270 Vantage vs. Grady Freedom

A conversation among Whalers
Vantage270
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Jul 08, 2019 7:16 pm

270 Vantage vs. Grady Freedom

Postby Vantage270 » Mon Jul 08, 2019 7:25 pm

I'm getting close to decision time on a new Vantage 270 or a Grady Freedom 255/275 and would like to hear from anyone that went through the same process but bought a Vantage.

I am in Oregon and have visited the Grady dealer in Washington (no Oregon dealer) to look at their models. Nice boats. The Oregon and Washington Whaler dealers do not stock any Vantage models, so I would have to fly to Newport Beach, CA to look at one.

Local service and warranty support is important... but I don't feel it's right to spend $200k without seeing the boat! Thanks for any comments.

zigzag930
Posts: 83
Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2018 2:04 pm

Re: 270 Vantage vs. Grady Freedom

Postby zigzag930 » Mon Jul 08, 2019 8:35 pm

Seems pretty simple to me:

Here would be my initial thoughts....

1) If no local GW dealer, then how are you planning to get the boat serviced under warranty? There WILL be warranty problems no matter which you buy.

2) If you want to put your hands on a Vantage and are planning to spend $200K, then the cost of a flight to CA will get lost in the rounding. Get a ticket and go see it. Alternatively, see if there is a used boat in your area that you can go look at.

I've owned two GW's and two BW's. Both are excellent manufacturers, but I have had better experience with BW. Among my GW' problems: I've had rotted transoms, bad aluminum fuel tanks and assorted wiring problems over the years. Granted they were older models (1990's vintages) but I never had any such problems with my 1979 BW Montauk (which by the way I still own) or my current 210 Outrage.

Motors are motors. Take care of them and they will last. I've owned Mercuries, Yamahas and (way back) Evinrudes/Johnsons. My '79 Montauk has a 1985 inline 6 Mercury Tower of Power. Still runs great. My Grady's were Yamahas. They ran very smooth, but were carburated and very thirsty. My Outrage has a Verado 200 and I absolutely love the motor. Can't hear it at idle, power that is instant (supercharged) and fantastic fuel economy.

Warranty work on the motors can be done by any authorized dealer, so as long as there is a Yamaha (if you buy the GW) dealer nearby, they can do all the warranty engine work. The boat of course is a different concern, so that would be a concern to me.

Good luck

Vantage270
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Jul 08, 2019 7:16 pm

Re: 270 Vantage vs. Grady Freedom

Postby Vantage270 » Mon Jul 08, 2019 9:21 pm

Makes sense. On paper the BW warranty is better than the GW warranty. GW does not help pay to get the boat to a dealer, but BW says they will pay reasonable costs.

GW dealer said if there was a non-Yamaha concern they would hire a shop in Oregon to fix it or I have to transport the boat back to Seattle.

Any Vantage owners out there that have dealt with the BW dealers in Portland or Seattle?

Tacky79
Posts: 130
Joined: Wed May 03, 2017 1:49 pm

Re: 270 Vantage vs. Grady Freedom

Postby Tacky79 » Mon Jul 08, 2019 11:14 pm

I can't speak directly to your questions, as we were looking at 23' dual consoles, but with the Whaler, I liked the bench aft seating rather than the jump seats on the Grady. I also saw a pic where the port seat on the Vantage had two people sitting on it rather than the captain's chair on the Grady.

That being said, I was very impressed by the Grady build quality and on the center console models, the full windscreen was very nice compared with the shorty windscreen on the Outrage.

I'd guess you can't go wrong with either. A flight is cheap when considering the cost of the boats. It really helped us make our decision to purchase a dual console over a center console. We just bought a used Everglades 230DC and think it will be a good fit for our family.
2017 Boston Whaler Montauk 190 w/ 150 Merc/Fish Pkg/Bowrail delete/aft seating
1979 Boston Whaler Harpoon 5.2 sailboat with sails and a tiller :D

Vantage270
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Jul 08, 2019 7:16 pm

Re: 270 Vantage vs. Grady Freedom

Postby Vantage270 » Tue Jul 09, 2019 8:45 am

Thank you. The Everglades DC models look nice. As with a lot of the Florida and east coast boat builders, there are no dealers in Oregon or Washinton and not much on the used market.

Tacky79
Posts: 130
Joined: Wed May 03, 2017 1:49 pm

Re: 270 Vantage vs. Grady Freedom

Postby Tacky79 » Tue Jul 09, 2019 9:31 am

We only ended up with the Everglades due to it being available used, right pricing, right options, right location.

I was looking for a 230 Vantage, but couldn't find a used one that we wanted. New pricing was out of our range. Same with Grady - if we had found a used Grady or Whaler DC in our price range, etc, we would have gone that way.

If we were buying new, Whaler, Grady, Everglades, Edgewater were all on our short list. I tend to be brand loyal, so Whaler probably would have won that race.
2017 Boston Whaler Montauk 190 w/ 150 Merc/Fish Pkg/Bowrail delete/aft seating
1979 Boston Whaler Harpoon 5.2 sailboat with sails and a tiller :D