Grady White

I know I'm posting this in the fishing reports section but being that we're in the middle of the winter I hope it's ok. If not, my apologies in advance to the administrators if it needs to be moved.

Looking at buying a used 2001 26'8" Grady White Islander with twin 200 Yamaha High Pressure Direct Injection motors. Boat has 300 hrs and seems to have been impeccably maintained over the years. Asking price is $25k, which from what I've researched on ine seems to be a very good price.

I was wondering if anyone on the board has had any experience or insight with the Islander or these motors and would appreciate any input you might be able to provide. I'm going to have an inspection done on the boat and will be traveling down in a few weeks to do a sea trial, just was curious before hoping on a plane if anyone has an opinion about this model.

Thanks in advance. Spring can't get here soon enough. With my luck I'll get back into boating and there won't be any fish to fish for anymore... and I'm not kidding.

[Tuna Tales]

1. Get an inspection done on the entire boat and motors...spend the $$ for this!

2. Make sure the compression test is good on the motors. You can also do an oil analysis test on the lower gear case oil etc.

3. You have the Sea V2 hull...very good.

4. The only thing I don't like about that model is I believe it has the 8' 6" beam...I have a 9' 6" beam on my 25 Dolphin which is nice when I am 60 miles offshore.

5. Make sure you check the steering (leaks), power trim (leaks) and the thru hulls fittings. Are they plastic or brass? I replaced all of mine with brass or SS fittings. Check the scuppers (thru hulls) in the bildge also...

6. Just re-powered my Grady with 2008 HPDIs...and I LOVE them!

7. Good luck

[kevnmary]

Can't comment on the Yams but I have a 1996 Islander. I love the boat for 3-4 man tops inshore trips. The boat is certainly capable of going farther than I go but I have twin Johnson pigs on mine and it's just not worth the trip unless there were Mahi all over the Mudhole. The boat handles up to 8ft seas very well and I can top out at around 42 mph. The downside to the boat is that with the pulpit and swim platform you will need a 30ft dock which costs a bit more than a 26 or 27. I bought mine in 2006 when it was 10 yrs old and I paid around $35K so the price your looking at seems very good. I also bought a trailer for mine but wound up selling it after a few years. I thought I'd be putting in in different places but it's a big boat and I really didnt want to be taking it out as much as I thought I would. I also sleep on mine when I'm down the shore and the kids love the cabin. The head is very tight if you have to sit down but fine in a pinch (no pun intended). All in all I love my Grady but it is expensive and if I had to do it all over again I would probably look for a smaller center console that I could launch anywhere I wanted.
Good luck with it if you do buy it. I'm out of Pt Pleasant (Bay side) and my boat is A-O-K.

BTW. My thruhulls are all plastic but I haven't need to replace them. And the 8'6" beam is the largest legally towable beam for NJ highways.

[Scoundrel]

8 foot seas???????

[My Retreat]

Dakota, I have a 27' 2003 Islander and love the boat! As commented, 8'6" is the legal trailer width, that is why I bought that model. Express has the wider beam. I fish Sandy Hook area and trailer to Montauk. Fish 50-60 miles on decent ocean days. Great inshore boat as well fishing 4 very comfortable. I have twin 200's HPDI and fantastic on oil over Mercury Optimax! Cruise about 28 knots and burn 16 gal per hour. E-mail me if you need more information. myretreat@hotmail.com

Howard

[seadog]

Sound like a very good price to me. I have a 255 Sailfish from the 80s with 01 150 hp HPDI's and I love those engines. Grady make a good product and with the exception of some transom problems on the older ones its hard to go wrong with that boat at that price. Of course as suggested by others get a survey it's money well spent

[Gerry Zagorski]

Great advise above and it does sound like a great deal... Grady's tend to hold their value well because of their brand reputation and everything I've heard on the HDPIs is very good. 300 hours is very low for a 2001. Was the boat trailered?

I would definately have the boat surveyed, depending on your insurance company, they might force you to have it inspected before they insure. Maybe you can kill 2 birds with one stone here. You might call your insurance company and see what they require and maybe even use the company they use for the inspection to perform your survey.

If the boat is bottom painted make sure and check to see that it is not blistering. If it's not been bottom painted and you intend to keep it in a slip, it would be a good idea to put a barrier coat on the hull before your bottom paint. This helps prevent blistering caused by water intrusion.

[kevnmary]

Originally Posted by Scoundrel

8 foot seas???????

Yes I got stuck out there this past Fall with occasional 8 footers. The boat did fine, I did not!

[Scoundrel]

OK.

I have a 24 Vector and a 32 Topaz. Topaz does not do well in a steep head sea, but I am sure it does better than a Grady as I have owned both. 8 foot seas ...are you serious.....running in the troughs...beam -to seas, maybe>

[Scoundrel]

I can tell you a story of 2005 fishing tournament when I saw a Grady White,not sure of the model, break in half, 4 -6 foor seas.
I was watching the boat as it was following my Topaz back to Barnegat Inet from the Ridge.
The boat was a sinker...