GW 330 Express Recommendations

[Mustang65fbk]

Its funny, perception and reality can differ so much. Mine only has 225's and I cruise at 22kts, give or take. In my local area, Buzzards Bay/Vineyard sound, conditions make it such that I'm middle of the pack in terms of speed. On the one or two perfect days, I'm more towards back of pack, but I did not buy this boat for speed. Underpowered? Maybe, but other than a few KPH all of the other numbers are within similar ranges. I'd love 3-5 kts more at cruise, as the hull seems lighter at 26k than at 22k, but for now, I'll happily run what I have, and in a few years, will bump up to the 4.2l blocks in either 250 or 300 size and run the snot out of those too. I love my bargain boat, compared to the 600+ for new ones.

^^^^ Exactly!

 

[blynch]

I'm sure the last thing anyone needs here is one more opinion from someone with no experience with that boat, but here's one anyway.

To me, the value difference between mid-life 250s and nearly new F300s dwarfs any impact of the additional options and slightly lower hull age. If these are the same money and I'm making the decision, it's a pretty quick and easy call to go with the newer/bigger engines.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

Couple more things:

1.) I do agree that there nothing wrong with a 250-powered rig that costs considerably less than a higher HP option. Boating is Boating; All should have the chance to enjoy it.

2.) My "Opinion" is only part of my stance that 250's are underpowered on a 330. Irrespective of any numbers you come up with, a 250 will spin just off 5K for all of it's life pushing that Beast thru the water. That is a fairly hard life for an outboard, although as mentioned, there are many 250's still kickin' after 1000 hrs of that, so there's certainly another side to this coin. Personally, I wouldn't do it, but there's many examples of successful ownership experiences with the 250's.

3.)Higher HP options also give much better midrange power/punch climbing over seas which is where most Grady Owners spend their life at. Better throttle response, easier planing with heavy loads, a bit more torque when horsing the Beast around a dock with twins, and the-same-or-better fuel economy are good arguments for more power.

4.) You don't know me, so I am not dissing you here, but I am aware after 3 Gradys that they are not "Speed Demons," as you say. I have owned and operated hi-performance Donzi raceboats for the last 25 years. I understand the difference in hulls, from 24 degree V-bottoms to stepped hulls and to the SeaV2 Grady bottoms. My argument, and it's not entirely "opinion" or "perception" is that Bigger is Always Better unless it's cost-prohibitive. Ask some of the offshore fishing crew on here if they would enjoy an extra 3 MPH on the return trip from a Canyon Run 100 miles out. See what they say.

5.) If you'll look, Grady now only offers the 300's and the 425's with a new 330. If the 250 is such a perfect option, why is it still not offered from the Factory?

My apologies to the guy who started this thread. Admittedly, we have gone a little far afield here, but the ultimate topic still revolves around a 330. Hope you're still hangin' in there....

This is the last post I'll make for the thread so as to no derail it anymore than it already has been....

1. That might be true with regards to a brand new motor(s) and/or outboards that are in vastly different horsepower classes compared to something else that's decades old. In the OP's case, twin 2019 Yamaha F300's that are either past or almost out of their standard 3 year warranty and having 51 hours vs 2009 Yamaha F250's with only 488 hours on them. With less than 500 hours on the F250's, which is next to nothing, as long as they check out fine then I see no reason not to go with them. It's not like we're comparing 3 year old F300's with 13 year old F250's that have 1500-2000+ hard run hours on them and are in need of being rebuilt or replaced. Nor or are we comparing brand new F425's and F250's of any year for that price. As mentioned above, I'd rather have a newer hull with less hours on it than an older one with motors that are now likely out of warranty anyway.

2. Multiple members with real world experience have mentioned having F250's on their boat with 1500-2000+ hours that have run great, another one just above your last comment still runs F225's. I think your opinion is based solely off of just that, your opinion and your perception of how you thought your friends boat felt. People on here have real world experience that you seem to value your opinion over their real world experience as well as the numbers that I posted from Grady White themselves. Also, the boat isn't going to spend its entire life at 5k rpm because as I mentioned in the link above that they tested a 330 Express with twin F250's and they had an optimum cruise at 28.5 mph @ 4,000 rpm. Which for those that know their boats, they're going to run most of the time at speeds similar to that so they can get the best fuel economy and longevity out of their outboards possible.

3. I disagree. As I also mentioned above, the maximum horsepower rating for the 2007 hull is 600 hp and optimum cruise for a 330 Express with twin Yamaha F300's is 29.9 mph @ 4,200 rpm. Compared to the twin Yamaha F250's at 28.5 mph @ 4,000 rpm and you're looking at a difference of not even 1.5 mph and 300 rpm, nowhere near the 5k+ rpm you were talking about above.

4. Again, 3 mph difference going 100 miles each way is what did I say above, 10 minutes more each direction? And 20 minutes more roundtrip? 100 miles at 41.6 mph will take you 2 hours and 24 minutes with F250's, 100 miles at 44.6 mph will take you 2 hours and 15 minutes with F300's. So a difference of a whopping 9 minutes, whether that's round trip or one way is for you to decide on. Twin F425's supposedly give the 330 Express a top speed of 53.1 mph, which at 100 miles will take 1 hour and 53 minutes, which is 22 minutes faster than F300's and 31 minutes faster than F250's. So yes, 850 hp is going to get you somewhere faster than only 500 hp or 600 hp. That being said, a 2007 hull isn't rated for anything above 600 hp. So it's a moot point and it isn't even in the OP's list for considerations.

5. The 2007 hull for a 330 Express has a dry weight of 10k lbs compared to the brand new ones which again per the GW website supposedly have a dry weight of 10,840 lbs. So... considering the addition of almost 1k extra lbs, I'd say they probably increased the horsepower ratings for the hull based on just that, added weight. Which to me makes me think your point is extremely invalid as they added almost 1k lbs extra to the hull yet F300's are still more than adequate enough to push that to 45 mph @ WOT. Conversely, I can't imagine the F250's would have any difficulty pushing the older hull at 1k lbs less, especially in that the two different setups mentioned have an almost identical horsepower to weight ratio of .05

 

[Mustang65fbk]

To the OP, what did you decide on? Good luck and keep us informed!

 

[mg1826]

To the OP, what did you decide on? Good luck and keep us informed!

The 2007 was in awesome condition. Super clean. It has upgraded power steering and electronic controls.
The update is that the 2007 ended up being 13k less the 2004 with newer 300’s.
I put a deposit on the 2007 pending a survey.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

The 2007 was in awesome condition. Super clean. It has upgraded power steering and electronic controls.
The update is that the 2007 ended up being 13k less the 2004 with newer 300’s.
I put a deposit on the 2007 pending a survey.

That’s awesome, congrats! Hopefully she comes back with a favorable survey.