Never heard that one...sounds like a tale tale to me. If not, it's the best hidden secret ever...they should hire who ever did this one to make the old transom rot issue disappear too.
265 Express bow diving
- Thread starter Fowl Hooked
- Start date
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- Tags
- 265 265 express
A GW dealer saying the 265 had a problem (ie. no good), but he was selling a Robalo ?
Take it with a grain of salt, like it was said, his lips were moving! That sums it up.
Grady discontinued several models, including most recently the Sailfish. Ironically the Sailfish was the model potential 265 customers were directed to.
Take it with a grain of salt, like it was said, his lips were moving! That sums it up.
Grady discontinued several models, including most recently the Sailfish. Ironically the Sailfish was the model potential 265 customers were directed to.
Yep. I have a 2001 and I agree with this poster 100%. The 1st couple of times out with mine it did this as I did not know how you run her. After some good people over here at Great Grady told me how to run her, its been a dream of a ride with this boat. Keep the tabs up (do not touch them) when on a plane lift the motors a little (at first you will have to feel them out) you will find the sweet spot, then use the trim tabs just a touch to level the ride and you are in for a great dry ride. After the 4th trip out I was good to go. Once you get a feel for the 265 you will love this boat. Its the best 26ft boat out there. For a 26 footer you get a lot of boat and cabin. The boat looks good too. And its fast and has a great range. ENJOY!tilewave said:
Never heard of any recall on a 265 for this issue and Grady has not contacted me or to my knowledge any other son this forum. As far as buying and cutting them up....rarely will a brand do that, they would more then likely replace the hull, I know boat builders who replace defective hulls years later, but rarely cutting one up. As far as I know this is bogus. Personally I would call the dealer and ask him to confirm this, then call Grady and let them know your findings, I'd love to hear their response and see if that dealer is working there any longer. If that was true, I doubt it would be something Grady would allow dealers to speak freely of, and if it is bogus which I believe it is, I feel Grady would not be too thrilled to hear this type of talk towards their boats especialy from someone in their dealer network, even if he is trying to sell to just make a sale in a tough market.
As far as handling, it does take a little getting used to, being that the boat is wide for its size, it handles differently then a narrower boat that most are accustom to. It also has a wide helm area where it is effected by movement at the helm more then a walkaround, but something you get used to quickly. As far as the bow digging in...here is my answer....operator is running to bow down! I run my boat trimmed engined up bow up, in a small chop I will use tabs to go down a little, and rarely ever go bow down unless it is really nasty out and warrants it. As far as the bow wondering, I think is has done it once in 2 seasons.....360 hours of use, and it was 6 ft confused seas running the canyon with full fuel full gear 600+lbs of ice and so on and I wasn't running the boat, I took a 2 minute breather from the wheel and had a buddy running it.
Any boat will veer off in a nasty sea, especially if the bow is too low, and if the wave is quartering, you will expereince this even more, but you need to determine what is safe and isn't, what is normal for any boat and what isn't. I have never expereinced anything abnormal about how the bow performs compared to any other boat.
As far as the hull having issues, it is based on the same SV2 hull form all other Grady's are based on, the slight difference was with the 2002 and prior models that had 1 degree more deadrise throughout the hull, and honestly 1 degree change would not make the hull do this, and even Grady's change had little change on how the boat runs. I've been on boat and notice little difference except in the nastiest seas where you likely don't want to be out there anyways.
As far as handling, it does take a little getting used to, being that the boat is wide for its size, it handles differently then a narrower boat that most are accustom to. It also has a wide helm area where it is effected by movement at the helm more then a walkaround, but something you get used to quickly. As far as the bow digging in...here is my answer....operator is running to bow down! I run my boat trimmed engined up bow up, in a small chop I will use tabs to go down a little, and rarely ever go bow down unless it is really nasty out and warrants it. As far as the bow wondering, I think is has done it once in 2 seasons.....360 hours of use, and it was 6 ft confused seas running the canyon with full fuel full gear 600+lbs of ice and so on and I wasn't running the boat, I took a 2 minute breather from the wheel and had a buddy running it.
Any boat will veer off in a nasty sea, especially if the bow is too low, and if the wave is quartering, you will expereince this even more, but you need to determine what is safe and isn't, what is normal for any boat and what isn't. I have never expereinced anything abnormal about how the bow performs compared to any other boat.
