This Open-Style Coastal Boat Caters to Both Family and Fishermen

Rule number one: Highly specialized boats, designed for one specific purpose, usually do it well. But are poorly suited for other, more diverse activities.

Rule number two: Do-everything boats, designed for diverse activities, are usually mediocre when it comes to any one of those purposes.

Rule number three: Rules were made to be broken, and the Grady-White 275 Tournament is a dual console that fishes like a fishboat, cruises like a cruiser, tows toys like a wakeboarder and handles seas like a Grady-White.

Of course, quality doesn't come cheap, so before we dig beneath this boat's skin, it's important to address one more thing: The 275 isn't just one of the biggest, best-designed dual consoles on the water, it's also one of the most expensive. In fact, it will run you more than $100,000 whether you opt for a pair of Yamaha F-150 four-strokes or a single Yamaha 350.

ANGLER'S ANGLES

I tested the 275 while trophy-sized stripers were in season on the Chesapeake Bay, swimming along the channel edges in small pods. To catch them, we'd need to spot them on the fishfinder before dropping our jigs. On most dual consoles, which tend to have small dash flats and sub par electronics, this would be next to impossible.

But Grady-White kept the angler in mind in building the 275 Tournament. It has a huge dash flat, large enough to flush-mount a 12-inch fishfinder screen. So instead of peeking at a tiny LCD, I could look right at a highly detailed picture of the bottom – and the fish hugging it.

The electronics flat is just one example of how Grady-White built strong fishability into this boat, even though the design targets multiple-use boaters. It has toerails, coaming bolsters, fresh- and raw-water washdowns, four gunwale-mounted rod holders, three horizontal rod racks, two insulated, overboard-draining fishboxes and a built-in cutting board. It even has lockable rod stowage. Stow your rods safely inside a dual console? That's unheard of – but if you peek inside the port-side console, you'll discover a triple rod rack to port that extends forward and under the bow seats.

Another fishing item that many anglers consider a must-have – and many boats of this type lack – is a livewell. Grady-White offers an optional 32-gallon livewell that sits in the transom. This little goodie will add more than $500 to the list cost of the boat, though. Go without, and the transom space is used to house a whopping 185-quart cooler/fishbox.

CRUISING COMFORTS

What about cockpit space? After all, this is an area where boats that aren't dedicated sportfishers often fall flat. They tend to eat up that valuable fishing room with opposite-use amenities like lounge seats, wet bars and swim platforms. No worries, angler – or cruiser, sun-worshiper, or swimmer.

To address the seating issue, Grady-White created a folding aft bench seat, which sits flush against the transom when you're ready to set the hook. When you're done catching sailfish and you'd rather have a sun lounge, deploy the benchseat, then move forward to the aft-facing passenger's side lounge seat. Push the button, and listen to the hum as the bottom of the seat electrically expands back, doubling in size to meet the benchseat. Voila! Instant sun lounge. Oh, and by the way, the engineers at Grady-White even mounted a stereo control right next to the lounge, so you won't have to get up to change the tunes.

One gripe about that stereo, though. It's mounted on the side of the console, in the center walk-through. This area is exposed to spray and rain, and even though the stereo is rated as waterproof, a constant dousing could shorten its lifespan. People might also bump against it was they walk forward or aft, so I'd rather see this mounted at the helm or on the passenger's dash.

If the sun lounge is deployed, then there's a good chance you'll be distributing chilly beverages to the crew, and possibly picnicking, too. You'll need a wet bar consisting of a sink and stowage, and a table to perch the picnic basket atop. Check behind the helm seat, and you'll discover there's a sink with stowage beneath. (Note to anglers: When you go back into fishing mode, this also makes for an excellent rigging station, thanks to the inclusion of a cutting board.) Back to lunch, and what about a table? The 275 comes with one, and it can be erected in either the bow or the cockpit, so you can choose which area of the boat to lounge in and which to snack in.

Swimmers, water skiers, wakeboarders and tubers will naturally demand a swim platform, and the 275 has one of these, too. But bolt-on platforms can snag fishing lines, and integrated platforms can cut cockpit space. Grady-White designed a swim platform into the integrated motor bracket; when it's time for a dip, just exit via the transom door and flip down the swim ladder.

