Grand Banks are good boats, well built for the most part. Until 1973 the GB36 was made of wood. In mid-1973 the line was switched to fiberglass although the wood and fiberglass models looked virtually identical until 1988 when they changed the molds. GB36s can be had with one or two engines, although two are more common.
A wood GB36 can run you from free to perhaps $90,000 for a perfect one. A more typical price range for a decent GB36 woody is perhaps $60k-80k.
A fiberglass GB36 can run from perhaps $70k for an old, somewhat neglected one to $300k for one of the last ones made in near-perfect condition.
If your budget dictates a GB36 made before the later 1990s, be prepared for a lot of exterior teak trim that needs periodic work to keep it looking good. The older the boat, the more trim there will be. Our '73 GB36 has a rainforest of exterior teak on it. We like the look and rather enjoy working on it--- sort of a woodworking hobby--- but a lot of people don't like to mess with it. Removing the trim or painting it lowers the resale value of the boat.
The last batch of GB36s made, the so-called GB36 "Lite," were made with hardly any exterior teak. The caprail is teak, but the handrails and grabrails are stainless and there is no cabin-side trim. This was not done because buyers didn't want or like the look of teak but as a last-ditch effort to keep the price of the GB36 competitive. The boat was simplified in other ways, too. It didn't work and the line was discontinued for good after only a few of the "Lite" models were made.
With the exception of a few special orders, all GBs were made with teak decks. On the woodies the teak is laid over a wood subdeck, on the fiberglass boats the teak is laid over a fiberglass-plywood-fiberglass subdeck "sandwich." While teak is a superior deck surface to anything else in terms of traction, wet or dry, and it is a major contributor to the "character" of a GB, a teak deck can be a major headache if it's not been properly taken care of.
Our boat still has its original teak deck, which is now 37 years old. It's in pretty good shape despite previous owners sanding it too much. We had it regrooved and reseamed not long after acquiring the boat and so today it takes no real maintenance other than periodic washing with salt water and Lemon Joy. But a teak deck that's been abused or neglected can be a major and expensive pain. Replacing a teak deck on a GB36 cost between $20,000 and $30,000 in 1999 when we looked into it--- given the cost of good teak and the rising cost of labor I'm sure it's much more today.
You can replace a bad teak deck with a fiberglass deck--- the teak is removed, the subdeck is prepared, one to three layers of fiberglass is applied followed by a non-skid surface. I've seen this done on several boats near us in our marina, in particular a beautiful owner-done job on an Island Gypsy on our dock. In most of these cases it probably increased the resale value of the boat.
This is typically not the case when it comes to a GB. While replacing the teak deck results in a solid, maintenance-free deck if it's done right, it also lowers the resale value of the boat as evidenced by what's happened to the prices of the occasional GB with a fiberglass replacement deck that's come through the large and very active GB dealer in our marina. In some cases the boat wouldn't sell until the price was lowered by the same amount it would cost to install a new teak deck.
So you pick your poison with a GB with a bad deck surface. You repair or replace the teak or you remove the teak and risk getting less for the boat when you sell it. There are a few GB buyers who like the idea of a fiberglass deck but according to our local GB broker these buyers are extremely rare. Most people who want a GB want the character of the boat "intact" and the teak deck is a big part of that. It's why almost all new GBs are still delivered with a teak deck, although these days they are glued down, not screwed down, which helps a lot.
There are four configurations of GB36 to pick from. To use GB's own nomenclature and in the order of their popularity, they are the Classic, the Europa, the Motoryacht, and the Sedan.
The "Classic," aka tri-cabin, is what we have.* It and the similar Motoryacht are the only GB36 configurations that have two heads.* In the post-1988 models, the forward head was made large enough to double as a shower stall.* The aft head always had a shower but in the pre-1988 models the forward head is only large enough for a toilet and sink.
The next most common configuration is the "Europa," which has no aft cabin, a longer forecabin and main cabin, and a boat deck that overhangs the side decks and aft deck. The aft deck is often enclosed with clear curtains.
The "Sedan" is a Europa without the boat deck overhang, and the "Motoryacht" is a tri-cabin with a full-width aft cabin. I suppose this last could also be considered a "sundeck" although the aft cabin top is lower than on the boats more commonly called "sundecks."
In our rainy, damp climate, the Europa configuration is the best in my and just about everyone else's opinion.* The covered and enclosable aft deck lets you be outside without being outside on those rainy or windy days (which is pretty much all of them up here).* However, the tri-cabin brings the benefit of two staterooms and two heads which can be of great benefit if you boat with guests or kids.* The Motoryacht with its full-width aft cabin is not very popular here as it can make it difficult to get onto a dock.* The character of the docks up here is such that you pretty much have to put someone onto them as you arrive.* The* Motoryacht also can present challenges to launching and retreiving a dinghy.* In a GB36, the additional width gained by the full-width aft cabin is not worth giving up a complete walk-around deck for, but that's just my opinion.
