The Walk Around Cuddy R.I.P.

[ItalianAngler]

My last boat was a DC, but I always wanted a WA and now I do. I have no desire at all for a CC, but I realize that is not the norm in today's market. If I had no kids maybe my story would be different, but they love the cabin. My daughter is way out of napping age, but for some reason, when she gets in the cabin she always falls asleep.

My daughter is 5, she passes out before we clear the 6 mph zone, something about the boat. It's the only place she naps, never does at home. I can't give up the 282 cabin. That being said I did look at the Coastal Explorer but it was too heavy, ended up buying a Scout 251XS with a neighbor of mine. Not that I wanted another boat or more maintenance but they are vastly different, apples and oranges really. Trolling motor, low slung, fast, sips fuel, everything a 282 is not. There are days that the big Grady is just too much boat, but there's a ton of other days I wouldn't want anything less, and when it's early/late season on the Chesapeake everyone wants to take the Grady. If I ever sell the Sailfish it'll be for a Marlin or a 330.

 

[Macrophylla]

The comment I see the most often that may explain the lack of popularity of WA style anywhere but the NE and PNW is that any further south those cabins are completely unusable for anything but storage with our heat and humidity. So until you get up to the Marlin with a genset and AC you’ve got a boat that doesn’t appeal to many in the Southeast (I assume this is the vast majority of their unit sales)

That said I’m surprised at the hate for the DC. It’s as fishable as an express but adds the bow for casting if you’ve got extra fishing buddies on board. Maybe it’s just a Carolina thing but our offshore heritage is all sport fishers so not much of a difference in setup with cockpit-focused fishing. And with the window and door closed up front and canvas down in back our DC is an 11/12 month boat (February is questionable)

I get the CC craze for inshore/hardcore fishing with the whole neighborhood and maybe for FL but I’m always shocked at how many CC boats are sandbar boats, never a rod in sight.

 

[family affair]

IMO, you need a 28' DC to get the cockpit space and hull depth to have a useable head that a 23' WA has. Having an open bow with a boat up to 27' around these parts would make me nervous.

 

[knightgang]

I started a similar thread on another board. Focus was the fact that it seems everyone that used to build WA Cabins were no longer doing so, Except Grady and one or two others that I mentioned. Due to wanting my family with me on the boat, and my wife that will be tired of the water far sooner than I would, I am looking in the WA market. Of course, with the boat market today, I am not buying new. Back when Grady introduced the WA market, the mid 20 foot walk around cabin boats did not cost 5-6 times the average working mans annual salary. Today, you family has to be a $200K+ annual household with a modest house to afford a mi20ft or bigger boat, then you may still be financing for greater than 12 years, if the bank lets you.

NO THANKS...... I'll shop used, pay cash, fixup, build and replace as needed to not live in debt for the toys that I have.

 

[glacierbaze]

235 Freedom has a pretty nice head, in a closed compartment. Not sitting in the middle of the vee berth, where you probably have to move a bunch of stuff to use it, on my Seafarer.

Grady-White | Freedom 235 Dual Console

Grady-White 23-foot dual console Freedom 235 has premium seating, roomy enclosed head, swim platforms and stern anchor storage.

www.gradywhite.com

 

[blindmullet]

Back when Grady introduced the WA market, the mid 20 foot walk around cabin boats did not cost 5-6 times the average working mans annual salary. Today, you family has to be a $200K+ annual household with a modest house to afford a mi20ft or bigger boat, then you may still be financing for greater than 12 years, if the bank lets you.

Very true! I have the original paperwork for my '93 and it was under $50k.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

I just bought a 2004 GW 228 Seafarer from a place called Tri State Marine back in Maryland. They actually sold the very last 228 Seafarer ever made by GW to a guy that had it in for his 20 hour service on the motor. Interesting story and kind of a funny name for the boat.

 

[B-Shell]

The comment I see the most often that may explain the lack of popularity of WA style anywhere but the NE and PNW is that any further south those cabins are completely unusable for anything but storage with our heat and humidity. So until you get up to the Marlin with a genset and AC you’ve got a boat that doesn’t appeal to many in the Southeast (I assume this is the vast majority of their unit sales)

That said I’m surprised at the hate for the DC. It’s as fishable as an express but adds the bow for casting if you’ve got extra fishing buddies on board. Maybe it’s just a Carolina thing but our offshore heritage is all sport fishers so not much of a difference in setup with cockpit-focused fishing. And with the window and door closed up front and canvas down in back our DC is an 11/12 month boat (February is questionable)

I get the CC craze for inshore/hardcore fishing with the whole neighborhood and maybe for FL but I’m always shocked at how many CC boats are sandbar boats, never a rod in sight.

This post is really the most reasonable I have seen. How many of you are over 50 complaining about this? (I am 49btw) How many actually overnight on a boat with no A/C if you are south of Virginia? How many have ever really fished on a DC? Tell me what you really can’t do on that DC that you can on a WA?
After two FL to Bahamas trips on 32’ CC I bought a DC for the protection. Much more usable space as a day boat. Can fish off both ends safely.

Grady is in the business of making a profit even it that goes against your style of boating. The DC owners are reading this rolling their eyes because of the irrational hate for the DC that these WA owners view as having killed their boat. Get over it. If enough people were really as interested in the WA features they would still be made. Truth is outside of cold weather boating or taking a nap on the run out there isn’t much you can’t do on the DC. Plus there are many more advantages to the DC in terms of versatility, cockpit space, bow seating and fishing. Who is really living aboard a 23’WA at the marina?

