Grady White Fisherman 236 Buyer's Guide for Anglers

The Grady White Fisherman 236 in a sentence or two

The Grady White Fisherman 236 is the 23-foot center console anglers tend to shortlist first: a single-outboard boat with an 8-foot 6-inch beam, an 18.5-inch draft and fishing equipment that would not look out of place on a dedicated bay boat, wrapped around a console head and family seating. It arrived for the 2017 model year and is still in the 2027 catalog, positioned between the Fisherman 216 and the twin-engine Fisherman 257.

It is built for the person who fishes most weekends and wants the family to come along the rest of the time. If the ratio is reversed, look at its sister, the Freedom 235, which shares the same 23-foot 7-inch length and beam but trades the open bow and fishing console for a dual console layout.

A 51-pound red drum on the Neuse River test boat

Salt Water Sportsman ran and fished an early 236 on North Carolina's Neuse River near Oriental with guide Capt. Scott Wood, three adults aboard, 86 gallons of fuel and a light chop. Before the instruments came out, the boat had already made its case: drifting a bank with mullet showering everywhere, the tester threw a big popper from the bow casting deck and boated a 51-pound red drum.

What made that easy was the layout. The forward deck has a fill-in section that turns the bow into a casting platform, the outboard 89-quart boxes enlarge the usable footprint, and toe rails and thick coaming bolsters run around the cockpit. The magazine's numbers with a Yamaha F300 were 28.5 mph at 3,000 rpm on 10.6 gph and a 46.3 mph top speed on 26.4 gph, almost exactly the factory's 46.6 mph and 26.2 gph. The hole shot was described as impressive and the steering effortless, and the SeaV2 hull sliced through rolling waves without hesitation.

Fish boxes, livewells and rod storage by the numbers

Grady-White's standard equipment list reads like a fishing boat spec sheet first and a family boat second. The deluxe lean bar is the option most anglers should treat as mandatory, because it doubles live bait capacity.

• 160-quart insulated fish box in the transom with overboard drain
• Two 89-quart insulated boxes under the port and starboard bow seats
• 15.5-gallon aft livewell with light, full-column inlet and an 800 gph pump, finished in bait-calming blue
• Optional deluxe lean bar adds a second 25-gallon livewell, rod holders and tackle storage
• Six horizontal rod racks, four gunwale rod holders and four on the lean bar
• 29-quart insulated box under the forward console seat
• Pressurized raw-water washdown, recessed freshwater shower and a 10-gallon freshwater tank
• Fiberglass transom door to the starboard platform and boarding ladder

One outboard, two sizes, and what each delivers

The 236 has always been a single-engine boat. Launch power choices were the Yamaha F250 and F300, with Salt Water Sportsman noting that the factory's 250 hp numbers showed only a modest drop to about 43.2 mph at the top. The rating later rose to 350 hp, and Grady-White retested the boat with Yamaha's 4.3-liter F350 in April 2024.

The comparison is instructive. The F350 adds about 5 mph at the top and cruises at essentially the same 3.0 mpg as the F300, so the bigger engine costs little at cruise and pays back in reserve power when the boat is loaded with ten people or punching home into a sea breeze. For most buyers the F300 is enough; for heavy loads or rough inlets, the F350 earns its premium.

Range is the 236's limiting factor. With today's 100-gallon tank and a 10 percent reserve, the F350's best cruise of 29.8 mph works out to about 270 statute miles, plenty for the inshore and nearshore work this boat is designed for.

Spec drift from 2017 to 2027

Read old reviews carefully, because several published numbers have changed. The 2017 specification listed 115 gallons of fuel, a 3,900-pound dry weight and a 300 hp rating, with bridge clearance of 6 feet 5 inches and 8 feet 2 inches with the T-top. Grady-White's current page lists 100 gallons, 4,135 pounds without engine, a 350 hp rating and a 7-foot 9-inch bridge clearance. The current boat also has Helm Master EX digital electric steering in its standard list, a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth stereo with LED speakers and four drains in the self-bailing cockpit.

In practice, an early boat has more range and a slightly lighter feel; a late boat has better steering, more standard equipment and more power available. Neither is a bad buy.

Fisherman 236 or Freedom 235 on the same footprint

Grady-White introduced the Fisherman 236 and the Freedom 235 within the same model year, both at 23 feet 7 inches by 8 feet 6 inches with 20 degrees of transom deadrise and both rated for 350 hp today. The difference is the deck. The 236 keeps 360-degree fishability: you can walk around the console, cast from the bow and fight a fish over either side. The 235 moves the helm to starboard, adds a companion console with a bigger head and a walk-through windshield that closes off the bow from wind and spray.

Choose the 236 if you fish more than you cruise, if you want the stand-up console seat and the casting deck, or if you plan to pole the flats on calm mornings with the 18.5-inch draft. Choose the 235 for cold-weather comfort, a more sociable cockpit and a slightly drier bow.

Owning a 236 and selling it later

Expect $7,500 to $13,000 a year for a typical owner covering Yamaha maintenance, insurance, storage on a lift or rack, and 100 to 150 hours of running, more in a wet slip with bottom paint. The 8-foot 6-inch beam tows legally without permits, though Grady-White's loaded test weights of roughly 5,550 to 5,750 pounds plus a tandem trailer calls for a three-quarter-ton truck if you trailer often.

Resale is one of the brand's strengths. Respondents in Sport Fishing's 2017 buyer's guide survey singled out the brand's cachet, service and resale values, and the 236's popularity on the East and Gulf coasts keeps used inventory moving. Boats with low hours, the T-top, the deluxe lean bar and recent electronics command the top of the range.