New 265 Express Owner

[fish_hunter]

Finally got my Dream Boat! A friend decided he no longer wanted to own a boat he never used, so he asked me if I wanted it...Hell Ya was my reply. So he gave me a great deal on a 2001 that he repowered in 2010 with 2 new Mercury 250 Optimax's. This boat literally flies! I went tuna fishing with him in 2010 out of Westport Washington after he repowered it and it does over 50 knots.
Put my 2001 Seaswirl Striper on Craigslist and it was gone in about 6 hours!
Cant wait to get the new boat in the water in the next week or two!
Love this forum, lots of great info here!

Fishhunter

 

[Rosstafari]

Congrats! Show us some pics of the new boat

 

[Lucky13]

congrats on the new boat X2 on the pics

 

[mronzo]

I have T-200 OXs on my '00 265! With 100 more ponies
that's got to rock! You're going to love this boat!
Best wishes!

Ron

 

[captain swag]

Just did the final sea trial on my son and I's 2001 265 that we spent the better part of the past year installing radar, bottom machine and a host of other improvements on. Most notably was the repower we did...twin 225 Merc Optis. Several people said that we should have gone Yamaha, but after the way we saw owners treated in the corrosion issue we went with the 2011 Mercs. Each motor had 80 hrs, they came from a dealer we know. They weigh half what a Yamaha weighs. And you are right about flying. Swinging 17 Mirages we made right at 51 mph WOT. At 25 to 30 mph we showed a fuel burn of 2.0 to 2.25 mpg. To say that we were pleased is an understatement. We are now just getting used to the bow steer thing...trim the motors up and it goes away. The layout of this boat is great and the ride in some very close together 6 plus footers was dry and didn't slam once (I braced twice but the landing was like a pillow). you are gonna love that boat.

 

[fish_hunter]

Some pics of my new Grady!
I plan on splashing it this week for a Halibut Derby in Port Angeles, WA. Can't wait!

 

[captain swag]

Ok gotta have up close pics of the cleaning/chum cutting table over the transom splashwell. If the boat were smaller it would be called a pole platform down this way....lol very clever and I bet even more functional.

 

[drbatts]

wow, sounds like those opti's make her fly. love the cutting board mounted over then engines.

 

[Lucky13]

yes would love more pictures of that bracket.

 

[fish_hunter]

a few close up pics of my cutting board as requested

 

[Vic H]

Very nice!!! Why did they ever stop making that model?

 

[captain swag]

With the Merc 250's, what pitch prop are you using? I have twin 225 Opti's on my 265 with Mirage Plus 17's but when fully loaded feel like I might need to go down in pitch a little.

 

[fish_hunter]

I'm running 14x19 mercury Enertia props. Boat came with an extra set of 15.5x17 quicksilver props that the previous owner didn't like so he put on the Enertia props. Ive only had the boat in the water once so far this season so I don't have specific rpm info yet.

 

[atdesignco]

Fish_hunter looks great! happy grady days!

Does the transom wall still fold down with the cutting board bracket? How do you tilt motors up?