WTB Seafarer 228, 2000-20016

KEZ

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Not sure if you or anyone else is seriously considering a 226, but here are a couple for sale. The one in NC has been listed for I believe at least a month, if not more. Unsure about how long the one in Virginia has been listed for.


One of the issues we will soon have in CA is they are considering a ban on all 2-strokes on reservoirs and lakes. For that reason I was really looking only at 4-strokes. I live near a huge reservoir and sometimes take my boat there for a little trolling or just to perform any shakedown runs (break in the new kicker).
 

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One of the issues we will soon have in CA is they are considering a ban on all 2-strokes on reservoirs and lakes. For that reason I was really looking only at 4-strokes. I live near a huge reservoir and sometimes take my boat there for a little trolling or just to perform any shakedown runs (break in the new kicker).
Just my opinion but I wouldn’t buy any boat with a 2 stroke unless the price factored an immediate 4 stroke repower. I realise the newer 2 strokes are more efficient but you are still burning oil. All 4 strokes are environmentally friendly, quiet and just great for their smokeless performance. I have had the older 2 strokes before and switched to 4 strokes over 15 years ago for these reasons.
 
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Just my opinion but I wouldn’t buy any boat with a 2 stroke unless the price factored an immediate 4 stroke repower. I realise the newer 2 strokes are more efficient but you are still burning oil. All 4 strokes are environmentally friendly, quiet and just great for their smokeless performance. I have had the older 2 strokes before and switched to 4 strokes over 15 years ago for these reasons.
Yep - that was my thinking too! I still have a 2 stroke on the Neptune I own simply because it is reliable and still performs well, but it is one main reason I am looking to upgrade to a 228 (in addition to the extra deck space)
 

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I definitely agree on the 2 stroke vs 4 stroke argument. I was mainly just throwing it out there in case anyone was interested, and I obviously don't have any skin in the game. In regards to the first boat from NC, it's been listed for quite some time, couldn't one find a nice used 4 stroke motor with decent hours on it and replace it with that for say $10k-15k? If you talked them down some in terms of the price being that it is a 2 stroke and doesn't show any pictures of a trailer, so I'm assuming that it doesn't come with one, if you could get it for under $15k... I don't think that would be a bad deal. If one really wanted the 226 as opposed to the 228.
 
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Agreed, but I am also following up on a 2005 226 on the east coast with a 2000 Yamaha 200 that is listed for $25k but have not been able to get a response from owner yet. Looks like a nice boat but no info on electronics, canvass or condition of cushions, etc.

Summertop511 - the newer 226s appear to have a folding barrier in front of the transom notch to help reduce wave intrusion - have not looked at one in person but looks very similar to the one I have on Neptune.
 

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What was dealer price on a new 228 with hardtop, when they discontinued the model recently? I know options matter, but just for the sake of curiosity, ball park is good.
There's a 2020 GW 228 Seafarer hardtop here for sale locally at the same place where I had the winterization done on my boat and they're also a GW dealer as well. When I was in there a couple of weeks ago, I talked to the sales rep about the boat and he said the owner paid $140k brand new for it the year before. I think there were a few options on the boat and so forth but probably starting off at an absolute minimum of $120k and going up from there.
 

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The 2006 in Chester CT is back on the market - salesman said the previous buyer could not find a suitable trailer, and I understand new trailers may be hard to come by. The 03 in Wilmington, NC also shows sold on the Marina website.
 
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The 2006 in Chester CT is back on the market - salesman said the previous buyer could not find a suitable trailer, and I understand new trailers may be hard to come by. The 03 in Wilmington, NC also shows sold on the Marina website.
I think the potential buyer for the boat in CT saw all of the costs quickly adding up and ran away very quickly. The boat itself is $40k, a brand new trailer I'm sure is at least $5k-6k, or even more, depending on what style/brand of trailer you buy and if you add any options on top of that. If you add a hardtop to the boat there's another $5k minimum and then sales tax for the boat itself on top of that is 6.35% per Google for the state of Connecticut. So... you'd be at $40k for the boat itself, let's say $6k for a trailer, $5k for the hardtop and $2.5k for sales tax and that puts you at $53.5k before you've even used the boat or started fishing, or whatever you're going to use it for. On top of that you might need a kicker motor and bracket, downriggers, fishing gear, safety gear, upgraded electronics/GPS/radar and you'll definitely need to buy insurance.

