I have seen so many leaky crestliners in tournaments that it's crazy. Trackers too. Wouldn't own either one on a bet. Lund and Ranger have been by far my favorite boats. Both in quality and how things are thought out and put in the boat. So far the Skeeter is OK. Time will tell.
Gotta make sure there's room for extra 'passengers', too. Youngest daughter wanted to take her dog on Saturday. We actually had a largemouth launch itself out of the livewell when the kid was looking at it; made for a little entertainment with the dog!
Mercy ceases to be a virtue when it enables further injustice. -Brent Weeks
fishing machine. new top on it. i help Brian with a lot of the work.
when he first got it, first trip out in it.
God bless Texas----------------------- Old 300 I will remain what i am until the day I die- A HUNTER......Sitting Bull Its not how you pick the booger.. but where you put it !! Roger V Hunter
Gotta make sure there's room for extra 'passengers', too. Youngest daughter wanted to take her dog on Saturday. We actually had a largemouth launch itself out of the livewell when the kid was looking at it; made for a little entertainment with the dog!
I bought this 22' Tournament Edition Grady White with the trailer for $1500. It is in very good shape except the transom is rotten. IIRC the previous owner said it would cost around $7000 to repair it. I can do it myself for a fraction of the cost. It is common to see rotten transoms in older boats. In general newer boats use a composite material instead of wood.
Mike,
Can you give the short version description of what that transom needs done? I've done a bit of minor fiberglass repair work, but building a transom sounds like a big project, to me.
And how old is the boat, and why did the transom go bad,if you know? Lack of care? Hard use and abuse? ???
I know everything can fail, and eventually will. I don't read about a lot of failures with Grady White. Do these boats have their own grave yard?
I had a boat with a wood filled transom that got soft on me. Took it to a local dealer for repair. The wood was the core between 2 sheets of aluminum. I feared it would be expensive. They cut it open removed the wood filled the transom with square aluminum tube and welded it all back. Only charged me 175 dollars. I realize labor is cheap here because I live in a poor area of the country. But boats with flaws can be repaired for much less than buying new.
Crazy, during my research on transoms when I was looking at that Crestliner I saw replacement quotes in the ~$4K range.
I bought this 22' Tournament Edition Grady White with the trailer for $1500. It is in very good shape except the transom is rotten. IIRC the previous owner said it would cost around $7000 to repair it. I can do it myself for a fraction of the cost. It is common to see rotten transoms in older boats. In general newer boats use a composite material instead of wood.
I already have a 225hp OptiMax, I need to put about $1000 in the trailer, $3000 upgrading the boat, and about $2500 in electronic I will be under $10,000 for a very nice Grady White. I just need to finish changing a cylinder on my airboat engine, move my houseboat from the hunting lease to my summertime location, re-prop my bateaux for a little better performance, rebuild the outdrive on the super go devil, find the key my 3 year grandson took out of my bass boat ignition.... too many damn boats.
Are you going to pop the cap off to redo the transom?
After some "he-ing and she-ing" we found out that we had a baby on the way. I freaked out and went into financial crunch mode and shed a lot of "unnecessary" debt...which also meant the SeaChaser went down the road as a means to get rid of the note. I didn't last long before I NEEDED another boat though. I decided to buy cheap and ended up with this jalopy...still not sure what it was...but I got it titled as something and went fishing.
We used this boat to rat around Mobile Bay, the Mississippi Sound and all over Dauphin Island. We end up on the beach a lot just so the wife and daughter can play in the water when it gets hot.
Caught this guy on a piece of squid while fishing for white trout in the MS sound.
This dude was right on the beach and I caught him in my cast net (accidentally) while trying to net mullet...Sheepshead and a cast net makes for a tangled mess!
Pod of cow nose rays swimming past while we were chilling on the beach.
War Eagle... or somebody
Please identify the fish in your pics.
What about the one with the gal standing? long dark fish with lateral stripe?
