Grady White's and GOM don't mix well

[SmokyMtnGrady]

Hi Guys, especially those who boat on the Gulf of Mexico:

So on THT I have read a bit lately about how Gradies just can't handle the GOM chop. I personally have boated out of Panama City, Cape San Blas/St. Joe Bay, Suwannee River mouth area, Homasassa, Clearwater, Sanibel and Captiva and Florida Bay and the Keys to the Dry Tortugas. In all those times I didn't realize I bought the wrong boat and that my boat could not handle the Gulf of Mexico on an average day. So, all of you guys who boat daily/weekly on the Gulf do you think your boat can't deal with the supposed unique short chop of the Gulf?

 

[Legend]

Wow have you actually run from the Keys to Dry Tortugas in a Seafarer. How did you manage the fuel on the round trip. Isn't that a 140 mile round trip? I assume there is no gas supply on the Dry Tortugas. I made the trip there in April but it was on the ferry, great spot that we will be visiting again.

 

[SmokyMtnGrady]

Yep Legend! It was awesome!!!! My boat has a 125 gallon tank . Moderately loaded with a crew of 4 and flat water she gets 3.1 to 3.2 miles per gallon. It drops to 2.5 in 2-3 foot seas. So, I assumed worse case scenario of 2 miles per gallon which gave me 250 mile range. I then subtracted 140 which left me with 110. I figured I would cruise around maybe 50-60 which left me with 60 in reserve. Going there I burned 24 gallons. Seas were smooth, I was cruising around 30-35. Coming back seas absolutely sucked especially crossing Rebecca Shoals. I burned like 33 or 34 gallons on the return. I did this trip two years ago this July. Last July we went to Bimini in the 228. I would go again but because my boat is small, it will be a June July trip when seas are often the kindest.

 

[G8RDave]

Wow. Good thing I "dumped" my 228 on KY Grady. I didn't realize I had been using the wrong boat for 10 years. 10 great years. I never made the run from Key West to the Tortugas (wanted to) but I made the run from Everglades City to Key West many times. My 228 had the 146 gallon tanks (total).

 

[SmokyMtnGrady]

G8RDave, you are totally lucky you didn't sink in the unique Gulf chop. KY is on his way to Florida to part the waters of Cape Coral. I warned him though his boat may just rot out from beneath his boat shoes. ;-). You can go visit your baby. I bet he will give you a ride but if that Gulf chop is a blowing like those 2 footers, better stay in port tied to the dock.

 

[Ky Grady]

Well crap, thanks a lot G8RDave, you dumped your defective, non-GOM Grady on me and now I've landed in Cape Coral for 2 weeks and drug the Grady all the way back down here all the while thinking I could use it in the GOM. According to THT, my motor will fall off my rotten transom, my stringers won't support the floor and it will be mush in no time, the grey motor will self-implode, and if I can still use the boat after all that, I'll have to stay in the ICW since my dream Grady can't make it out into the GOM. Should have bought a Bayliner Trophy, oh wait, I already had one, it didn't sink either. :mrgreen:

 

[G8RDave]

Well, you can still use it on the Caloosahatchee River!

 

[wtpgc]

First off, THT is a forum filled with so much vitriole that you can cut it with a knife. It is filled with countless posters that are there for no other reason but to bash someone or something and stir the pot. I rarely visit THT, but the few times I do reminds me why I stay away from it.

Next, people have become strangely foolish in what they expect from boats. They want it all, or at least they act like you can get it all, in one boat. The primary complaint in the THT thread is that you can't ride fast in a GOM head sea. Well, that's actually true. But when you're on anchor, the GW will be more steady and comfortable than those boats that are leaving you in the dust in terms of speed. Which would you prefer? I've fished on boats that cut through the chop much faster, but on anchor it rolled so much I had to fight to stay upright.

I'll gladly slow down to 18-20 MPH and chew up the head sea in exchange for comfortable fishing.