Now I have no doubt that the CT boat would be worth that much when all is said and done, and probably even more, out here on the west coast. But, I don't think that the boat is worth that much back on the east coast, and I think it's very much the reason why it's still for sale. I bought my 2004 Grady White 228 Seafarer as a package deal with the boat, motor and trailer for $26.5k and couldn't imagine paying almost $15k more for a boat just because it's 2 years newer but doesn't come with a trailer or a hardtop. The boat looks to be in decent shape, it's 2 years newer than my boat and comes with a 250 Yamaha as opposed to mine which only comes with a 225 Yamaha. That being said, I don't really care about having the highest hp rated motor on the boat because I don't need to be going over 45 mph while out on the water anyway.
 

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What was dealer price on a new 228 with hardtop, when they discontinued the model recently? I know options matter, but just for the sake of curiosity, ball park is good.
That is a great question and I don't know the answer. There are currently two very recent model 228s listed for $110-120K range.
 
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That is a great question and I don't know the answer. There are currently two very recent model 228s listed for $110-120K range.
As stated above, I had my boat at Jacobsen's in Edmonds for a winterization a couple of weeks ago and saw the 2020 GW 228 Seafarer that they have for sale. They've got it listed at $120k, of which the sales rep said the seller paid $140k for it brand new last year and I think there were only like 30-40 hours on the motor. I didn't climb up into the boat or anything but I'm assuming that if he paid $140k for it brand new, and I'm also assuming that he probably added on a few extra things for the boat, that I'm betting bare minimum would likely be around $120k or so? I'm obviously not positive and can only guess but I'd say probably $120k-140k+ depending on options and add-on's?
 

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Looks like this one just popped up today on Boat Trader in Florida. Looks like it's a decent looking boat, comes with a trailer, hardtop and even like the extra canvas covering on the rear. Decently priced too.

 

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Looks like the company selling the boat also has very good reviews.
 

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Hi All,

So I just stumbled upon this thread. I found it super interesting as I actually have the Seafarer 228 in Chester CT under contract. Inspection soon. I can let the curious know how it turns out. I obviously didn't offer asking price. I actually have a trailer and a new Garmin Chartplotter so those do not matter to me. I have radar on my other boat and never use it so I don't need that. I have another boat (Chaparral) with a hard top but I do not want a hard top of this boat as I feel like it takes space away from fishing, adds weight and gives me a great spot to hit my head which I do too much on boats. I am a little concerned about the 228 with the engine mounted off the back. I was looking for a 226. I actually have a 1987 226 I "inherited" with the fold down transom and I love that for fishing and pulling in big stripers over the transom!

I honestly really think the boat is "worth" about $25k. The market is what it is right now though and I think most boats are selling for about 50% over underlying value. Either you get lucky or you have to play. If I had patience, I would probably wait two years and buy this same boat for $20k.

Anyway, before I get to the point of signing the big check. I wonder what cautions, concerns or thoughts people may have with this boat? i saw some concerns about the lower unit, for example, but I was not sure what people were concerned about. I couldn't see it in the photos. Let me know if anyone sees anything that should scare me away. Note it will be inspected by a professional surveyor and will also be looked at by a friend on mine that is a marine mechanic.

