What Grady to get?

[ItalianAngler]

Grew up fishing Raystown and Erie, we did it on a Ranger, Bass Boat. My dad and I had our butts kicked running back into Presque Isle Bay more times than I can remember. Either one will serve you well, the 228 is just 'more', not a light boat which may be a factor with your tow vehicle. Are you trying to mount a kicker? Trolling motor? Other things to consider for each model.

 

[GW22]

I originally looked at a 208 as an upgrade to my Campion 542 that I had. My office was beside a large marina so I would walk the docks at lunch and drool at the various Grady White boats. I soon started looking for a 248 Voyaguer after fishing on one on the West Coast of the island, I was blown away by the smooth ride in a 2 ft chop. I eventually landed with a Seafarer, more room, enclosed transom and Grady bracket as compared to the 208, big dance floor. I’ve had at least 4 people that have a 208 say to me that they wish they had the Seafarer for the extra room when they saw my boat at the dock. There may be something in those comments.

I have to agree with ya on the more room part, I had a lund 1660 classic sport I used for striper and walleyes catfish ect but when you add coolers tackle space goes fast, I really want a 22.8 seafarer cause I can trailer that in PA, without a permit being that it is 8 feet beam, I saw one ride by me slow last year and I fell in love with that boat just seeing it, now that is all I think about I want one really bad but trying to get funds for a used one new is out of the question, the 22.8 s seem scarce right now and 208 s are easy to find around PA. but I am willing to wait I know what I want Thanks for the reply and good fishing and boating.

 

[GW22]

I'm shocked no one has chimed in yet... I personally don't have any experience with a 208 Adventure nor have I ever stepped foot on one before but I do currently have a 2004 Grady White 228 Seafarer. My previous boat was called a 21' Arima Sea Ranger, which is a 21' walk around that also had an 8' beam but it was a lightweight boat, it had a modified vee, all of the weight was in the rear so it would pound like crazy in the 1'-2' chop and it had a motor well built into the stern for the outboard. I wanted something bigger, heavier, nicer and that didn't have a notched or open transom on the back like my Arima did. For me, the ticket was the 228 Seafarer and I actually spent just over a year trying to find one, which I finally did last October. The reasons for liking the 228 Seafarer and wanting to buy one is that it's a bigger, heavier boat, it's hands down a much nicer boat than my Arima, is way smoother in rougher seas, it has the fully enclosed transom on the back of it with the transom bracket, it can fish 4-5 people no problem, you can overnight in it if you wanted to, it's an extremely versatile boat and it's very trailerable by yourself as well as can be captained/launched/retrieved by yourself. It's pretty easy to tow, your pickup should have no issue with towing it and is even easier when you have a buddy to help out.

The boat has a good deal of room on it, although it is slightly narrow in the helm area if you have two larger guys sitting in the helm seats, and I like that it has an all level floor without any steps or stairs in it like the 232 Gulfstream and bigger. Mine also has the hardtop option on it which I really like because I have a fair complexion and it keeps me out of the sun and other elements all day. It seems like most of the older 208 Adventure's for sale don't have the hardtop option on them. The 208 Adventure comparatively has the open or notched transom, which I leave my boat on a mooring buoy in front of my beach cabin for weeks/months on end and like the idea of having the fully enclosed transom as opposed to the 208 Adventure. Lastly, the pricing on the two boats is oftentimes very similar in that you can typically get a 228 Seafarer for not much more money than the 208 Adventure. I bought my boat, motor and trailer combo for $26.5k last October and I can't say that I've seen either a 208 Adventure or a 228 Seafarer that's the same year or newer in as nice of condition as my boat for less. Not trying to bash the 208 Adventure, a lot of guys have them and seem to enjoy them but I'd try stepping foot on both boats and see which one you like more.

I agree man that 22.8 is nice with a hard top I had a lund 7 foot wide but the design took floor space away a good foot on both sides, I have seen vids of the seafear and I like the layout way more room and room is everything when fishing, Thanks so much.

 

[GW22]

Grew up fishing Raystown and Erie, we did it on a Ranger, Bass Boat. My dad and I had our butts kicked running back into Presque Isle Bay more times than I can remember. Either one will serve you well, the 228 is just 'more', not a light boat which may be a factor with your tow vehicle. Are you trying to mount a kicker? Trolling motor? Other things to consider for each model.

