Recent content by mr_mbuna

It was a bit rainy and cold this week but progress resumed today. Looks like the new transom is all glassed in. Gelcoat is next, I guess. hoping they can do a good color match.

The tech seems pretty confident it came in around the drain plug. That was the wettest part of the transom. It was still quite structurally sound and I probably would not have known it was wet if I had not glassed over transom cap… by doing that, I encapsulated the moisture, which led to...

More progress... now in the rebuilding phase. The original wood transom was removed except for a small section on the port side (to the left of the trim tab pocket) which was bone dry. The rest has been rebuilt with multiple interlocking layers of Coosa.

More progress… the tow eyes are off (they had to be cut off because the original SS screws were seized in the aluminum backing plate). The only wood left to remove is on the lower port side. The fiberglass tech confirmed that he thinks the water was seeping in from around the drain plug. There...

When I bought the boat in 2020, the aluminum cap on top of the transom was corroded. That is common (Grady switched to vinyl caps in 2012) and could have been a path of water intrusion. The typical repair is to replace the cap with a new vinyl part but I elected to glass over the top of the...

Exactly right - digging out wood under the glass and tucking in new pieces. The new transom will be built with Coosa Bluewater 26. The tow eyes are seized due to them being stainless steel bolted into the aluminum backing plate. They cut the port one off and will get the starboard one off on Monday.

No, Gradys are known for it.

I bought my boat, a 2011 275 Freedom, about four years ago. At the time the original “bang cap” for the transom, an aluminum piece at the time, was heavily corroded which created a route for some water to get into the transom, but the boat surveyed well. After buying the boat, I had the top of...

Grady's performance test with twin 200s on the 275 shows it's a 30 mph cruise and 49 mph top speed. That is exactly the same as their test for a single 350, so there is really no reason to repower at that point. (In the real world with gear and bottom paint, my 275 actually has a 42-44 mph top...

I looked into the Mercury after your post. I admit I have a negative impression of the brand due to reliability issues I heard about in the past, but I’ve never owned one. I like that the Mercury 250 is a V8 instead of a V6. It’s also much quieter. The specs seem like it’s lighter but some...

Anyone other than the local Grady-White dealer will do whatever I want. The best prices I've found are $50K rigged for twin Yamaha F250XCBs (or Honda BF250s) with 5 years of warranty, $37K rigged for twin Suzuki DF250s with 7 years of warranty, or $35K rigged for used 2019 F250XCBs with 300...

Thanks for the response... super helpful, since the 263, 273, and 275 all share the same hull. 26'11" center line length, 8'6" beam, and SeeV2 hull shape.

Please don’t borrow money to buy a 20-year-old boat.

I asked my local dealer about reporting my 2011 275 with twin 250s… they strongly recommended 200s and in fact wouldn’t quote me on twin 250s at all. I emailed Grady-White to ask why they stopped offering twin 250s and they said “With the additional weight it brings the bow up and making the...

After doing some research on this, I think there is a straightforward solution by installing a Mabru SC12DC 12v air conditioner and lithium battery pack (https://mabrustore.com/products/mps-12dc-btu-12v-with-pump-heating-and-cooling) into the area under the helm. But it's $6K plus installation...