Thanks in advance!
Jeff
 

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Hi All,

So I just stumbled upon this thread. I found it super interesting as I actually have the Seafarer 228 in Chester CT under contract. Inspection soon. I can let the curious know how it turns out. I obviously didn't offer asking price. I actually have a trailer and a new Garmin Chartplotter so those do not matter to me. I have radar on my other boat and never use it so I don't need that. I have another boat (Chaparral) with a hard top but I do not want a hard top of this boat as I feel like it takes space away from fishing, adds weight and gives me a great spot to hit my head which I do too much on boats. I am a little concerned about the 228 with the engine mounted off the back. I was looking for a 226. I actually have a 1987 226 I "inherited" with the fold down transom and I love that for fishing and pulling in big stripers over the transom!

I honestly really think the boat is "worth" about $25k. The market is what it is right now though and I think most boats are selling for about 50% over underlying value. Either you get lucky or you have to play. If I had patience, I would probably wait two years and buy this same boat for $20k.

Anyway, before I get to the point of signing the big check. I wonder what cautions, concerns or thoughts people may have with this boat? i saw some concerns about the lower unit, for example, but I was not sure what people were concerned about. I couldn't see it in the photos. Let me know if anyone sees anything that should scare me away. Note it will be inspected by a professional surveyor and will also be looked at by a friend on mine that is a marine mechanic.

Thanks in advance!
Jeff
A few thoughts on the matter... I'd been looking for a 1998 and newer Grady White 228 Seafarer for just over a year before I finally found my boat back in Deale, MD from a dealership called Tri State Marine. I'd owned a boat before called a 21' Arima Sea Ranger that had a skip top on it. For the Puget Sound, it was a decent boat with lots of fishing room but it wasn't anything compared to a Grady White after going on the sea trial run and purchasing my Seafarer. The Grady is 100x the boat that the Arima was/is, a much more comfortable ride, not as wet of a ride either and just an all around better built boat. I sold my Arima for $27,500 and bought my Grady White for $26,500 so I actually saved some money and upgraded to a tremendously better boat. I live in Seattle and the same boat as mine just sold out here on the local Craigslist for $55k, although it did have a few more options than mine has, like radar, a kicker motor and newer electronics. I also don't think those things combined are worth more than $5k total, or so, and I'd value my boat to be in the high $40k's to low $50k's, but again I only paid $26.5k for the boat motor and trailer. Anyway, in terms of pricing... I bought my Arima in 2017 and after a couple months fishing on it I realized I wanted something much better, bigger and more comfortable. So I've been looking off and on at Grady White 228 Seafarer's for years and have yet to see one as new and nice as mine sell for under $25k. To make a long story short, I think you'll be very hard pressed to find one as new as the one you put an offer down on for under $25k, and sure as heck ain't going to find one for $20k... even in 2 years, in my opinion. These boats hold their value incredibly well, especially out on the west coast and the Pacific Northwest, and yours being a 2006 with an asking price of $40k without a trailer, hardtop, kicker motor, radar or anything else really just proves what people are willing to pay for them.

I think that if you waited another month or two - January or February - that you'll see the prices dip down maybe even a bit further, but come spring time, they're just going to jump right up again to where they were, at least that's my opinion. Other matters you mentioned above would be the hardtop... I'm 6'2" tall and my uncle is around 6'5" yet neither one of us have ever hit our head underneath on the hardtop when standing or fishing. I think the hardtop is great if you're like me and very fair skin with a light complexion and sunburn rather easily. I love that it will keep you out of the elements like the sun, rain, sometimes even snow if you fish year round, and I think the biggest thing is that it looks better than the bimini top as well as increases the value of the boat in regards to resale value. Most guys want the hardtop as opposed to a bimini top and you'll likely get a much broader range of potential buyers interested in a hardtop if/when you go to sell the boat, and it'll bring more money. The canvas curtains/isinglass also keep out the rain and other elements, as well as the hardtop giving you extra weight in the mid/front section of the boat for better weight distribution and oftentimes can help with better ride comfort. Lastly, in regards to the hardtop it'll give you a spot to put radar, should you want it, or should the potential next buyer want it, should you go and sell the boat. If you have a bimini top and want radar then you'll need a radar arch, which can be costly, and I think looks out of place compared to the standard hardtop. My uncle's previous boat had radar on it and yes, we only used it a handful of times or so, and most of those were for "practice" if it were to become foggy or to familiarize yourself with the equipment. That being said, there were probably 2 times out of the handful where the fog was incredibly thick and you couldn't see more than oh maybe 25' in front of you or so. And at that point, I was very much appreciative that we had radar as well as a brand new GPS/chartplotter as I would've gotten lost without it. Because of that, I'll likely be getting radar for my boat here before the summer, even though it doesn't really "need" it and although I'd likely rarely ever use it. That being said, it's worth the $1k - $1.5k investment, imo, and is only going to increase the value of the boat as well.

