Advertisement
Whether fishing or playing, the Grady-White Adventure 218 is a versatile anomaly among a diverse fleet of small powerboats.
The center-console design dominates the small fiberglass boat world, but some boaters prefer the protection and accommodations that a walk-around cabin boat provides. The walk-around design fell out of fashion, so the few remaining on the market tend to be rather long in the tooth. There's one walk-around boat that's all new for the 2023 model year, however, the Grady-White Adventure 218.
Swiveling helm seats make conversation easier.
The Adventure 218 feels roomy for its size, in part because its predecessors, Grady-White's Adventure 208 and Seafarer 228, had 8-foot beams. The new 218 stretches out to the typical beam for trailerable boats, 8-foot, 6 inches. The builder found a way to make even more room aboard, too, by changing the bowrail's mounting such that the gunwale width narrows by more than an inch from the cabin forward. Another space maximizer is the use of pivoting seatbacks for the aft jump seats, which lets you open up the stern without having to find a place to stow removable seatbacks — always a difficult trick on a boat of this size.
Take a look:
It won't surprise anglers that Grady's Adventure 218 is primed for fishing, with four flush-mount rod holders in the gunwales, four rocket launchers on the hardtop pipework, fishboxes integrated into the seat bases, an optional livewell in the port seat base, a raw water washdown, and rodracks in the cabin and under the gunwales.
Pivoting seatbacks make for easier swim platform access.
The Adventure 218 boasts a number of family-friendly features, too, including twin molded-in swim platforms, a portable toilet in the cabin, a stereo system with Bluetooth, and options for a pull-up ski tow pylon and a 10-gallon freshwater system. Anglers who want a compact new boat with shelter for the kids or the ability to enjoy overnighting adventures should check this one out.