I have a ram 2400 heavy duty no problem with tow, I just have Grady fever and their is no cure!!!!!! not even a good shot in the ass will cure this grady fever it consumes me lol. I want one and I will have one not a matter of if just a matter of when, Thanks.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

I have to agree with ya on the more room part, I had a lund 1660 classic sport I used for striper and walleyes catfish ect but when you add coolers tackle space goes fast, I really want a 22.8 seafarer cause I can trailer that in PA, without a permit being that it is 8 feet beam, I saw one ride by me slow last year and I fell in love with that boat just seeing it, now that is all I think about I want one really bad but trying to get funds for a used one new is out of the question, the 22.8 s seem scarce right now and 208 s are easy to find around PA. but I am willing to wait I know what I want Thanks for the reply and good fishing and boating.

I think "asking prices" are only going to continue to go up from where they are since it's summer time and it's going to continue to be more of a seller's market. If I'm looking to potentially buy a boat, I always try to look for one during the late fall or winter as the prices are usually quite a bit better. If you're serious about buying a boat, check out Boat Trader, Yacht World, Boats.com, Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp and Craigslist everyday. The 228 Seafarer's aren't usually as common as the 208 Adventure's but they still have a fair amount of them out there, and they just had 3-4 of them recently under $35k. It usually helps out quite tremendously, especially with regards to pricing, if you're willing to travel. I flew out from Seattle to Baltimore, MD to look at and purchase my boat because their asking price was $28k for the boat, motor and trailer. I offered them $26.5k and they accepted, then I trailered her 3,009 miles back home and the weekend I got back home I checked the local Seattle Craigslist and there was an identical boat to mine that they sold for $55k. Good luck!

 

[Fishtales]

I'd vote for the 228 as well. Size matters and the 228 will likely hold you over on 2 footitis...

 

[ItalianAngler]

I have a ram 2400 heavy duty no problem with tow, I just have Grady fever and their is no cure!!!!!! not even a good shot in the ass will cure this grady fever it consumes me lol. I want one and I will have one not a matter of if just a matter of when, Thanks.

Good luck in your search. I think you'll find a fair amount of inventory down on the Chesapeake, lot of 228's running around out there. To Mustangs point, if you wait a few months you'll have more inventory to work with, and prob score a better deal. I bought both my Grady's in the fall. If the weather looks good I'll make my first overnight trip of the season on the 282 for cobia next weekend! Can't beat a Grady for what you can do with them.

 

[GW22]

Good luck in your search. I think you'll find a fair amount of inventory down on the Chesapeake, lot of 228's running around out there. To Mustangs point, if you wait a few months you'll have more inventory to work with, and prob score a better deal. I bought both my Grady's in the fall. If the weather looks good I'll make my first overnight trip of the season on the 282 for cobia next weekend! Can't beat a Grady for what you can do with them.

Im in no hurry, I can wait and right now Im hopein the stock market dont crash Im looseing alot of money.

 

[luckydude]

The 208 is identical to a 228 except no swim platform and the deck is two feet shorter. I looked at a 208, it's too small for me, not enough room there for crab pots.

If you are pole fishing, the 208 is fine for 2 people, cramped for 3 but people do it.

One advantage of the 208 is the transom mounted motor will push the stern down less than the platform mounted motor (I really wonder why Grady didn't ask Armstrong to make a platform that had the "box" under the engine extend all the way out to the edges of either side of it. That would have had the effect of extending the hull and it would have worked better with the heavier 4 stroke engines (in my opinion). I wonder if anyone has tried that, might be a cool experiment.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

The 208 is identical to a 228 except no swim platform and the deck is two feet shorter. I looked at a 208, it's too small for me, not enough room there for crab pots.

If you are pole fishing, the 208 is fine for 2 people, cramped for 3 but people do it.

One advantage of the 208 is the transom mounted motor will push the stern down less than the platform mounted motor (I really wonder why Grady didn't ask Armstrong to make a platform that had the "box" under the engine extend all the way out to the edges of either side of it. That would have had the effect of extending the hull and it would have worked better with the heavier 4 stroke engines (in my opinion). I wonder if anyone has tried that, might be a cool experiment.