In regards to the engine... the lower unit issue is something that can't be seen from the outside of the motor. It's called a dry exhaust corrosion issue, and it effects the inside of the motor where you need to drop the lower unit, look up inside the motor and see if it's rusted out, pitted or so on. This can be done very quickly, within an hour or less if you have a surveyor/inspector or take it to a shop and have it inspected there. Most of the time, and I repeat ... most of the time, you can tell if there's an issue because the seller will be hesitant about having a surveyor/inspector look over the boat/motor, or they won't want to take it for a sea trial run or just avoid any questions about the motor altogether as they generally know of the issue. And is likely one of the reasons why they're selling the boat. Oftentimes you can also tell of the issue by starting up the motor, especially if you're actually in the water, and seeing if you get any overheating alarms, if it won't get up to WOT or full speed, if there's any smoking or so on. Any decent surveyor/inspector should know about the potential issue as it's very common and a very well known issue. Tri State is a Grady White dealership and they said that they scoped the motor on my boat, also combined with a great sea trial run, I bought the boat without a surveyor to inspect it. Which is the first time I'd done so as surveyors at the time were 2-3 weeks out and I couldn't wait that long being that it was an out of state purchase. So, I "rolled the dice" so to speak but when I got the boat back home I had the local GW dealership drop the lower unit to double check when I had the boat in for it's winterization and they said "it looked perfect."

Good luck with your purchase, hopefully it's what you want and there's a favorable survey/inspection, as well as the motor not having the dry exhaust corrosion issue. I guess from my standpoint, I don't know what your offer is but my boat is only 2 years older, a 2004, and also came with a hardtop, trailer, the nicer rear seat cushions and so forth but I only paid $26.5k for it. Yeah, you don't need a trailer because you already have one but that's something you could've potentially gotten with the boat, sold it separately and made some of your money back. I guess what I'm trying to say is that, based off what I paid for mine and what came with it compared to yours, I wouldn't be spending anywhere near that kind of money for it. And I honestly mean no offense. That being said, your boat does have a Yamaha 250 vs mine which is only a Yamaha 225, but I don't really care about top speed and mostly use my boat to troll for salmon. I think yours has a leg up on mine in that regard being that is has the bigger motor, but to pay what I'm only guessing is likely $10k more for a boat with a slightly bigger motor, 2 years newer, but doesn't come with a trailer, hardtop, kicker motor or anything else... makes me think there's a reason why it's been for sale for as long as it's been for sale for. Again, I'm not trying to be a jerk or anything, I've just paid very close attention to Grady White 228 Seafarers for years, and I think there are much better deals out there to be had. But, if you like the boat and it's what you want, for a price that you're comfortable paying, then by all means... it's your money, spend it how you want to spend it. Good Luck with the potential purchase!
 
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Mustang65fbk

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Hi All,

So I just stumbled upon this thread. I found it super interesting as I actually have the Seafarer 228 in Chester CT under contract. Inspection soon. I can let the curious know how it turns out. I obviously didn't offer asking price. I actually have a trailer and a new Garmin Chartplotter so those do not matter to me. I have radar on my other boat and never use it so I don't need that. I have another boat (Chaparral) with a hard top but I do not want a hard top of this boat as I feel like it takes space away from fishing, adds weight and gives me a great spot to hit my head which I do too much on boats. I am a little concerned about the 228 with the engine mounted off the back. I was looking for a 226. I actually have a 1987 226 I "inherited" with the fold down transom and I love that for fishing and pulling in big stripers over the transom!

