slightly longer than the 226.

I believe they all have the same beam - 8'.

 

[Mjdap]

I have had a 226 since 2004 and I think it is a great design for my use.

It has a hard top and a F225.

I primarily use it in the Chesapeake, but for 6 weeks, move it down to Cape May NJ. I have trailered it to Hatteras, NC and Raritan Bay outside of NYC.

We use it for watersports, fishing, cruising, relaxing. It has accomodated as many as 6 yet I run it solo many times. I have had it in dead calm and been in the perverbial " 5 to 7 ", and have always felt safe. It sleeps 2 comfortably, relatively speaking and moves pretty quick.

I have been on other brands of this size, but there are many nice details and features that others do not have, and those who have been on mine remark about it is " only 22.5 feet, seems larger".

The only thing that it needs is 6 more feet in length and 2 feet in width so I can run a little further. :lol:

 

[Butcherboy]

Hi, great info on a great boat choice. I had the 228 for 18 yrs and did repower to a 4 stroke. (225 to 225). The 4 stroke is a dream but the extra weight did alter the boats manners...mostly low speed plane speeds. Since you're lookng at a range of years I'd include a SV2 hull with a 200 hp hpdi......and plenty of trailer cheers Tom

 

[GulfSea]

I juuuust bought an 08' 228 last month so may know where you're at in trying to understand the terms, etc.. I'll tell you this, after only a few trips out since bringing her home, I understand why many folks do not buy anything else but a Grady after owning one. Mine is the 228 with Yamaha F250 4 stroke. I searched hard for the 250 as there aren't that many late model used 228's or 226's available and even less with 250's. Most you'll find will have 225's. For me, the 250hp was the magic size for performance and I'm very pleased so far. And the thought of the new Yamaha Offshore 300hp .... well I need to leave that one along. Too expensive! ; )

The thing about these models is they represent one of the largest, "trailerable", quality 22 footers available. I'm still working on tweeking the ease of load with the trailer I have but even though the boat is fairly large, trailering is not a problem at all. At 1st, I searched very hard for a 226 after seeing a new one in a showroom. Then after visiting this site and a few others, I kept seeing long term posters repeatedly suggesting the 228 over the 226. The primary reason was the additional room from having a closed transom. I was literally driving to a dealer to buy a new 226 and turned around to go home to dig deeper on the 226/228 differences.

I finally found a local 228 to look at in person and knew instantly that was what I wanted. Both are awesome boats and if you're bound by parking space limits, the 226 is shorter. But if parking isn't an issue, I think you'll want to spend more time researching the 228. As has been described earlier, the 228 has a "bracket" which allows much more useable room in the boat. It also allows a full transom length swim platform for easy access all the way around the boat while in the water. Plus larger bilge area and very nice livewell where the cut-through would be with the 226. Also, get a hard top; I'm sure soft tops are great but for comfort and re-sale value, you'll want make the hard top a requirement on any purchase.

Of coarse, I'm so new that I'm not really a good example of experience for long term use. But I have been very impressed at all the little things Grady has done to make these boats user friendly. I could list many but just know that Grady definitely pays attention to detail and common sense improvements/access attributes. Here's a link showing my boat as it is today. The videos were made with a little camera so aren't that great but you can see enough details to help: http://tinyurl.com/2g7wkpl