I think that the weight differences between 2 stroke and 4 stroke motors has been grossly over-exaggerated as we aren't usually talking about 100+ lbs of weight difference. I like to use the NADA website because it gives the dry weights for most outboard motors and for my 2004 Yamaha F225 it says the dry weight for it is 583 lbs. In comparison, the 2 stroke series 225 is 509 lbs dry and the HPDI 225 is 524 lbs dry, so we're only talking about maybe 50-75 lbs or less. While that is an extra 50-75 lbs or so, you can pretty easily even out the weight elsewhere if you really wanted to by moving the batteries forward into the cabin area. Also, 2 stroke motors require spare oil reserve tanks, usually 2 of them, and typically have just under 3 gallons of oil in each one. A gallon of oil weighs 7.61 lbs per gallon times 6 gallons will give you just over 45 lbs. Which basically levels out the amount of weight saved by the lighter 2 stroke motor to begin with, so at the end of the day you might be talking about a weight savings of maybe 10-15 lbs at the most? I don't think it's enough to worry about, at least for me with my particular application. Some of the other engine families might have more substantial weight differences but I can't imagine that we're talking much more than what I mentioned. The brand new Yamaha F225's are also between 529 and 551 lbs, so they're almost going to be lighter than a 2 stroke with all of the extra oil needed.

2004 Yamaha Outboard Motors

New & Used 2004 Yamaha Outboard Motor Prices & Values - J.D. Power

www.nadaguides.com

 

[luckydude]

I think that the weight differences between 2 stroke and 4 stroke motors has been grossly over-exaggerated as we aren't usually talking about 100+ lbs of weight difference.

Well it was enough of a problem for me that I was usually standing in water in the back. Grady changed nothing, so far as I know, to address the heavier engines and they could have. I fixed the water problem like so:

 

[Mustang65fbk]

Well it was enough of a problem for me that I was usually standing in water in the back. Grady changed nothing, so far as I know, to address the heavier engines and they could have. I fixed the water problem like so:View attachment 26178

I think that the weight of the stern is definitely a bit of an issue and that if you have a main as well as a kicker motor that adds an extra hundred pounds or so and then multiple batteries in the rear of the boat, then it can definitely make the rear sag quite a bit. I think that's a fairly serious or important issue but I think that the even bigger issue would be more with the boat having the cheap rubber flappers on the inside of the scuppers that aren't water tight and leak water into the inside of the boat. Putting a one way check valve in the scupper drain hoses, like what it appears that you did, is going to help solve that problem and/or getting some nicer scuppers that don't have the rubber flappers on them. As shown in that video from Seaworthy Innovations that I linked to months ago, they demonstrate how even brand new scuppers with the rubber scupper flaps still allow water in when you have enough weight in the rear of the boat.

 

[GW22]

I think "asking prices" are only going to continue to go up from where they are since it's summer time and it's going to continue to be more of a seller's market. If I'm looking to potentially buy a boat, I always try to look for one during the late fall or winter as the prices are usually quite a bit better. If you're serious about buying a boat, check out Boat Trader, Yacht World, Boats.com, Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp and Craigslist everyday. The 228 Seafarer's aren't usually as common as the 208 Adventure's but they still have a fair amount of them out there, and they just had 3-4 of them recently under $35k. It usually helps out quite tremendously, especially with regards to pricing, if you're willing to travel. I flew out from Seattle to Baltimore, MD to look at and purchase my boat because their asking price was $28k for the boat, motor and trailer. I offered them $26.5k and they accepted, then I trailered her 3,009 miles back home and the weekend I got back home I checked the local Seattle Craigslist and there was an identical boat to mine that they sold for $55k. Good luck!

Did The seller have title for boat and trailer ? in PA. I would need title for both clear to register in pa. how is your boat doing I hope well and good fishing

 

[luckydude]

Putting a one way check valve in the scupper drain hoses, like what it appears that you did, is going to help solve that problem and/or getting some nicer scuppers that don't have the rubber flappers on them.

It's a flap valve not a check valve. Check valves are spring loaded and need a lot of pressure to open up and wouldn't work at all for this job.
Flap valves just have a hinged flap so a small amount of water will open them.