EXCEPTIONAL PERFORMANCE

One thing all Grady-Whites are known for: rough-water capabilities. This boat is no different, featuring the builder's trademark Ray Hunt-designed, variable-degree-deadrise SeaV2 hull. The variable-degree deadrise starts at 20 degrees at the transom and grows continuously sharper as you move forward, hitting about 30 degrees amidships and becoming knife sharp at the stem. This boat also has a lot more seakeeping abilities than most competitors, simply because dual consoles this big are rare. Most manufacturers don't build them beyond 24 feet. So at 26 feet, 11 inches LOA and with a displacement nearing 5,000 pounds, this is one of the beefiest dual consoles around. Bottom line: It's one of few boats of this type that has the goods to take you far offshore, where you can target big game like marlin and tuna.

Of course, even if a dual console can take on rough seas, few have the fuel capacity necessary for runs like that. But the 275 Tournament carries 200 gallons, so capacity is no issue. Added bonus: The variable-degree deadrise also boosts buoyancy as it flattens heading aft, which makes for excellent economy and low-speed planing. Just check out the performance numbers in this story – 'nuf said.

Whether they're fishing, cruising, or headed for Party Cove, one thing all boaters can agree on is the need for a dry ride. Again, the 275 won't disappoint. On test day we put plenty of distance under our belts, running more than 25 miles to many different spots in search of those stripers. No matter which way we hit the one- to two-foot chop, we remained bone dry and comfortable. Credit goes to the hull's strakes and hard chines, plus the flared bow.

Once you get where you're going, in a do-everything boat you need to be able to do everything – including relieve yourself. Grady-White put a head in the port console, as many dual-console builders do. You get your choice between a fixed marine MSD with a 10-gallon holding tank or a portable MSD. And don't forget about the stowage down there. The extended area under the forward seating doesn't just make room for rod tips, it also has the space to accommodate water skis, wakeboards, tube toys, scuba gear or whatever else you like to use for water play.

Speaking of water play, if your kids like skiing, they'll probably wonder if this boat's just too darn big to jump out of the hole and pull up a skier. Answer with a resounding no, because when I firewalled the throttles from a dead stop, the 275 leapt forward like an Olympic sprinter on speed. We charged up to a 46.8-mph top end, and the twin 150s on our test boat were just a fraction of the maximum 500 horsepower this boat is rated for. You want to hit highway speeds? Opt for a pair of 250s, and it should be no problem. Your economy will dip, though, and that would be a shame – considering that the 275 I tested could cruise along at 2.2 mpg, while doing just a tick less than 35 mph. Any twin-outboard boat that breaks 2 mpg while running faster than 30 mph is ahead of the game.

BUILT TO LAST

Given the price of the boat, it's important to understand exactly what you're getting for your hard-earned cash. For starters, the hull is hand-laid fiberglass, with a no-rot, ply-cored stringer system that is encapsulated and fiberglassed into the hull. (No-rot ply? You bet – it comes with a lifetime warranty.) Foam gets sprayed into the voids between the stringers, which adds structural integrity and damps sound as the hull goes through waves. That's why the Grady hull makes a solid "ker-chunk" sound, while many other hulls make a hollow, drum-like "boom." Transoms are also over-built, with two layers of ¾-inch ply glassed together. Then they're backed up with 5/16-inch aluminum braces. Motor mounts run through the aluminum, to help distribute the stress created when 500 horses throttle up.

Smaller fiberglass parts, like hatches and doors, are made via resin-transfer molding (RTM). This process utilizes two molds and ensures an optimal resin-to-glass ratio, which means you get a part that's as strong and light as possible, and fully finished on both sides. Hardware and through-hull fittings, meanwhile, are 316-grade (read: highest quality available) stainless steel.

There is a salve to the bite of the resulting price tag: Grady-Whites hold their value at resale. Check used-boat listings, and you'll see that a 275 Tournament will maintain a far higher percentage of its purchase price than many other boats on the market. In addition, Grady-White has been ranked by JD Power & Associates as highest in customer satisfaction in the coastal fishing boat (17 to 30 feet) category for seven years in a row – the same number of years JD Power has been ranking boats. It's a fair bet that by now, plenty of Grady-White's competitors would like to see some kind of rule prohibiting one boat builder from winning time and time again. Of course, if they did make such a rule, it would just be one more for the 275 Tournament to break.

Lenny Rudow was senior technical editor for Boating magazine for more than 10 years, and is currently the electronics editor for Marlin and GoBoating magazines.

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