GW 257 questions prior to purchase - picture added

[Scott1115]

I am contemplating purchasing a used GW 257 with twin 150 HPDI's. I fish primarily live bait and thus the live well is critical to me.

Q1 - does the live well fill and drain well?
Q2 - Any issues with the live well set up?
Q3 - How do baits hold up underway in the live well?
Q4 - full, there is an extra 266 pounds in the port aft corner. How badly does this effect the trim and how much tabs and/or engine trim is needed to compensate?
Q5 - My previous boats had 23 and 24 degree deadrises. They ran great but were a little tender on the drift and when trolling. This hull has a 20* deadrise at the transom. How different (in general terms) will the ride be? Most of the time the waters i am in have a 2-3 foot short interval chop. Mid-sound, there are larger swells, spaced further apart.
Q6 - Anything specific to this hull that needs to be looked at? I plan on a survey, but I would like to know if there is anything that needs extra attention when looking at.
Q7 - does the water line look correct? To me it looks like the boat sits too deep in the aft, but I am not familiar enough with the hull, so I do not know.

Thank you for your help. I appreciate it! To me, the asking price is a lot of money, I want to make sure I am making the correct decision.

 

[J-Sea]

Re: GW 257 questions prior to purchase

First - I'd just like to say how much i like the 257 advance. I have a 2005 with Twin 150 Yamaha 4 strokes and run off-shore for shark, tuna, mahi, etc off the south shore of long island. It is a very sea worthy boat and a 2.0mpg+ boat loaded down with 4 adults, chum, full tank of fuel, life rafts, safety equipment, etc. Very economical for those off-shore days...

Q1 - Yes. The livewell works very well. Make sure that the boat still has the stick that goes into the livewell hole enabling you to run the livewell and maintain the predetermined water level - otherwise you'll just need to purchase a new one from Grady...An upgrade that may be worth while is that the stock livewell pump is the type that screws directly onto the seacock. Although each seacock (raw water intake and livewell intake) has a valve enabling you to shut off waterflow while underway or at rest at the docks or in the event that the pump were to break or fail to prevent flooding, it may be worthwhile to replace the pump with the type that fastens to the bulkhead inside the boat, with a hose that runs to the seacock for the water intake instead of screwing directly on to it. Not necessary but a project for down the road.

Q2 - see above - that's the only "issue" if any...

Q3 - I'm not sure - don't use the livewell a ton and have primarily used it for live bunker on my in-shore stripe bassing days - here the bait pods are near to where we fish...

Q4 - As I mention above, I don't use the livewell a ton full of water while running off-shore but I do fill it with ice, a flat of mackeral, a flat of bunker, trolling squids, etc...and that can make it quite heavy - I rarely if ever use the tabs and have not seen the need for it...

Q5 - it is 20 degrees deadrise at the transom but the entry angle is much more severe and I find that this boat cuts through waves very nicely. My previous ride was a 23 foot Boston Whaler Outrage where it pounded much more. I will say that the whaler was slightly more stable while drifting in chop but i love this grady ride. I run off the south shore of long island in the Atlantic - a typical shark trip is 20 - 40 miles one way and i typically run at 3,800 - 4,400 RPMS, acheiving 26 - 34 MPH fully loaded down (which is quite heavy). I think this boat cuts very nicely through 2 - 3's (assuming of course that they are not stacked with little interval in between...)

Q6 - i had the hull surveyed as well. nothing specific. Not sure on your model year but make sure that the thru-hull's are NOT plastic (they shouldn't be but just to be sure...), on the transom there is a silicon bead that runs across where the motors were mounted, this bead has a tendency to open sometimes which can allow water into the transom area - just make sure that bead is sealed each season...a very inexpensive way to make sure it stays dry...

Q7 - when loaded down, especially if someone is standing in the aft port or starboard corner, the thru-hull drains for the self-bailing cockpit can become sub-merged in the back. This does NOT happen if no one is on the boat or standing in the back. If you're standing in the aft port or starboard corner, sometimes water will come up from the self-bailing holes onto the deck (slightly wet feet). I am very anal about safety and so, I check all my hoses to every fitting below the water line both to make sure that the integrity of the hose is good as well as that the double hose clamps are solid...if you do this, you should be fine...

What I would also recommend is to carry something called "Stay A Float" onboard. It is a putty, sold by west marine, that could be a life saver - in the event of a busted hose, etc...you can plug holes with it to get yourself back to safety...nothing to do with your question #7, just something that is very cheap (say $20) and could save you and your boat...

In terms of price, the way that I went about my purchase was literally making a spreadsheet of every 257 for sale that I could fine online and then I layered in price, hours on the motors, type of motor as well as the bells and whistles that each had. This gave me a sense of each that I was looking at and how they measured up in terms of year and price and condition, etc...

A few words of advice on the HPDIs is to find out when the last time they had the VST filters changed...I used to run HPDIs and they can be a great motor as long as the VST's were clean - as soon as those become dirty, i lost all performance in the motor...A very cheap part in the scheme of boats and prices but just takes a bit of time to change it.

Good luck!

 

[Scott1115]

Re: GW 257 questions prior to purchase

Perfect, thanks

 

[Capt and the kids]

Re: GW 257 questions prior to purchase

Excellent info

 

[J-Sea]

See below for the stay-a-float promo - great stuff to have on board...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=888wQhRcmjQ

 

[Scott1115]

Yes, I kept a tub of it on my other boat...luckily never had to use it.