As far as the hull having issues, it is based on the same SV2 hull form all other Grady's are based on, the slight difference was with the 2002 and prior models that had 1 degree more deadrise throughout the hull, and honestly 1 degree change would not make the hull do this, and even Grady's change had little change on how the boat runs. I've been on boat and notice little difference except in the nastiest seas where you likely don't want to be out there anyways.
I think this is really all about what is known as "bow steer" and affects just about any modified to deep V hull in a following sea. As some have suggested, you ALWAYS want the tabs up and the engine trimmed a few bars in such conditions to avoid this. Running upsea and abeam is different and often warrants some tab usage.
Try running downsea in a 24 degree deadrise hull with the tabs down if you want some REAL excitement. The boat may zip zag wildly as the bow "steers".
Try running downsea in a 24 degree deadrise hull with the tabs down if you want some REAL excitement. The boat may zip zag wildly as the bow "steers".
All I can say is HUH?
Dont overtab, best 26 foot express on the market.
Tim, given the economy, wouldn't it be ironic if they brought this boat back?
EPPE is launching 4/18!
Dont overtab, best 26 foot express on the market.
Tim, given the economy, wouldn't it be ironic if they brought this boat back?
EPPE is launching 4/18!
eppem said:
I was thinking the same thing about the 26' express coming back!
Glad to hear that you are launching - I went down today to get a launch - but it looks like next week -
I spent too much this season already! New Fridge, AutoPilot, Dingy (cant be rowing my son around in a Bennies inflateable), 3.5 hp motor! -
Oh well!
Tim
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2007
- Messages
- 204
- Reaction score
- 53
- Points
- 28
- Location
- Southern Maryland
- Model
- Express 265
GW Customer Service Response
I finally emailed GW Customer Service and today had a nice conversation with Jeff Brown who gave me a little history and cleared up some of the misperceptions I'd been given by the dealer.
He did confirm that there was a hull change in that the original design of the boat was for the offshore canyon runners who wanted a deeper entry to better handle the head seas for the long runs they'd be making, this led to a slightly modified Sea-V2 with a steeper entry and a deeper deadrise, just a few degrees but still a change. Essentially this was a little less forgiving hull that required more skill to handle properly than the original Sea-V2. In 2003 they returned to the original hull, not because of anything wrong with the modified version but sales were lagging and a change was needed.
So part of what I was told was at least kind of true. What was blatantly untrue was the reference to recalled and destroyed hulls, GW never did anything like that with the 265 and I'm assuming any of their other designs.
Little bit of truth from the dealer, more untruth and bad information but in the end the 265 is still a great boat with a great design and a lot of attributes that appeal to me. My first experience with GW Customer Service was everything I'd been led to expect, all my fears were put to rest and when I return from my next (and hopefully last) deployment to Afghanistan or Iraq sometime in 2011 I'll be looking for a 265 of my own.
Thanks again for all the input and comments, this site has been a great find for me and I hope to someday be able to post pictures of a Grady of my own.
Brett
I finally emailed GW Customer Service and today had a nice conversation with Jeff Brown who gave me a little history and cleared up some of the misperceptions I'd been given by the dealer.
He did confirm that there was a hull change in that the original design of the boat was for the offshore canyon runners who wanted a deeper entry to better handle the head seas for the long runs they'd be making, this led to a slightly modified Sea-V2 with a steeper entry and a deeper deadrise, just a few degrees but still a change. Essentially this was a little less forgiving hull that required more skill to handle properly than the original Sea-V2. In 2003 they returned to the original hull, not because of anything wrong with the modified version but sales were lagging and a change was needed.
So part of what I was told was at least kind of true. What was blatantly untrue was the reference to recalled and destroyed hulls, GW never did anything like that with the 265 and I'm assuming any of their other designs.
Little bit of truth from the dealer, more untruth and bad information but in the end the 265 is still a great boat with a great design and a lot of attributes that appeal to me. My first experience with GW Customer Service was everything I'd been led to expect, all my fears were put to rest and when I return from my next (and hopefully last) deployment to Afghanistan or Iraq sometime in 2011 I'll be looking for a 265 of my own.
Thanks again for all the input and comments, this site has been a great find for me and I hope to someday be able to post pictures of a Grady of my own.
Brett
Brett
Don't wait until 2011 to fish off a 265!
Come to Long Island and fish off mine!
PM me if you're in town.
For real.
Don't wait until 2011 to fish off a 265!
Come to Long Island and fish off mine!
PM me if you're in town.
For real.