I like to entertain, fish, and overnight. Is the GB 32 sedan good for this?

[trawlerguyNY]

I'm looking for a sub $150K boat that would let me fish, entertain, and overnight. I feel like the GB 32 sedan fits the bill. The cockpit looks large enough for 3-4 people to fish, the boat looks like it can entertain up to 12 people comfortably between the flybridge, cockpit, and salon. It also looks like my wife and I can comfortably spend a weekend on the boat as well...although the v-berth looks a little tight. Am I missing anything here? Is the GB 32 sedan good for what I plan on using it for?

 

[SteveK]

Been there, done that.
2 foot itis brings us to current boat.
You looked at it, it meets your current needs, of course it will work for your plans. Just know nothing is forever so may not be the last one. You will not know until you own it and use it.

 

[psneeld]

I'm looking for a sub $150K boat that would let me fish, entertain, and overnight. I feel like the GB 32 sedan fits the bill. The cockpit looks large enough for 3-4 people to fish, the boat looks like it can entertain up to 12 people comfortably between the flybridge, cockpit, and salon. It also looks like my wife and I can comfortably spend a weekend on the boat as well...although the v-berth looks a little tight. Am I missing anything here? Is the GB 32 sedan good for what I plan on using it for?

Sounds like a sportfish would be a better choice...you can always go slow, but for short trips locally, a faster boat when you want it is the ticket.

I have lived aboard both trawlers and sportfish. The sportfish these days are a dime a dozen and for interior volume and fishability for the cost are hard to beat.

 

[Comodave]

True, and with the short length of a 32 GB it will be quite slow.

 

[fgarriso]

You may want to look at a GB32 and a GB36. Both boats will do what you want but the 36 has a little more room in all areas.

 

[Bmarler]

12 people may actually fit on a 32, but nobody will be moving around as there’s just not enough room. If you need to have room for 12, keep looking.

 

[Choices]

No way I would get on a 32 or 36 with 12 people unless they were Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.

The boat is great for fishing but slow, so distance covered will be small.

The inside will be nice compared to similar sportfisher. A 36 sedan is rare.

 

[trawlerguyNY]

Don't need 12. Would normally have 6-8.

 

[ScottC]

We have a 33' Greenline and I believe the layout has a bit more room than the interior of a GB32. Our Greenline has a single forward cabin and two great sofas in the main salon. The boat is perfect for two. We go on trips of up to 6 months and it works out fine.
On these trips, we have the occasional single visitor for 7-10 days. It creates the need for minor logistics, but still works out quite well. On a couple of occasions, we've had 2 visitors for a week. This can work with LOTS of logistics and inconveniences and it gets VERY tedious and tiring after about 2 days. Have had 6 on board for a 4 hour day trip and that can be ok, but not more.


I cannot imagine a GB32 with more than 6 people on board for more than some daytime fishing trips.

Edit: With the flybridge, which we don't have - then I do agree that up to 8 would be workable for day trips only.

 

[Gdavid]

I use my boat in a similar fashion, fortunately I can be fishing within 20 minutes of leaving my slip in spite of it's slow speed because of the location of my marina. Occasionally, I might travel a little further, maybe about an hour before starting to put lines in, but it is usually 30 minutes or less. I am fine with not always being on the hottest bite and the tradeoff in lowered operating costs with a slow, single engine boat works for me as well as my guests. If this is not the situation for you, and you need to travel long distances, I expect you find that your friends rarely have enough time to spend fishing with you.

I was originally planning to buy a sportfish and you really can get a lot of boat for the money but be very mindful of the state of the engines when shopping. This is true for all boats of course but most sportfish boats are run pretty hard and you will find in many listings details about how recently they were rebuilt, lookup the costs of these rebuilds and be honest about how you plan to use the boat and the likely hood of having to repower or rebuild the powerplants. There is no universal right decision to be made, you just need to find the best fit for you.

I have learned to appreciate my boat, how little I burn in fuel, how relatively simple it is to maintain and when my friends join me for a morning or afternoon of fishing, we are more concerned with visiting than how great the fishing is. If your intended guests are more serious fishermen and your performance compared to everyone else on the dock is important to you, a sportfish would be a better fit.

 

[trawlerguyNY]

They would only be day trips. Anything overnight would be only my wife and me.