 

[Fishtales]

You have to be careful over there. A wide variety of people cruise that site and some really just don't compute. Some people simply hate a boat manufacturer or a style of boat. Some glom onto stories about rot, hard ride, layout and fit and finish if you can believe it of a GW. Many of the hard ride stuff probably started prior to the seavee hull design for Pete's sake. You gotta let it roll off your back and move on. Most likely have never been on never mind owned a GW and even if they did, probably had bad luck or motor issues or whatever that left a bad taste in their mouths. Having Yamaha only on the transom doesn't help, there are just as many haters there too. That's for another day....

 

[Ky Grady]

Well, you can still use it on the Caloosahatchee River!

Heading out to the river now!!!!!!! Wish me luck!! 8)

 

[ocnslr]

I posted on that thread on THT.

https://www.thehulltruth.com/boatin...grady-white-sailfish-perform-gulf-mexico.html, post #11

 

[L.R.]

Well, you can still use it on the Caloosahatchee River!

Heading out to the river now!!!!!!! Wish me luck!! 8)

My Prayers will be with Ya'! :mrgreen: Guess I'm going to have to get rid of My 2005 226 that I just hung a New Suzuki DF-250 AP on. Just wish I would have known about these problems before I re-powered! :lol:

 

[Doc Stressor]

I completely understand the badmouthing that Gradys get when operated in the GOM. While we all love our boats, every hull is a compromise of ride vs stability when at rest or trolling. Since I'm a boat junkie, I've fished on lots of other boats in the GOM and I think Gradys falls somewhere in the middle of the pack. Better than a Parker, but not nearly as good as a Yellowfin or catamaran hull. You just can't run comfortably in head seas over 2'. And even 2' wears me out on long runs. And they are all long runs where I live.

The Carolina Flare keeps the spray down, but the hull gets lifted over each wave rather than cutting through or riding on top of the waves. So the ride is bouncy. The landing is soft but there is a lot of hull movement compared to true deep V hulls. A lot of guys who fish around here make day trips to the Middle Grounds, which are 80-100 miles offshore. They run at 45+ mph. You don't make that kind of run in any size Grady unless the seas are flat. Luckily, we do get some flat days around here. But on typical days the trip is much better in a Regulator, Yellowfin, or Contender.

When you're retired like I am, you can pick your days. But most guys who are still working are forced to fish the Gulf on weekends even when the sea conditions and weather are iffy. A Grady is just not the right boat for them.

Gradys do much better in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans than in the GOM, Chesapeake Bay, or Lake Erie, where 2-3' seas with 3 sec or fewer periods are not uncommon. Sure, Gradys can run in that stuff, but you need to slow down or your crew will mutiny.

 

[Fishtales]

I've never been on a boat there so no experience. All hulls like boats are compromises and will perform differently in various conditions. Whenever people speak in generalities, I find they either really don't know or they are repeating something they've heard. Could be boats, people, cars or ..... I'm from Missouri so until someone shows me, I take it with a grain of salt.

 

[magicalbill]

Doc Stressor is right:

My 232 Gulfstream, which rides noticeably better than my previous Seafarer, can do fine in 10kts or less and 2 feet or less. (I boat out of Ft Myers area.)

Anything over 2 footers and I go back. Grady's are great boats, but the 22's and 23's are not the smoothest riding rigs out there.

Now we can get into the type of waves, (wind-driven, long period swell, etc) if you want to take this further, but onshore winds of 10+kts and over in our area of the Gulf makes for an uncomfortable day, at least for me at 60+ years old. Put 'em on the beam, abaft the beam or on the stern and it's better.
When it's 2 footers I drop the tabs and run about 20-23MPH and get back in the Bay.

 

[Meanwhile]

First, why are you on that site?

Second, those posters need to come out to the PNW. Perhaps then they could talk.

