Took Delivery of my 2010 Tournament 275 yesterday

K

ksgoldman

GreatGrady Captain
Joined
Aug 20, 2009
Messages
114
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2
Points
18
Location
Cape Coral, Fl
Model
Freedom 275
After purchasing my 2010 Tournament 275 the beginning of last August (and never splashing it last year), I waited 255 days (not that anyone is counting) to finally take delivery of my boat yesterday. It was a perfect day (other than 10-20 knot winds) with temperatures in the high 50's low 60's and the sun shining. Buying a boat in August and waiting until the following April is not something I'd suggest to any sane boater (and then again, there's probably no such thing as a sane boater). In the intervening months, I've been on Great Grady every day and looked at pictures of the boat.

Yesterday was one of the best days of my life (up there with the birth of my kids, their graduations from high school, the day I got married, and the day I met my wife). They say that the two happiest days in a boat owner's life are the day he buys it and the day he sells it. Unless I'm selling the 275 to get another Grady, I'll modify that phrase to say it's only the day he takes delivery (and not the day he actually writes the check).

I can't thank everyone on the forum enough for all the advice (both pre-purchase and as I had questions about what electronics to buy, etc.). I also can't say enough great things about the team at Cataumet Boats who sold me my Grady White. Jack McMath, Pete Way, and Sheila Giancola made the whole experience even that much better. I also am so glad that I made the trip to Greenville to visit the GW factory (and appreciate the time spent with me by Eddie Rowe as well as having had the opportunity to meet Kris Carroll and her management team).

After taking delivery, I was out on the boat for about an hour heading to my mooring and had a 2'+ chop. The boat handled beautifully (I didn't take a drop over the windshield). Where my prior boat (a 21' Seaswirl Striper) would have pounded, the Grady just sliced through the waves like they were nothing (now I understand the term "Grady Built"). Can't wait to get out on her next weekend (this weekend will be a washout).

Here are the pictures:

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275

Congratulation, very exciting day for you I am sure. Your statement about sane boaters is very apt as I will explain. We had a 2008 Tournament 185 which we enjoyed very much. Then we decided to go up to the 225 and order was placed early winter. Well the Freedom 255 came out and guess what, ordered the 255, so had 2 boats theoretically on order. My Grady dealer here in Canada, Desmasdons Boat Works and Grady US did a great job finding a "home" for the 225 and she went to a dealer in NY. So now we are anxiously waiting for the first Freedom 255 into Canada. We are hopeful that she will be in the water by the end of May. What did you say about sane boater?
Enjoy your new boat!
Bukster
 
The 255 looks like it will be a terrific boat. If it had been out when I bought my 275 I would have given it serious consideration. I asked my dealer why the change in naming from Tournament to Freedom and he told me that lots of buyers didn't know that Grady White made Dual Console boats because they thought the name "Tournament" conjured up "fishing boats" (as in "fishing tournaments") so that next year all Grady White Dual Consoles will be Freedoms instead of Tournaments.

Please let us know how you like your 255.
 
congrats. I love that cockpit cover. It fits with the same snaps as the enclosure.

This something like that available for other tournaments?

I would love that for my 205.
 
Great looking boat! I know you'll enjoy. One question though - what is the device on the bow and arch with the wires "spraying out" in all directions? :?
 
Strikezone said:
Great looking boat! I know you'll enjoy. One question though - what is the device on the bow and arch with the wires "spraying out" in all directions? :?
Click to expand...

I am guessing they are there to try and keep the birds off the new toy.

The boat looks great. Enjoy.....
 
Your boat looks really sharp and i really like the radar arch and the way that follows the boat and bimini lines. I also noticed something i haven't seen yet, your motors are OUT of the water at full tilt.
 
That may be due to a light fuel load and not much equipment on the boat??

The boat does look nice with the radar arch. Is that installed by Grady or a third party?
 
The boats lookin' great.....I think she's level as is....look at the thru-hulls right at the waterline....for those motors to touch water, all 3 on the side would be submerged.......that's sittin' nice! Way to go KS.
 
Congratulations on the new 275. WOW!!!! The boat looks fantastic and the radar arch is perfect, I would have never thought it would be such a great fit astatically. The cockpit canvas is also fantastic. I wish that I had seen your photos sooner as I was waffling between having a cover like this or seat covers made and went with the seat covers. Had I seen this I would have gone with the cockpit cover.

I hope that your experience with the 275 is as great as mine has been. The boat does everything very well and you will find it to be extremely seaworthy.
 
I wonder whether you could get the bimini built into the radar arch and get rid of the current bimini tubing to make it even cleaner (although it looks great as is).
 
The radar arch was fabricated by a local fabricator in Southeast Massachusetts - Fastech (www.t-tops.com). They did a fantastic job. The mooring cover does snap on to the existing snaps for the bimini and tucks down to the deck floor. The canvas shop that did it did a great job as well. I'm sure we could have found some way to rig the bimini into the radar arch but I didn't want to over complicate things.

The boat is sitting at the mooring with 185 gallons of fuel and 20 gallons of water. I haven't loaded tools and other supplies which will probably add another 200-300 pounds. I was pleasantly surprised by how well it sits at the mooring.

The device on the radar arch and on the bow is called a bird be gone and is available at West Marine (and other places) http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... sNum=13031. It works well to keep gulls from perching on the boat and unlike the wind driven bird devices, works when the wind is calm.


Ken
 
Wow! Simply beautiful; and coastal RI to boot. One lucky guy!
 
awesome congrats. I would love to see some pictures of her underway. :lol:
 
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