Buy a Grady with a 2012 Etec are pass? Any input please

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Roadworker

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I am looking at a 208 grady with a 2012 200 HO evinrude Etec motor. Price is set high but would fit my needs perfect. But am i investing in a sinking ship with that motor.
Any inputs please.
 
FWIW: A friend of mine worked at the Evinrude test facility here in Stuart, FL for many years, overlapping your 2012 engines. They would run engines at or near max rpm for days (maybe weeks?) at a time, leaving them running on a bracket in the water when they went home at night, to rack up hundreds, if not a thousand, hours of high rpm use. They would sometimes even have another brand running side-by-side. Then they tore them down to see the wear points.

His opinion was that the Etecs they tested would hold up as well as anything else under normal recreational use, although Yamaha's four-strokes often outlasted them in stress tests. But, he emphasized, they put the engines through more than any recreational boater would and he had high confidence in the engines. So much so that he was quite unhappy with me when I repowered with a Yamaha through my Grady dealer - who only carried Yamahas.

We occassionally got to take Sea-Doo's out on a weekend when they needed to put hours on them. There was always one two-stroke BRP Sea-Doo and somebody else's four-stroke version like a jet-ski. And the two-stroke would run circles around the four stroke in that application, proving his point about two-stroke superiority.

He even designed and built a setup where they could leave an engine (maybe a new 250?) running inside for the duration of the Miami Boat Show. I was impressed with how quiet it was.

It was only towards the end of Evinrude's life when Covid hit in 2020 that he began complaining of the quality control of the internal parts coming out of Mexico. He was frustrated that they were occassionally documenting premature failure and headquaters in Illinois didn't seem to want to act to improve the quality control.

Hopefully we'll hear from a number of owners with first hand experience. If they say the engines are great, I'll be sure to tell my friend.

Just curious, how many hours on the engines?

Tx, Rob
 
Only partially relevant, but the 2014 Etec I had on my non-Grady 21 cc was a great motor. The boat it’s on is now for sale (a Padebco 21) and the fact that Evenrude is no longer will knock down the price a bit, but I (and my yard) still think it’s a good motor.
Replaced by a 2024 Freedom 255, just delivered (with twin Yamaha 200s).
 
No personal experience here, though a buddy does have twin 115's I believe on his 23' Wooldridge Pilothouse and he's had a few issues with them in the last several years. I don't know the vintage, probably around late 2000's/early 2010's, but he's replaced both lower units at least twice, the last time because there was saltwater flooding them. This last summer he didn't even launch his boat because I guess he needed new flywheels for the outboards, but with the parts being so hard to find, I guess it's like a 6 month wait to get them? My thoughts on the matter would be... how much is the boat and what's the actual condition of the motor? If it's say $20k-$25k+, I think I'd honestly pass on it altogether as you can a 228 Seafarer in the same vintage oftentimes with a 4 stroke motor on it for around that price. Besides the cost, the actual condition of the outboard is going to be very important. If you're seriously interested in the boat, I'd take it to a mechanic that knows what he's doing and is familiar with the ETEC motors, see how the motor actually runs/operates and go from there. If it gets a clean bill of health, maybe buy it and run the boat for a couple of years, then see how you feel at that time, see if your boating needs change, if you're wanting something bigger, 4 stroke power, etc. Your post is somewhat vague and doesn't exactly give us much to go off of without some more information, otherwise we're just going to be speculating over here. I think the best thing you can do is figure out exactly what model(s) of boat you want, a max price for your budget, features/options for it, how far you're willing to travel for it, etc. Per your profile, it says you're located in Long Island, of which I imagine with it being essentially mid October that you won't get much use out of the boat this season? I'd take the winter, wait for prices to drop down a bit, see if the boat is still available in the spring, or look at others, etc. As opposed to buying the boat that's admittedly overpriced and then sitting on it all winter before you can use it next spring/summer. I know it sucks waiting for something, I waited just over a year before eventually finding my boat, but being patient and finding the right boat for the right price is a reward in and of itself. Good luck!
 
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wahoo33417 said:
FWIW: A friend of mine worked at the Evinrude test facility here in Stuart, FL for many years, overlapping your 2012 engines. They would run engines at or near max rpm for days (maybe weeks?) at a time, leaving them running on a bracket in the water when they went home at night, to rack up hundreds, if not a thousand, hours of high rpm use. They would sometimes even have another brand running side-by-side. Then they tore them down to see the wear points.

His opinion was that the Etecs they tested would hold up as well as anything else under normal recreational use, although Yamaha's four-strokes often outlasted them in stress tests. But, he emphasized, they put the engines through more than any recreational boater would and he had high confidence in the engines. So much so that he was quite unhappy with me when I repowered with a Yamaha through my Grady dealer - who only carried Yamahas.

We occassionally got to take Sea-Doo's out on a weekend when they needed to put hours on them. There was always one two-stroke BRP Sea-Doo and somebody else's four-stroke version like a jet-ski. And the two-stroke would run circles around the four stroke in that application, proving his point about two-stroke superiority.