If you are taking waves over the bow on your 23’ WA you have no business going out. The 275/285/307 are all trailerable. It’s $20 for an override permit in FL. So NBD.
Unleash the hate…and go out in warm weather with a friend on a DC. You will think twice about the distain. All the protection of the express. Near fish ability of a CC. A usable head. And no wasted hot box cabin for those of us who can go out 9-10 months per year.

 

[family affair]

For a second I had to check if I was reading a THT thread after that post. There goes the neighborhood!

 

[B-Shell]

Really? And the irrational complaining about the DC’s is okay?

 

[PointedRose]

Wait a sec… you mean you want to be outside on a boat? Lol
Plenty of ocean for all kinds, even the CCs!

 

[blindmullet]

....I sleep on my WA, but I'm a Floridian. The type that grew up without AC and camped in the keys during the summer. The WA has pros and cons like anything else and I'm sure can be said about the DCs. Either way in my area people think you're from the Great Lakes when you have a Grady WA or DC. Lol Its like that minivan with wood paneling....I just tell them it's Mahogany!!

 

[B-Shell]

South FL crowd definitely would be laughing at us DC/WA owners. We aren’t hard core enough. But their wives and kids would be happy to jump on during that afternoon storm on the ride in. Oh and I kinda like being dry too.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

Boy… I sure opened back up a can of worms haha. I think GW probably realized they didn’t need 3 smaller sized walk around boats in essentially a 21’, 22’ and 23’ length. I really like the walk around boats, and it’s opposite here in the Pacific Northwest… they’re what everyone has and you get looked at funny when you have a CC/DC boat. Most everyone up here uses their boats for fishing, of which the most popular form is trolling for salmon. I like that a WA boat has the cabin for downriggers or other fishing gear while also having the option for sleeping in it, if you chose to do so. But at least you have that option, whereas CC/DC boats, you really don’t. If my boating needs were different and say only used the boat on a lake or was more into drift fishing or casting, then I’d probably not be into WA’s as much. I especially like the hardtop on my 228 because I have a very fair complexion and get burned incredibly fast. With the WA and hardtop, I can stay out of the elements, whereas if I got a CC/DC and was up fishing in the bow, I’d look like a lobster in about 15 minutes.

I also like it that the 228/232 have an available transom bracket on the back of it. The one thing that deterred me from getting a 208 was the notched transom as I have a mooring buoy that I leave my boat on during the summer in front of our beach cabin. And I’m not sure how I’d feel about a 208 with a notched transom sitting out there unsupervised for weeks on end. I wish that GW would make an extended transom an option for the 208 because if they did, I would’ve considered it much more than I did. That and the 232 just seems like a beast compared to the 228 with a 9’3” beam compared to an 8’ and the size, width and extra weight it has. Not to mention fishing/trailering/launching by yourself will be slightly more difficult. It’s interesting because the place I bought my boat from in Maryland is called Tri State Marine and they sell mostly GW or Parker, as well as a couple other brands. All of the WA boats at their location have been sold compared to the CC/DC’s which still occupy the outside of their business and their showroom floor.

 

[efx]

I wonder if by catering to the market, they are loosing a big part of the market .... They have eliminated the 24-26 foot WAC market from their product line. The 20 over nighter was my first WAC .. then the 24 offshore... and now a marlin300.... The 258 Journey was a great model to fill that gap. Now Grady only makes ONE legally trailer able (in most states) WAC model, the 20' Adventurer ... I was surprised they would trade the Journey for the Gulfstream as a choice. I have a buddy with a 30 ' Center Console ... As pretty as it is , HE CAN KEEP IT !!! THERE IS NO COMFORT AT ALL .. It's about 80 miles to the Gulfstream here... Do I need to explain further ???!!!! Granted, they have the larger express models but so do many other builders. Grady made their nitch in the market place by selling well designed WAC's in the 20 to 30 foot range. My Feeling would be to turn the 20 Adventure into a 21 and then go to the 258... Stay with the Euro Transom ... I think Grady has made some poor decisions thru the years ... The Tigercat Cat... the 290 Chesapeake .. the Atlantic 26, and maybe even the 268 islander, along with the Diesel sterndrive.. So I wonder how good this decision is!!!!! .just my opinion ... Never Forget Your Roots !!!

I like my islander! And I’ve owned a 228 and a Marlin!

 

[efx]

Does anyone open the bow hatch on their walk arounds and climb out or cast standing from there? I do it all the time. It’s like a dual console but I can close it up and spend days going from island to island. Stove, stand up head and shower, rod lockers. The walk around will be back once the CC crowd gets older. I have two center consoles and I do prefer the walk around as my SUV boat.

 

[SeanC]

First and foremost I use my boats for fishing. So up until I bought the 228 I’ve had centre consoles. It’s hard to beat a CC for a fishing boat. I bought the 228 because I wanted to do multi day trips on the Lower Great Barrier Reef and overnight in some of the navigable lagoons. So the 228 fits the bill. The DC’s don’t tick either of those boxes.

 

[Meanwhile]

Does anyone open the bow hatch on their walk arounds and climb out or cast standing from there? I do it all the time. It’s like a dual console but I can close it up and spend days going from island to island. Stove, stand up head and shower, rod lockers. The walk around will be back once the CC crowd gets older. I have two center consoles and I do prefer the walk around as my SUV boat.

We walk around to the bow and cast swimbaits or jigs to jumping tuna. Or I've had fly fishers use the bow to hook up on albacore. On a calm day there is no better place to fish for halibut. Nice and quiet up there.