The vertical striped fish is a sheepshead The next several are what we call speckled trout aka spotted seatrout The last big fish is a lemon fish aka cobia aka ling
Are you going to pop the cap off to redo the transom?
Not planning to pull the cap, that is the professional way to do it.
I will either cut the fiberglass on top of the transom and use a chainsaw (yes chainsaw) to reach in and remove the rotten wood, make certain it is dry, and fill it with resin and matting, basically ending up with a solid fiberglass transom. I will cap it off with an aluminum plate for additional strength.
The better way to do it is to remove most of the exterior of the transom, completely clean everything, start laying fiberglass, matting, wood, as needed. It is a lot of work but would look good if done properly. Years back we ran fiberglass airboats so I learned at an early age how to perform fiberglass work, but this is a big job.
JohnW
This is a common problem for a lot of older boats. Water will leak in through the bolt holes for mounting the engine and rot the wood in transom. In general Grady Whites are good boats. This one is a new hull design, I think it was built around 1995.
Haha, while the mutant beagle is ours, the babe is not mine (stole that pic off the interwebs). I don't think the wife would approve if I caught one of those and brought it home. Unless she was a hard worker, maybe...
Mercy ceases to be a virtue when it enables further injustice. -Brent Weeks
I'm sure there are some professional fishermen in your area. Look at what they use and why. I'm not talking about tournament fishermen...those guys are just emulating the sponsored guys. Look at what the guides and commercial fishermen are using. There is a reason they are using it.
The only thing worse than a liberal is a liberal that thinks they're a conservative.
Are you going to pop the cap off to redo the transom?
Not planning to pull the cap, that is the professional way to do it.
I will either cut the fiberglass on top of the transom and use a chainsaw (yes chainsaw) to reach in and remove the rotten wood, make certain it is dry, and fill it with resin and matting, basically ending up with a solid fiberglass transom. I will cap it off with an aluminum plate for additional strength.
The better way to do it is to remove most of the exterior of the transom, completely clean everything, start laying fiberglass, matting, wood, as needed. It is a lot of work but would look good if done properly. Years back we ran fiberglass airboats so I learned at an early age how to perform fiberglass work, but this is a big job.
JohnW
This is a common problem for a lot of older boats. Water will leak in through the bolt holes for mounting the engine and rot the wood in transom. In general Grady Whites are good boats. This one is a new hull design, I think it was built around 1995.
This guy makes it look easy
That was a common problem with Grady's. Do you have any idea what condition the deck and stringers are in? If they are good, when you are done you will have one sweet boat for a fraction of the cost of a new one. I really enjoy my dual console. The wife does too, and that matters.
After some "he-ing and she-ing" we found out that we had a baby on the way. I freaked out and went into financial crunch mode and shed a lot of "unnecessary" debt...which also meant the SeaChaser went down the road as a means to get rid of the note. I didn't last long before I NEEDED another boat though. I decided to buy cheap and ended up with this jalopy...still not sure what it was...but I got it titled as something and went fishing.
We used this boat to rat around Mobile Bay, the Mississippi Sound and all over Dauphin Island. We end up on the beach a lot just so the wife and daughter can play in the water when it gets hot.
Caught this guy on a piece of squid while fishing for white trout in the MS sound.
This dude was right on the beach and I caught him in my cast net (accidentally) while trying to net mullet...Sheepshead and a cast net makes for a tangled mess!
Pod of cow nose rays swimming past while we were chilling on the beach.
War Eagle... or somebody
Please identify the fish in your pics.
What about the one with the gal standing? long dark fish with lateral stripe?
Pics in order... Boat at the beach Looks like a young Loggerhead or Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle (need to see the shell and head a little better) Sheepshead Cow nosed rays Spotted sea trout Boat at the beach Two spotted sea trout (gators) Spanish mackerel Another spotted sea trout (gator) Last but not least, Cobia...
God bless Texas----------------------- Old 300 I will remain what i am until the day I die- A HUNTER......Sitting Bull Its not how you pick the booger.. but where you put it !! Roger V Hunter