Grady White Boat Owners

We have a 247 Advance and several of our welds on the T-top are breaking. Has anyone had this problem? We are in South Carolina and have to run the boat pretty hard to get to the gulf-stream. I would appreciate any feedback from people who have had a similar problem.

Yes.

PalmettoGrady......I had that issue with on old Mako I owned, 20ft semi-deep V with an after market (home made) t-top. The shop that did the work on the t-top did a great job, but they were off just a little bit with the legs and thus it didn't set solidly on all for legs. This combined with the semi-deep V , pounding was enough to crack the right side support, one about shoulder high. It was rewelding 2 or 3 times, the solution short of removing the t-top to square up the legs was to add a second brace up about eye level, 8" to ft above the other one. That "extra" support was added to both sides and after that I had NO issues with the top....The boat was sold 10-12 yrs ago and the guy whom has her now has not had any issues either that I'm aware of.....

The only bolts are the ones connecting the top to the floor. I am pretty sure they are not loose. Are there some other bolts that I don't know about?

Tuna T,

We bought the boat used, but are pretty sure that it is a factory top. We are definately going to have to weld some extra supports which is no big deal. However, I was told we will have to take everything off the top, including our radio box and all wires that are going down the supports. Is this what you had to do, or were they able to work around it? Can you explain in detail where you put the extra supports?

Yes.

On our last boat (1992 Explorer) one of the larger tube tubes that suppports the hardtop let go. A local marine farbricator did the repair and added triangle pieces to the most stressed areas after adding filler (weldin) to all the questionable welds. He also drilled small drain holes in the low spots and suggested thre could have been some problems with water inside the tubing and freezing (when we used to have winter here in NJ).

Biggest problem for me was removing all of the curtains and pulling the wiring out of the tubing. As mentioned, this must be done before welder can do his work.

Work was done about five years ago and I got to see the boat last week, still looks great. Welds are holding up quite well.

If the only bolts are the ones connecting the top to the floor then it is most likley not a factory top.