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LOL, good ol' Chesapeake. @luckydude , I agree with you about Coastside. I think the tone there is reflective of West Coast boating culture generally. My impression is that it's dominated by blue collar, salty dog fishermen who have been out there in big water for years (and so have their...

Coastside?

I also had to pay more than I wanted (albeit just $500 more) to get my glass guy to put the effort into achieving a reasonable gelcoat color match. I wasn't happy about that at the time but the end result was what mattered. As you said once you start you're committed to the pro and they have the...

I paid $2K in the SF Bay Area to have the aluminum bang cap on my transom glassed over, including glass work and removing/installing the single outboard. That required removing the existing gelcoat, adding ~10 layers of glass to strengthen and true the transom, and applying new gelcoat (a couple...

I get out twice a month on average. Not always fishing - sometimes just to catch a ball game!

I think a bow thruster is something for boats 30' or more in length. I have a Freedom 275 with a single F350. I can dock it fine, no need for a bow thruster. The only time I struggled was when I was tied to the windward side of a dock, with boats in front and behind me, trying to depart on my...

I'm late to the thread but congrats on the new boat! Always good to see the West Coast Grady community grow.

Mine finished up last weekend. It turned out well. I hope yours does too, @Fishtales

Hey all - old thread but just to close the loop. I reached out to Cal Flynn but got referred twice to others in his network. The guy they ended up putting me in touch with was a hotshot trucker with no USDOT number so I wondered what I was paying a premium for. I ended up using a guy I found off...

I got the boat back today. I can't tell any difference in the color now that the gel coat is cured and the engine is re-installed. In addition to finishing the transom I had the fiberglass guy repair some trailer rash and 6-8 marks (voids, impact points, etc.) under the waterline and compound...

After 3-4 attempts this is the final result on the gel coat color match. Not 100% perfect but it's pretty darn close. It should blend once the engine is back on.

I've found Coastside (https://coastsidefishingclub.com) to have the most West Coast boaters. I've got a Grady 275 in San Francisco.

Here you go CharlesM. It's the white piece on the back corner of the motorwell transom.

A surveyor measured low moisture in June when I bought the boat. I had the transom cap glassed over. My pro is reworking the gelcoat color match a bit but you can see below how it now looks functionally. It was $500 to R&I the engine. I could have replaced the aluminum piece with the vinyl...

I can feel the money draining from my bank account at WOT. 5800 RPM = 33.3 GPH = $150/hour at current California marine gas prices. At least I'm moving 45 MPH (1.35 MPG). At 4300 RPM I burn 14.3 GPH. That pushes my boat at 32 MPH, which works out to 2.2 MPG. Not bad for a 27' boat.

I run my Freedom 275 with a single F350 at 4300 RPM. This keeps me going at a fast plane without burning too much gas (the F350s really consume fuel above 4500 RPM) and just out of the F350's flywheel degradation range. I will occasionally run at WOT for a few minutes to let the engine stretch...

Do you have a photo of your joint? Here's what mine looked like. I had no bulging around the cap, just lots of corrosion.

Probably not if Grady made him sign that NDA someone mentioned.

I am having the transom cap on my 2011 GW Freedom 275 glassed over permanently (see thread here) to ensure there is no risk of water intrusion in the future. (Grady leaves the trailing top edge of the transom open/unfinished from the factory to allow for some flex from the forces of the...

I went by the fiberglass shop today to do an interim check on my boat before the engine gets re-installed. I am glad I did - while the job seems functionally good (it reportedly took 5-10 layers of glass and resin to make the transom true), the old and new gel coat are obviously different...