Randy

 

[Doc Stressor]

Before I got my 2008 SV2 226, I took a bunch of test rides in several different Gradys including some owned by members of this forum. My main concern based on my previous Gradys was the ability to slog along at 15 mph if things got bad. I found out that the bracketed boats like the 228 did not do as well at lower speeds than the 226. They didn't stay on plane at lower speeds and tended to bow steer in head seas unless they were going faster than I wanted to be able to run if things got dicey. The interesting thing is that all of these hulls ride much better in longer period waves out in the ocean. The bow lift takes the hull nicely over the top and the waves, even in a quartering head sea, and the soft landing and spray control make for a nice ride. Since they are North Carolina boats, it's no surprise that they perform best in the type of ocean conditions found around there.

The best riding boats for typical Gulf conditions are the catamarans. Even a 25' World Cat will ride nicely in a Gulf chop up to 3'. Of course in head seas much higher than that the bow will "sneeze" pushing up spray and pounding. It's also hard to predict which way they will list in a turn. Then you also have to learn about snap rolls, where a wake or beam sea hits each hull about 1 sec apart causing a short violent roll. I got injured in one a few years ago during the Cobia tournament when we caught a wake wrong on the run down the river.

There is no such thing as a perfect hull. But what I like best about the Grady hull design is that the handling is predictable. Not always good but predictable.

 

[lgusto]

I fish out of Sarasota and spend a great deal of time in the Keys and the Dry Tortugas. Honestly our hulls cannot match the ride of something made like a knife, i.e. Contender, when running through a chop. But life is more than going like a bat out of hell. About 90% of my time is spent either trolling or bottom fishing so the SeaV2 hull and broader beam (more than a foot wider than a similarly sized Contender) work best for me. I spent this past weekend on the Marathon Hump and I can tell you there were none of those other boats out there in the 5-7' seas.

We make the trip to the Tortugas at least once a year, spending anywhere from 10-14 days camping on the island. My boat holds 300 gallons of fuel and we take an extra 50 in tall jerry cans. The cool thing about the Tortugas is that you don't have to venture very far each day to find fabulous fish.

BTW, I spend the summer in the other GOM (Maine) and my boat is perfect there as well.

 

[Ky Grady]

Well, I survived a wind driven thunderstorm wave set coming back from Cabbage Key, Boca Grande pass today and no real issues. I'm use to rough water from fishing on Santee for cats. Shallow and wide lake, waves come up quick. Had two other boats tucked in behind me so I could cut the waves, actually passed them as they were pounding going forward. Tabs down, motor tucked, rolling along around 22-24 knots, wife in the beanbag, all good.

 

[SmokyMtnGrady]

Randy,
I go to the THT forum for entertainment purposes only. Sometimes there is some funny stuff there. That place is truly a club of go fast 24 degree dead rise fisherman people. It really should be called the Deep Vee forum lol.

It's ok. I have long been intrigued by the human behavior of where folks ask should I buy brand x or brand y. If you are going to spend 5 or 6 figures on a toy why do you need my opinion or approval? It's your money buy what you want. If you don't like my boat or motor then don't get one. What ever, but some folks get wrapped up in their decision and if you own a different brand they get defensive about things. I had to laugh when the guy asked about can a Sailfish 282 handle the infamous GOM chop. Really? I would love to have a Sailfish and my boat does ok in the GOM. Hence my tongue and cheek thread.

MagicBill, I have been on some 20-22 foot center consoles in the Keys. I have rented a few boats down there and they were wet rides and not always the smoothest. For a 22 footer I think the Seafarers hold their own. There are few boats that do better in part I think Contender and Regulator make a small boat but many 22 footers don't stack up against Grady's line of small boats. I have friends on Key Largo and cruising through their canals I have seen a number of 228s on lifts there.

Doc, I think you're right about the planning speeds difference between the 226 and 228 but I also have experienced with the 4.2 liter motor that I can get on plane around 21 and with the digital throttle can keep it there . She does want to be around 23 though. Again like you suggest the bracket plays a role in it.

KY, I think you could really testify to all this as you have owned a number of walk around boats by various brands. You have always wanted a 228. Now you do and is it everything you thought it would be?