New Grady owner...

[amr72]

1993 Grady White 255 Sailfish
2003 200 Mercury Optimaxes

I never thought I would be a Grady owner, but the amount of boat I got for the money is hard to beat with this model. I have a ton of work to do to get her ready, but I am glad to be a boat owner again and am happy this forum exists with all of its expertise.

 

[B-Faithful]

Nice Ride... I posted a photo of that boat last Dec! (noting how the OptiMaxes are the most powerful and fuel efficient motors on the market! 8) )

See here: http://www.greatgrady.com/forum/viewtop ... 1&start=15

 

[A Pirate Looking at 40]

Congratulations. I'm new to this forum as well, but have been a GW owner for 6 years. I hope you enjoy your boat as much as I've enjoyed mine!

 

[Average Joe]

Looks Nice, Congratulations!

 

[SlimJim]

congrast and welcome over here, I saw and posted in your thread in THT. Enjoy your nice boat.

 

[CJBROWN]

Welcome aboard!

Where's your hailing port??

 

[amr72]

Hailing Port

Forked River, NJ. I plan on running to the lumps off of Barnegat Inlet as soon as the boat is ready. Today I replaced a bad plastic through-hull and started the electronics install, only 500 more things to do and I will be satisfied...

 

[amr72]

continued...

Well, I just got back after putting in another 7 hours of work. Total time is about 20 hours so far. I used the McGuiars 3 step process to make the hull really shine and replaced all the scuppers (what a PITA). Also the new Garmin has been flush mounted where the lower electronics box was located. I am happy with the results except for the fact that the old vinal lettering has left the hull discolered and I don't think there is much I can do about it. I will post more pics tomorrow. Too tired right now...

 

[catch22]

Re: continued...

I am happy with the results except for the fact that the old vinal lettering has left the hull discolered and I don't think there is much I can do about it.

The only way I know of dealing with the "original coloring" from behind the lettering, is to compound the hull. I used 3M's Imperial microfinishing compound and a variable sander/polisher with excellent results. Of course, after compounding you have to apply another wax. I'm sure that idea doesn't sound too apealing, since you just went through all that polishing, lol. In time, I think it will fade and "catch up" to the rest of the hull.

 

[amr72]

before

Here is the before pic...I will create suspense by posting the after pics on Monday as I left the camer home yesterday.

 

[Tommyboy]

New Grady owner

Welcome aboard! I too am new to this forum, and Grady White ... I stepped down from a 36' Pace SF to my 25 Sailfish ....and I could'nt be happier ... mine is the same year ..but I have the full transom with the bracket .... I actually had your boat on my 'short list' when I was looking .... but you beat me to it! Great boat ... \

Best of luck!

Tom

 

[amr72]

Thanks for all the kind words...We actually prefer the notched transom for fishing and with the barn door of a splaswell gate that Grady supplies we should keep our feet dry. There certainly aren't too many of the 255s around, mostly 252s. The ride might be a bit better with the motors a couple of feet aft but I don't think it would make a huge difference.

 

[Scarlet Knight]

Congratulations and welcome aboard. Best of all I like your shirt. Glad to see another Rutgers fan. I purchased my 2006 Sailfish this year and boat out of the Raritan Bay. Hope to see you on the water or at Rutgers Stadium this fall.

 

[dlevitt]

I may as well join the crowd. Rutgers class of '89. My '81 Bimini 220 is at the county marina in Port Monmouth. I mostly fish Raritan Bay and around Sandy Hook.

David

 

[BirdRock]

Re: Hailing Port

Forked River, NJ. I plan on running to the lumps off of Barnegat Inlet as soon as the boat is ready. Today I replaced a bad plastic through-hull and started the electronics install, only 500 more things to do and I will be satisfied...

Awesome boat. Congrats!

Replace all the plastic thru hulls, not just the bad ones. They'll all be bad sooner or later.

 

[amr72]

Thanks guys. I am class of '96. I will definitely be at a home game or two in the fall. One of my good friends and fellow alum has season tickets and the tailgates are awesome. He always taylors the food to the team we are playing. My favorite was the Cinicinati chili.
As far as the thru hulls go, I relplaced the cracked one with bronze and also the scupper drain tubes. I will replace the rest of the thruhulls in time, probably after the season. Since I picked up the boat this late in the season, I don't want to spend too much of it working on it on the hard. So Tuesday she will be put in the water until Nov.

 

[BirdRock]

As far as the thru hulls go, I relplaced the cracked one with bronze and also the scupper drain tubes. I will replace the rest of the thruhulls in time, probably after the season. Since I picked up the boat this late in the season, I don't want to spend too much of it working on it on the hard. So Tuesday she will be put in the water until Nov.

Word of advice.... replace them all now. We had our boat (93 hull) out of the water last June for repower. Thought about replacing the thru-hulls but wanted to get the boat back in the water ASAP. 3 days after putting her in the slip the marina called to tell me the boat was going down. Luckily our slip neighbor saw it listing early in the morning and took action. They ended up saving our boat but it took on considerable water first. Bilge pumps ran until the batteries died and then it started to go down. Fortunately it was 8am when it started to lean instead of 8pm with no one around.

Pulled it and replaced all thru hulls and scuppers that week. Tough job as some are hard to reach but worth doing and doing it right.

We got really lucky and I tell this story a lot to those with plastic fittings. We had a new engine on the boat and luckily it was going down bow first. The engine never got wet but the cabin had enough water in it to float the cushions when the marina staff got to it. They had a massive pump and were able to get the water out in 10 minutes and keep it up until we got there with a trailer.

Only damage we suffered was the trim tab pump as it's in the cabin.

If you don't replace them plan on regular check ups and hope your marina keeps an eye on it. Good luck!

 

[BobP]

For the plastic ones well above the water line that you are not planning to get to, like your stern bilge pump outlet (if so), go on the inside and pull on the hose in a circular pattern, go ahead pull it, if it doesn't snap off - it will hold for the season.

Then look from the outside into the inner bore, is the surface smooth or eroded ? Erosion is more likelyon the lower half that sees sunlight, look for fine concentric cracks just inside the opening. If you had concentric cracks, the pull test would have failed, if eroded only, possibly would have failed.

Although SS thru hulls are nice, there's nothing wrong with staying with plastic and it's variants as a replacement - well above the water line, for budget minded DIYers.

The ones well above the water line can also be done after launch at the marina, if needbe.

 

[wilson]

get s/s thru's for the hole boat and replace the hoses with them. then that part will rest your mind when these unanounced nor' easters crop up. i'm across the pond from you in lewes. my sail has the bracket and two new 200 hpdi's it's a great boat. just call wilson on 71 when your out maybe we'll meet at the tuna grounds.

 

[amr72]

maiden voyage

We poked her nose out front for the first time today in some sporty conditions. We caught some bluefish to get rid of the skunk and break her in right. And for those of you who are interested we averaged 1.7 miles per gallon on a round trip of 30.6 nautical miles. I think in better conditions and some fine tuning we can get that number in the 1.8 to 2.0 range which I think is pretty darn good for a boat that has a LOA a hair under 29 feet and twin 200s. Here is a pic of the boat at the dock and I think you can see how nice the hull came out using the Macguires 3 step process.

Anthony