I honestly really think the boat is "worth" about $25k. The market is what it is right now though and I think most boats are selling for about 50% over underlying value. Either you get lucky or you have to play. If I had patience, I would probably wait two years and buy this same boat for $20k.

Anyway, before I get to the point of signing the big check. I wonder what cautions, concerns or thoughts people may have with this boat? i saw some concerns about the lower unit, for example, but I was not sure what people were concerned about. I couldn't see it in the photos. Let me know if anyone sees anything that should scare me away. Note it will be inspected by a professional surveyor and will also be looked at by a friend on mine that is a marine mechanic.

Thanks in advance!
Jeff
Also, what's your concern about the 228 vs the 226? I know that some prefer the 226 for reasons of "handling better" although I'm honestly not sure what that means or what sort of "evidence" they have for claiming that, other than it just being subjective. I've never personally driven a 226 before but I like the 228 for several reasons... most of which would be not having the notched out transom while out on our mooring buoy in front of my beach cabin for weeks/months at a time. I'm sure it likely wouldn't be an issue, knock on wood, but I don't like the idea of the motor just chilling on the back of the boat and not having a motor well to stop any potential waves or water from coming into the cockpit area, especially if the boat got turned around in a storm. I have a 6 year old niece and older parents in their 70's and the idea of having a boat with a notched out transom is a bit unnerving. I love the idea of having the extended transom bracket to extend the boat's overall length, you have the swim platform for ease of climbing into the boat if God forbid you were to fall overboard or had people waterskiing/inner tubing behind the boat. You can also use the swim platform to net fish on, strap a cooler to and it gives the 228 more fishing space imo with the live well there as opposed to the flip down cutting board on the 226. It also gives you a live well as mentioned above for bait, being able to use it as a cooler if you don't need it for bait, in that you can put ice in there as well as food, water and other beverages. Or even smaller sized fish/crab. To me, I think the benefits of having the 228 with the transom bracket far outweigh the "cons" of some claiming it doesn't handle as good as the 226 does, or that it's harder to go in reverse with the transom bracket compared to the 226. Those are things that I can gladly live with for the added benefits that the 228 provides.
 

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Hi Jeff, congrats on putting in an offer on this boat. I seriously considered it myself, but two things stopped me - well three things. First, I am from CA so CT as a ways to travel to get the boat. Second - no trailer, and I store my boat in my shop building so I need a trailer to get it home and then take it to the water and back. Third - while the pics don't show it, I assume this boat has bottom paint, and I also don't need that or want to maintain it. Mustang 65 has good points on his guidance above and has been very helpful to me looking at other boats. Who knows what prices are going to do in the future, but I am guessing they are not going to go down much. It seems these are popular boats and if they are priced right, they sell. Boats a couple years younger than this one jump to $50-60K range, and low hour boats are closer to 100-120K. New they were 140K and above. This boat has some hours on it (over 600) but that is not even half of what they say gets you into territory where major work can be expected (1200-1500 from what I have read). The 2006 boats should also have much better resistance to wood rot, also according to what I have read about GW reducing and eliminating wood in substructures. If you don't need or want a T-top, a bimini should serve you just fine - it is what I currently have on my Sunbird and works great. But as Mustang says, if you want a radar, it's the way to go. Also helps with outriggers - gets them out of the way and above your head. Do a water trial and survey, scope the exhaust for corrosion issues and you should be well protected in buying this boat. Good luck and keep us posted!
 
