New to me Grady White Tournament 19 owner! Info wanted about boat/hull

[TinkerinMatt]

So that's why it has the jack plate then? The shaft is a 25 on my Yamaha 200 but the transom of the Grady is 20...I was very curious as to why the jack plate was in the picture. Thanks for letting me know. I'll ask the marina where it's at now getting the motor checked out about it but I could see why the jack plate could be a bad thing as it would put added stress on the transom.

I see your in virginia - I'm in NC (Monroe, NC) but got this boat to take to not only the local lakes (lake norman and Wylie) but the intercoastal and to use nearshore (less than 20 miles offshore). How does yours handle? I've read many mixed opinions.

We live in NOVA right now but tow the boat a lot to Topsail beach NC and spend a lot of time on the sound and intracoastal. It does great for pulling a skier or tube, and does pretty good on chop and waves. We’ve had it out in 4-6 footers in the Long Island sound, and always felt safe. It does bang if you hit a wake wrong, you will learn the angles and speeds to cross wakes to avoid it. Mine tops out at 48 because it has bad bottom paint, but this motor was on my uncles 91 tournament which did 54 with no bottom paint.

Its really important to get the motor at the right height, That jack plate you have is too low, even with the motor in the highest hole. Its close, but not perfect. That was another reason I switched to the extension brackets.

 

[xoibsurferx]

We live in NOVA right now but tow the boat a lot to Topsail beach NC and spend a lot of time on the sound and intracoastal. It does great for pulling a skier or tube, and does pretty good on chop and waves. We’ve had it out in 4-6 footers in the Long Island sound, and always felt safe. It does bang if you hit a wake wrong, you will learn the angles and speeds to cross wakes to avoid it. Mine tops out at 48 because it has bad bottom paint, but this motor was on my uncles 91 tournament which did 54 with no bottom paint.

Its really important to get the motor at the right height, That jack plate you have is too low, even with the motor in the highest hole. Its close, but not perfect. That was another reason I switched to the extension brackets.

I've been up to Topsail before. It's definitely a nice area and a lot of people like it since its closer to getting out to the gulf stream. We normally go to the Brunswick beaches just because I have family in Shallotte. I grew up going down there surfing and being on the water and just love the area - well all of NC coast actually. Locally I have Lake Norman and Lake Wylie which are both nice lakes but really when I got this boat I wanted something to take offshore (less than 20 miles out) and fish some of the nearshore reefs.

I'm waiting on the marina to check over the motor now to be sure the compression is good and it checks out before I spent more money on it. If it checks out I'll probably have them plate the transom and will make sure I ask to change the brackets to the ones you recommended just so I can rule out further damage.

I've never had it out so not sure how it performs now but I would imagine that its too low still and I need to have the motor up higher like you said.