What do you guys think of a Grady 24 ft

Hey guys, I'm the proud owner of a v20. As you may know it is for sale. I'm looking at a Grady 24 offsore with a bracket and a 2001 evinrude motor. What are your thoughts on this rig?

[reelapeelin]

hey, keith...where are you and your boat...my old evinrude just went down and while i'm upgrading motors i might upgrade hulls, too...is yours a cuddie?

Yes it is a cutty. Check out the thread for boats for sale.
Pics are in the gallery.

[reelapeelin]

hey keith...been lookin' at your gallery pics...nice boat...what neck of the woods are you in?

I have been on Grady Whites in every condition imaginable, they can take alot more than I can. As much as I hate to admit it they are the best riding, most stable boats on the market period. However they are not cheap as im sure you have figured out. For the price of a new 33' grady you can buy a 40' Hatteras built in the late 80's to early 90's. If you think you are getting a deal then I would jump all over it. That hull will be around alot longer than we will.

[sailboat]

-The bracket on the back of a boat has some goods and some bads.
--Good; engine can sit higher, noise is out of cockpit.
--bad ; hard to back up (40% of reverse thrust hits transom of boat), weight and thrust are way aft of center of effort, tilt and trim are critical and must be manipulated in turns, getting up on plane, etc.
---Most all the builders, including Grady White have redesigned the back of their boats to do away with the brackets. The amount of stress placed on the stern of the boat caused enough problems that brackets are becoming history except on those manufactures without the money to upgrade designs (Parker, etc).
-I've owned three boats with brackets and glad to get away from them.

I agree with Leeroy. Grady's are a very strong boat. I fished the gulfstream on my father's 25 sailfish for lots of years(60-80 miles each way). Good hull and not too wet. I have never fished a 24. Bottom seems a little different from the 25 but I'm pretty sure it's just as tough and smooth.

Sailboat, what kind of bracket situation would cause you to lose 40% of your reverse thrust? Sounds to me like the shafts were too short. I can understand the center of balance and point of entry problems. As most older boats with full transoms were built for I/O's and the weight distribution is blown all to hell when you bolt on a bracket. ???

[chumbucket]

I had a 22' Grady-White Seafarer. Basically the same boat. Just 2' shorter. I also had the bracket on mine and agree with much of what Sailboat said.
All in all, an excellent boat. You didn't mention what year hull. Transoms were a problem in the early to mid '80's but not too much so with the full transom/bracket configuration. A couple other things to look at are the bottom of the bulkhead wall going into the cabin. Check for rot. Also, check the in-deck inspection plates. Until the later models, Grady seemed to forget to epoxy the hole after cutting out for the plate. They also didn't bed the plates with anything good like 3M 5200 or other good sealants.
Again, they're excellent boats and they hold their value.

[sailboat]

A bolt on bracket requires the engines to be placed higher because the wave rolling from under the transom raises before it hits the lower units. Thus the thrust hits the transom in reverse.

Having rigged boats for 15 years I have come across a few situations you speak of. All of those situations were due to improper alignment with the hull. If the leading edge of the motor's trim plane is PROPERLY aligned with the trailing edge of the hull, that situation will not present itself. And there is some math involved here. The equations are different for every hull. Most riggers do not take the neccessary time and effort when placing a bracket, and use a "standardized" approach. Which is usually raising the motors too much. That, in turn, leads to the problems you speak of.

Outboard brackets are not ancient technology. And some boat manufacturers are only switching to molded transom brackets because of the reasons above. Dealers no longer have to take the time(if they ever did) to PROPERLY bolt on brackets and then mount the motors.

Just my experiences,
C.