It works great, no water in the rear of the boat.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

Did The seller have title for boat and trailer ? in PA. I would need title for both clear to register in pa. how is your boat doing I hope well and good fishing

I actually bought my boat from a dealership that also just so happened to be a Grady White dealer, but yes they did have both the titles for the boat as well as the trailer in hand. Haven't had the boat out yet this year, I need to have my buoy guy come back out and put a new chain on my buoy since the last time it was done was back in 2017. Boat has been flawless up until this point though, hopefully she stays that and we get some blood on the decks here in the next couple of weeks when salmon fishing opens up and the weather is hopefully a bit more consistently nice.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

It's a flap valve not a check valve. Check valves are spring loaded and need a lot of pressure to open up and wouldn't work at all for this job.
Flap valves just have a hinged flap so a small amount of water will open them.

It works great, no water in the rear of the boat.

Ok, I'm not an expert on plumbing and glad that it worked out for you with your particular situation. My main point was that the weight of a 4 stroke isn't really much more than the weight of the older 2 stroke motors and the weight of your 2020 Yamaha F250 is around 551-575 lbs dry depending on which model you have. Your Yamaha 9.9 kicker motor is also around 100 lbs dry. Comparatively, a 2003 model year 2 stroke series Yamaha 250 outboard is 509 lbs dry and their HPDI series of the same year and horsepower is 524 lbs dry. Your 2020 is going to be equal to or lighter than both of those since the 2 strokes need the oil reservoirs. I think the obvious reason for yours sitting a bit lower is the extra 100 lbs or so that you have on the back with your kicker motor but I think new and properly performing scuppers would negate the fact that they'd allow water to come in. My boat had some pooling up in the back when both my uncle and I were standing back there last October when we went out fishing, although the rubber flaps were definitely older and need to be replaced.

 

[seasick]

Well it was enough of a problem for me that I was usually standing in water in the back. Grady changed nothing, so far as I know, to address the heavier engines and they could have. I fixed the water problem like so:View attachment 26178

Interesting idea. I looked up that Lansdale valve and it is brass which typically is not recommended in a marine environment. Was that a concern at all?

My other comment is a bit petty for sure but double hose clamp applications should have one clamp installed in the opposite direction of the other. In addition, depending on the type of hose clamp, one would normally have the clamp screws not aligned with each other. (Good marine hose clams are much less picky about how the screws are aligned than cheaper hose clamps are)

I also wonder if the original setup used double hose clamps. Assuming the scuppers were above the water line, I would think that there were not double clamps .

 

[luckydude]

Interesting idea. I looked up that Lansdale valve and it is brass which typically is not recommended in a marine environment. Was that a concern at all?

My other comment is a bit petty for sure but double hose clamp applications should have one clamp installed in the opposite direction of the other. In addition, depending on the type of hose clamp, one would normally have the clamp screws not aligned with each other. (Good marine hose clams are much less picky about how the screws are aligned than cheaper hose clamps are)

I also wonder if the original setup used double hose clamps. Assuming the scuppers were above the water line, I would think that there were not double clamps .

The setup before I messed with it was double clamps at both ends. That's how it came from Grady.

 

[GW22]

I just bought my boat last October and have only used it a handful of times but it has served me quite well so far. The motor was inspected before purchase for the dry exhaust corrosion issue and I don't have any complaints at all about the purchase of the boat, motor and trailer. I trailered the entire thing via a U-Haul truck 3,009 miles from Deale, Maryland to just north of Seattle where I live. The boat trailers quite well and did the journey by myself, so it's quite doable with just one person. A 250 hp outboard wouldn't be terrible but the Yamaha F225 works just fine for me as it tops out at 45 mph and I don't need to go any faster than that. I love the layout of the boat, the amount of space for fishing and so on as you can fish 4-5 guys in the boat, or cruise with even more, without any issue at all. I stepped foot on a 232 Gulfstream and it has a 9'3" beam compared to the 228 Seafarer which is only an 8' beam, and it seemed like too big of a boat for my intended use. Plus, I'm not a fan of steps or stairs in the cockpit area of my boats and prefer my boats to have an all level floor so that people don't slip or trip on them. My parents are in their early 70's and my niece will turn 7 in the fall, I like the all level floor plan as well as the enclosed transom and transom bracket on the back for added safety as opposed to the notched or open transom.

What year is your boat ?

 

[Mustang65fbk]

What year is your boat ?

Mine is a 2004