 

[trawlerguyNY]

I use my boat in a similar fashion, fortunately I can be fishing within 20 minutes of leaving my slip in spite of it's slow speed because of the location of my marina. Occasionally, I might travel a little further, maybe about an hour before starting to put lines in, but it is usually 30 minutes or less. I am fine with not always being on the hottest bite and the tradeoff in lowered operating costs with a slow, single engine boat works for me as well as my guests. If this is not the situation for you, and you need to travel long distances, I expect you find that your friends rarely have enough time to spend fishing with you.

I was originally planning to buy a sportfish and you really can get a lot of boat for the money but be very mindful of the state of the engines when shopping. This is true for all boats of course but most sportfish boats are run pretty hard and you will find in many listings details about how recently they were rebuilt, lookup the costs of these rebuilds and be honest about how you plan to use the boat and the likely hood of having to repower or rebuild the powerplants. There is no universal right decision to be made, you just need to find the best fit for you.

I have learned to appreciate my boat, how little I burn in fuel, how relatively simple it is to maintain and when my friends join me for a morning or afternoon of fishing, we are more concerned with visiting than how great the fishing is. If your intended guests are more serious fishermen and your performance compared to everyone else on the dock is important to you, a sportfish would be a better fit.

This is basically my situation as well. Fishing would usually be right outside of our harbor without any long trips to get to the fishing grounds. I'd prefer a single diesel for fuel efficiency and lower maintenance costs.

 

[ranger58sb]

This is basically my situation as well. Fishing would usually be right outside of our harbor without any long trips to get to the fishing grounds. I'd prefer a single diesel for fuel efficiency and lower maintenance costs.

Original Mainship 34.

We had an '87 Mk III and it was a great boat. Single diesel, decent cockpit (various sizes, depending on which model), comfortable interior. The original owners had it set up for offshore fishing -- outriggers and so forth -- and it was a very economical way to get here from here.

-Chris

 

[Blissboat]

Don't need 12. Would normally have 6-8.

Even six to eight folks aboard a GB 32' will start to feel a bit snug after a while. OTOH, you don't want that many guests to get so comfortable they aren't ready to leave when you're tired of entertaining, so maybe your strategy is wise! Some wag, maybe it was Ernest K. Gann, wisecracked that his ideal boat "drinks 6, dines 4, and sleeps 2."

The GB 32' is a very nice package. The one box it does not check for me is that there is no side door from the helm station onto the side deck. For single / short-handed operation, that's an important feature that you can't get in a GB until you start looking at the 36'.

 

[SeaStarDF50]

Have you been in/on a GB32? They're smaller than they look in photos. That would be a cozy crowd. On our GB42, 8 for an afternoon in nice weather is doable; 4 overnight is tight and with poles in the cockpit might be a rodeo. Our DF50 tricabin would meet your criteria, but yes, 8 knots max.

 

[PNK]

GB32 alternatives

To me, the cockpit size would be very limiting for fishing and socializing with anything more than 3 or 4 people.
You might want to take a look at the Legacy 34 that was recently listed on this forum, the cockpit, for me at least, would be much more suited to fishing, or hanging out with a few friends.

Peter

 

[JYoung]

Our 36 did 8 1/2- 9/12 with no problem at 2150 rpm, of course the bottom was always clean. Lots and lots of people here never or Seldom clean the bottoms of their boats and wonder why they are so slow. Funny. Go for it. GB 32/36 are amazing boats.

 

[tomdove]

I do not fish but I do own a 1977 Grand Banks 32 that was used for several years by the Boca Raton club for day trips and, apparently, fishing just offshore. It has rod holders and outrigger brackets mounted.

It's a very efficient boat. I regularly burn 1.6 gallons per hour at about 7 knots, which is its cruising speed. I suspect it will idle over fishing grounds for a very long time on a miniscule amount of fuel.

The cockpit is nice sized and open in three directions. The flybridge is comfortable for four; I wouldn't put more than that up there.

My wife and I find the boat very comfy for cruising and the V-berth works fine for us, but we're not tall people.

Not fast but reliable. It does roll in cross seas like all trawlers, which may be an issue for fishing.

Just another data point for your research. Enjoy your boat!

 

[Tim]

Trolling Speed

Don’t know how you fish but slower troll speed not possible for me. Engine idling gave me 3 knots when I needed 1.5. In and out of gear hard on tranny. You will need a trolling valve on tranny if serious about fishing the boat.