226 New to GW family

[fish1860]

Crazy as it sounds with gas going to $4.00 a gallon. I got bit by the boating bug again, I'm looking at a 1986 226 Seafarer, for 10K. Not a bad price I don't think? My question is there much of a concern with water saturation in the foam on the older hulls? And second does any one sleep in these cabins for an overnight, the bunk seems a little short? but then so am I only 5-10"
Thanks for any advise you can give me or anything else I should be aware of. I have been in the boating industry for over twenty years.
I just don't know much about the Grady's.

Thanks,

 

[BobP]

Slept in a 204C many times, and it's a smaller boat.

 

[BobP]

Already paying that in gas up here for some time, nothing crazy about it.

I may have to break out my windsurfer (in storage) and crank it up!

 

[NOTHING ELSE MATTERS]

:lol: , Bobp
We are paying 4 to 4.5 per gallon up here

 

[Gman25]

:lol: , Bobp
We are paying 4 to 4.5 per gallon up here

I was paying $3.39 all season in BayShore on the water,but saw it as high as $4+ in Freeport.

 

[BobP]

Looks like the FLA crowd is getting a break.

Ironically, when my boat was built, gas was a buck a gallon.

 

[NOTHING ELSE MATTERS]

Good ol days :cry:
I saw an article todayBush is trying to get the price down :shock:

 

[gw204]

I use 5 gallon portable tanks and pay whatever the cheapest price I can find between my house and work is. Last season, that ranged from like $2.25 to $3.09.

And my friends around here call me stupid for lugging gas around like that... To me, it's worth the $.40 or so saved per gallon.

 

[Legend]

Seafarer is not bad to sleep in - a heavy sleeping bag makes it a little more comfortable on the back. As I recall the padding is pretty thin on that mode era of GWs.

 

[BobP]

Brian, I was doing the same thing with my 204C and 20 ft Mako before it, I had five 6 gallon cans.

As long as I didn't gas the boat in the marina, I wasn't breaking any laws, but the owners didn't like it, broke my chops - they kept trying to catch me gassing at the dock. And they didn't even sell gas so they had nothing to gain.

 

[fish1860]

water saturation

Thanks for all the reply's. My main concern was the foam holding water.
Did the older GW's have closed cell foam? Did they hold water?
Tnx.

 

[BobP]

We missed that part of your question. Price of gas did it !

The older a Grady is, or any boat with wood/glass construction, the more concern is for the wood's condition - against water saturation and/or rot. The wood is not repairable, must be replaced with new.

Did you already have the wood checked out? Is that why your concern is foam and not wood ?

 

[fish1860]

water saturation

I guess this is coming from the old Whaler days. They were known for water saturation in the older boats. And looking at a cross section drawing of the Grady it appears there is quite a bit of foam in and around the stringers, I was just curious if that was ever a concern?
Tnx.

 

[BobP]

Good points.

I would be very very concerned with the wood myself, first, not the foam, on the Grady. Stringer grid, transom, coring. That's just me.

As for foam, how does the boat sit in the water? Low at the stern? Cocked to one side? Do you have any access to the foamed areas at all ?

 

[White Horses (Mike)]

I know we are talking about foam now, but I just had to say that I have 6 five gallon gasoline cans that I lug around to fill the boat up... I am relieved to find that I am not alone

 

[BobP]

Back to gas - I found the 6 gallon poly ones for sale (got the extra gallon!), and I would only do it when the difference was at least 45 cents, many times it was 50 cents or more, for the regular - no marina had regular.

The marina owner's office windows were adjacent to the canal where his hundreds of boats passed when going in or out of slips. When I would come back, I had the five empty ploy tanks lined up end to end in the walkaround on the 204C, on the side facing his windows. Primadonna, he was sucking wind being all nice until the economy turned around and he had a waiting list !

To get the gas out faster instead of through those small nozzle ends, I didn't use the nozzle on the tanks, I used a very wide funnel, and poured the gas right out of the big neck into the boat. I cut the fill time - did it faster than at the gas pump !.

 

[dheywood]

Wet foam

I own an 81 Weekender and I found the biggest problem with the foam was that over time the foam would get wet and have no way to dry out. I found condensation would get trapped in these areas with no way out. I installed extra inspection ports so when I wasn't using the boat and it was dry I could leave these ports open and let air move through these areas. Just don't forget to close these ports when you use your boat. Place the port covers on your dash so you don't forget them. I hope this answers your question.

 

[HMBJack]

This post started out as a "foam" question.

When doing a minor repair in my 228G's bilge, I returned the live well and chopped off a small piece of the insulating foam sprayed on the live well. This is the same foam that is sprayed inside the whole boat in various places. So I took this small piece of foam, maybe the size of a matchbox car, and did a little experiment. I placed it in a cup of water and weighted it down with a lead sinker so the foam was 100% submerged. Three or four days later, I examined the foam. Result - it held water. Not much but it definitely had water absorbed into it.

I now try and keep my bilge as dry as possible (with a short handled mop) and keep my nine 6" inspection ports OPEN as much as possible while in storage to allow for air flow and drying. My view is this - we all will get some water in our bilges. Removing the water and allowing for air flow can't hurt.
The plywood and foam inside your Grady will love you for it. Just my two cents...