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Hi Jeff, congrats on putting in an offer on this boat. I seriously considered it myself, but two things stopped me - well three things. First, I am from CA so CT as a ways to travel to get the boat. Second - no trailer, and I store my boat in my shop building so I need a trailer to get it home and then take it to the water and back. Third - while the pics don't show it, I assume this boat has bottom paint, and I also don't need that or want to maintain it. Mustang 65 has good points on his guidance above and has been very helpful to me looking at other boats. Who knows what prices are going to do in the future, but I am guessing they are not going to go down much. It seems these are popular boats and if they are priced right, they sell. Boats a couple years younger than this one jump to $50-60K range, and low hour boats are closer to 100-120K. New they were 140K and above. This boat has some hours on it (over 600) but that is not even half of what they say gets you into territory where major work can be expected (1200-1500 from what I have read). The 2006 boats should also have much better resistance to wood rot, also according to what I have read about GW reducing and eliminating wood in substructures. If you don't need or want a T-top, a bimini should serve you just fine - it is what I currently have on my Sunbird and works great. But as Mustang says, if you want a radar, it's the way to go. Also helps with outriggers - gets them out of the way and above your head. Do a water trial and survey, scope the exhaust for corrosion issues and you should be well protected in buying this boat. Good luck and keep us posted!
It's somewhat difficult to tell from the pictures, and since the boat is in the water, but if you look at the 8th picture of the boat on the Boat Trader website that shows the entire front/bow section of the boat... you'll see a couple inches up from the water line that the boat does in fact have bottom paint on it. Some people love bottom paint, some don't... I'd prefer not to have it and not to have to re-paint it every couple of years but it's what my boat came with and is next to impossible and/or very expensive to have reversed. And with the price that I paid for my boat, I'll simply deal with it. There's a 2020 on Boat Trader here at a local GW dealer Jacobsen's Marine in Edmonds that just sold and was listed for $120k, which I thought would've sold quicker in that it only had like 30 hours on it. I had my boat in there a couple of weeks ago for a winterization and saw it when I was in there dropping it off and picking it back up again. The dealer told me the seller paid $140k for it the year before, which is crazy that it dropped over $20k in just over a year... although they don't make the 228 Seafarer anymore and it is December. So maybe if they'd waited until spring or summer of next year, they might've gotten a few bucks more for it? Either way, yes... these boats are very popular and during the winter you can sometimes find a fair deal on some of them, but I don't think that they're going to be in the low $20k's anytime soon. The ones that are a good deal, or even a great deal, typically don't last more than a day or so. I was looking at a 2001 GW 228 Seafarer back in Virginia that I think they had listed for $26k on Craigslist and it sold within a day. Others that are great deals or are similarly priced typically won't last more than a couple of days at most. But yes, I think it'll be 5+ years before you see the 2000 and newer 228 Seafarers consistently down in the $25k range, or less. And that's on the east coast, on the west coast they're still selling for $50k or more.
 

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Hi All,

So I just stumbled upon this thread. I found it super interesting as I actually have the Seafarer 228 in Chester CT under contract. Inspection soon. I can let the curious know how it turns out. I obviously didn't offer asking price. I actually have a trailer and a new Garmin Chartplotter so those do not matter to me. I have radar on my other boat and never use it so I don't need that. I have another boat (Chaparral) with a hard top but I do not want a hard top of this boat as I feel like it takes space away from fishing, adds weight and gives me a great spot to hit my head which I do too much on boats. I am a little concerned about the 228 with the engine mounted off the back. I was looking for a 226. I actually have a 1987 226 I "inherited" with the fold down transom and I love that for fishing and pulling in big stripers over the transom!

I honestly really think the boat is "worth" about $25k. The market is what it is right now though and I think most boats are selling for about 50% over underlying value. Either you get lucky or you have to play. If I had patience, I would probably wait two years and buy this same boat for $20k.

Anyway, before I get to the point of signing the big check. I wonder what cautions, concerns or thoughts people may have with this boat? i saw some concerns about the lower unit, for example, but I was not sure what people were concerned about. I couldn't see it in the photos. Let me know if anyone sees anything that should scare me away. Note it will be inspected by a professional surveyor and will also be looked at by a friend on mine that is a marine mechanic.

Thanks in advance!
Jeff
Did you end up purchasing the boat in Chester, CT or what's the status on it?