He even designed and built a setup where they could leave an engine (maybe a new 250?) running inside for the duration of the Miami Boat Show. I was impressed with how quiet it was.

It was only towards the end of Evinrude's life when Covid hit in 2020 that he began complaining of the quality control of the internal parts coming out of Mexico. He was frustrated that they were occassionally documenting premature failure and headquaters in Illinois didn't seem to want to act to improve the quality control.

Hopefully we'll hear from a number of owners with first hand experience. If they say the engines are great, I'll be sure to tell my friend.

Just curious, how many hours on the engines?

Tx, Rob
Click to expand...
only around 150 hours
 
Mustang65fbk said:
No personal experience here, though a buddy does have twin 115's I believe on his 23' Wooldridge Pilothouse and he's had a few issues with them in the last several years. I don't know the vintage, probably around late 2000's/early 2010's, but he's replaced both lower units at least twice, the last time because there was saltwater flooding them. This last summer he didn't even launch his boat because I guess he needed new flywheels for the outboards, but with the parts being so hard to find, I guess it's like a 6 month wait to get them? My thoughts on the matter would be... how much is the boat and what's the actual condition of the motor? If it's say $20k-$25k+, I think I'd honestly pass on it altogether as you can a 228 Seafarer in the same vintage oftentimes with a 4 stroke motor on it for around that price. Besides the cost, the actual condition of the outboard is going to be very important. If you're seriously interested in the boat, I'd take it to a mechanic that knows what he's doing and is familiar with the ETEC motors, see how the motor actually runs/operates and go from there. If it gets a clean bill of health, maybe buy it and run the boat for a couple of years, then see how you feel at that time, see if your boating needs change, if you're wanting something bigger, 4 stroke power, etc. Your post is somewhat vague and doesn't exactly give us much to go off of without some more information, otherwise we're just going to be speculating over here. I think the best thing you can do is figure out exactly what model(s) of boat you want, a max price for your budget, features/options for it, how far you're willing to travel for it, etc. Per your profile, it says you're located in Long Island, of which I imagine with it being essentially mid October that you won't get much use out of the boat this season? I'd take the winter, wait for prices to drop down a bit, see if the boat is still available in the spring, or look at others, etc. As opposed to buying the boat that's admittedly overpriced and then sitting on it all winter before you can use it next spring/summer. I know it sucks waiting for something, I waited just over a year before eventually finding my boat, but being patient and finding the right boat for the right price is a reward in and of itself. Good luck!
Click to expand...
the 228 are so hard to find , found a nice 2001 226 as well but has a 2022 250 yamaha on it and am considering
The boat i am talking about with the Etec is a 1998 208 adventure .
I truly dont want to make mistake as they are not selling that easy
 
Roadworker said:
the 228 are so hard to find , found a nice 2001 226 as well but has a 2022 250 yamaha on it and am considering
The boat i am talking about with the Etec is a 1998 208 adventure .
I truly dont want to make mistake as they are not selling that easy
Click to expand...

I would absolutely go for the 226. The 208 has a really small cockpit, you can't crab out of it. I mean, you can, but it would be miserable.

On the other hand, if you are going to fish solo or with 1 other person, won't crab, then the 208 is probably fine. Personally, I would always lean towards the biggest boat you can afford. But I'm on the Pacific, if you are on a nicer ocean then the 208 might be fine. I find my 228 to be barely big enough for the Pacific.
 
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As mentioned, I'd definitely go with the larger 226/228 Seafarer over the 208 Adventure, if you can. I was in a similar boat, literally, when looking for my 228 Seafarer. I was looking for a 208 Adventure up to a 232 Gulfstream but was focusing on trying to find a 228 Seafarer. Lots of boats popped up over the year that it took me to find my boat, tons of 208 Adventure's as they're a smaller, cheaper and I imagine produced in greater numbers. My local Grady White dealership had a 232 Gulfstream for sale, which I looked at and walked around on it in person, very quickly realizing it was a bigger boat than I really needed. So, I took that off my list, and with having a mooring buoy in front of my beach cabin on Whidbey Island that I leave the boat on for months at a time, the 208 Adventure/226 Seafarer having a motor well/bang cap on it wasn't as appealing as the the 228 Seafarer with the fully enclosed transom/transom bracket on it. As mentioned, be patient and I'd continue looking everyday throughout the winter until you can find the boat that works for you. I'd go as big as you can in terms of size as well as much as your budget will allow, and I would definitely pick the 226/228 Seafarer, or maybe even a 232 Gulfstream, over the 208 Adventure. I think that I would avoid the ETEC altogether, especially when you say it's admittedly overpriced. If you can find a boat with an ETEC on there for rock bottom pricing that would factor the potential cost of a repower into it, then that would be a different story. But after having owned a couple of boats with 4 strokes on them, I wouldn't ever go back to a 2 stroke, unless the price/deal was just too good to pass up on. There's a 2005 Grady White 232 Gulfstream on BT right now for $29.5k, though I don't believe it comes with a trailer. For less than probably $35k or so total, you could have a pretty decent setup/boat. Good luck.

 
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