Grady White 232 Gulfstream for Sale, Walkaround Buyer's Guide

Grady White 232 Gulfstream for sale, what you are actually shopping

Anyone searching for a Grady White 232 Gulfstream for sale is shopping the used market only. The 232 appears in Grady-White's past model year specifications through 2025, but it is absent from the 2026 catalog and the current website, where the walkaround range now tops out with the 30-foot Marlin 300. That leaves the Gulfstream as the last 23-foot cabin boat Grady-White built, and there is no direct factory replacement.

What you get is a 23-foot 5-inch walkaround with a 9-foot 3-inch beam, a cabin with two berths, a small galley and a head, and an open cockpit with two very large fish boxes and a 36-gallon livewell. It was offered as the 232S with a single outboard on a 30-inch shaft and as the 232D with twin outboards on 25-inch shafts, under a 400 hp rating. In plain terms, it is a fishing boat that lets you stay out of the rain, sleep aboard for a night and keep children out of the wind.

Where the Gulfstream name came from

Grady-White has used the Gulfstream name for decades. The 1979 catalog includes a 20-foot 205 Gulfstream, and the 1990 catalog lists a Gulfstream 23 beside the Seafarer 22, the Offshore 24 and the Marlin 28 that had introduced the SeaV2 hull in 1989. By the 2000 catalog the boat carried its familiar 232 designation and the dimensions it kept to the end: 23 feet 5 inches on the centerline, a 9-foot 3-inch beam, 27 inches of cockpit depth, 56 square feet of cockpit and a 17-inch hull draft at the time.

Specifications drifted over the years. The 2000 brochure lists 148 gallons of fuel and dry weights of 4,025 pounds for the single and 4,092 pounds for the twin. The 2014 sheet lists 141 gallons, a 20-inch draft and 4,538 and 4,605 pounds. The 2025 sheet keeps 141 gallons and 4,605 pounds and adds composite stringers and transom to the safety list. Check which era a boat belongs to before you compare prices.

A cabin you can really sleep in on a 23-footer

The Gulfstream's cabin is a working space rather than a cruiser's stateroom, but it is complete. Two berths, one upper and one lower, sleep two adults, with auxiliary cushions available. There is a port galley with a sink, an insulated ice box with overboard drain, under-berth and under-sink storage, an acrylic storage bin and nets, a forward hatch with screen, two opening side windows and a lockable companionway door with screen. Older boats list a butane stove in the galley.

The head evolved from a portable unit in its own compartment to an electric-flush marine head with a 7.5-gallon holding tank, macerator and deck pump-out on late boats. Folding rod racks in the cabin hold four rods and horizontal racks two more. Late boats also include a carbon monoxide detector, which you should test on any used example.

Fishing from the walkarounds and the cockpit

Recessed nonskid side decks run past the cabin to the bow, so an angler can follow a fish forward with a hand on the bow rail. In the cockpit, the fishing equipment is generous for the size, and in some ways better than on Grady's 23-foot center consoles.

• 36-gallon port livewell with light, full-column inlet and an 1,100 gph pump
• 265-quart starboard insulated fish box and a 297-quart insulated aft box, both draining overboard
• Four cockpit rod holders, six horizontal rack slots and hardtop rocket launchers
• Port livewell and starboard fish box cushions that turn the boxes into seats
• Foldaway aft bench, tackle drawers under the companion seat and tackle trays under the helm
• Full-width swim platform with ladder and a pressurized raw-water washdown
• Recessed freshwater cockpit shower fed by a 12-gallon tank

232S or 232D, choosing single or twin power

The single-engine 232S is lighter and cheaper to run and maintain, and with a large modern four-stroke it has plenty of performance for a boat of this weight. The twin 232D adds redundancy for offshore runs and the comfort of two engines in fog or cold water, at the cost of double maintenance and more weight in the stern. Grady-White did not publish performance data for this model on its current site, and we could not find an independent test with speed and fuel figures, so judge each boat by its sea trial and engine survey.

Whatever the rig, prioritize engine condition over model year. A 2005 hull with recent Yamahas is a better buy than a 2012 boat with tired original engines.

Why Pacific Northwest lodges run Gulfstreams

The Gulfstream's strongest following is in cold, wet water. When Boating joined the Northwest Grady-White Club on its 16-day, 700-mile circumnavigation of Vancouver Island, the docks at Walters Cove Resort in Kyuquot Sound were full of Express 330s and Gulfstream 232s, and the resort ran its own fleet of 232s for guests. Sport Fishing found the same at nearby Rugged Point lodge, where two or three anglers fish from each of three 23-foot Grady-White Gulfstreams.

The reasons are practical. A hardtop with front and side curtains and a drop curtain, a cabin to duck into, deep fish boxes for salmon and halibut, and a 9-foot 3-inch beam that is stable at downrigger speeds make the 232 well suited to a day of trolling in rain and swell.

What late-model boats added

Final-year boats carry a long standard list: a hardtop with painted aluminum frame, radio box, spreader lights, side rod holders, five rocket launchers, outrigger plates and full curtains; a bow pulpit with anchor windlass; Command Elite helm and companion chairs; a touchscreen stereo with six speakers; and windshield wipers with a washer. Options included a convenience package with battery charger and dockside power and 18-foot crank outriggers with carbon poles.

When owners outgrow a Gulfstream

A Grady-White owner review of the Marlin 300 captures the 232's limit honestly: the buyer thought the Gulfstream 232 would work, but after two seasons the family needed more room and moved up to the Marlin. Sleeping two in a 23-foot cabin is fine for a fishing trip, less so for a family weekend. If you plan regular overnights for more than two, look at a Marlin 300 or an Express 330; if you mainly day-fish and want weather protection, the Gulfstream remains one of the best small cabin boats ever built in North Carolina.

Budget around $7,000 to $15,000 a year depending on single or twin engines, storage and use.