The Sedan models are very rare and so far as I can tell, for good reason. You don't have the benefit of the separate aft cabin and you don't have the benefit of the covered aft deck.* All you have is a boat with a forward stateroom and big main salon.* So if you have guests you have to make up a berth at night in the main cabin and then take it apart the next morning.* I have heard this configuration is popular with sport fishermen but a GB is about the last boat I'd pick for fishing.* So I can understand why you almost never see a GB sedan, and the few that have come through the dealership in our marina have taken forever--- years sometimes--- to sell, while all the other configurations were selling quite quickly.
Most older GB36s were built with Ford Lehman engines. Initially they used the FL120. Later boats had the FL135. The Lehman is a reliable but very outdated, very inefficient engine by today's standards. Parts are still easy to get and there are plenty of shops that still know how to work on them.* Most Lehman engines are fitted with Borg Warner Velvet Drive transmissions.* They are okay but they aren't great and can be a source of problems.* Later GB36s tend to have Cummins engines in them, which are considerably more efficient, smoother, and quieter than the Lehmans. And there are probably examples out there with factory-installed John Deere and perhaps other more modern makes, too.* I don't know if they ever put Cat engines in a GB36 at the factory.* They did in the GB42, but I don't know about the smaller boat.
Typical cruise speed of a GB36 with one or two Lehmans is about 8 knots. They'll go faster but there's not much point. Fuel burn with an FL120 is about 2.5 gph per engine at a cruise speed of 7.5 to 8 knots.* If you run a single engine boat (Lehman) hard enough to go 8 knots you'll probably burn about 3-4 gph.* The newer engine types burn less.
The primary advantage you get with a GB is consistency of build quality. As opposed to* some of the so-called "Taiwan Trawlers" (GB36s were made of wood in Kowloon and fiberglass in Singapore) which can have a wide range of build quality because of the methods used by the yards in Taiwan.* This is more typical of boats made in the 70s and 80s.* I expect the current boats made in Taiwan are much more consistent in their quality.
American Marine (the parent company that made Grand Banks boats) built their boats with a high degree of consistency. Every GB is pretty much the same in terms of quality as every other GB. That's not to say a neglected GB won't be a piece of crap, but they all started out as very high quality boats and that helps them hold up physically and value-wise for more years than is typical of this type of boat.
Most GBs other than the very newest ones have wood windows.* By which I mean frame, sill, etc.* Like almost all boats with every type of window, all windows seem to develop leaks eventually, and the GB is no exception.* Fortunately, the GB windows are very easy to overhaul if one has the time and minimal skill required.* Otherwise.... well, a few years ago the local shipwright who works on the very large GB charter fleet in our marina told me that he charged a flat $1,000 to completely rebuild a GB window, including new glass.* Given that there are 18 windows on a GB36 tri-cabin you can understand the motivation my wife and I had to learn to overhaul them ourselves.
While we have rebuilt almost all the windows on our boat none of them were overhauled because they were leaking. Surprisingly, we've not had any window leaks on our boat--- the windows were redone because frames needed re-sealing and finishing, window tracks needed relacing, glass needed replacing, etc.* It's not something that has to be done on a regular basis--- we rebuilt our first window 12 years ago and today it's no different than the day we finished the rebuild.
But all in all, a good boat. * We've had ours for 12 years now and we continue to use it year round. That said, I would not recommend a Grand Banks to someone getting into this kind of boating unless they have a very large budget or a lot of time and skill to work on a boat. * Other than a fairly new one--- say from the late 1990s on, a GB tends to be a fair amount of work.* There are other makes that cost considerably less, are as well if not better designed, and will require far less effort to keep up. The only thing in my opinion that the GB name gets you is a very high build quality.* But there are other makes that aren't far off GB's standard.* If you want a turn-key boat--- you come down, get on, start it, take your cruise, come home, turn it off, hose it down and go home and do this year after year--- a Grand Banks would be a real disappointment to you, I think.
I don't know anything about the Monk. But based on your brief description in your initial post, I would say something other than a GB would perhaps suit you better.
While I am not a particular fan of the GB--- I believe a pilothouse design (Krogen, Fleming, De Fever, Victory Tug, etc.) is a far more useful and versatile layout--- there obviousy are a lot of people who think a GB is the best thing since sliced bread.* If you want to learn more about GBs you might consider joining (it's free) the Grand Banks Owners Association at
http://www.grandbanksowners.com.* There are some extremely knowledgable GB owners on that forum like Bob Lowe and, like this forum, there are categories where you can post questions and start discussions.* There is also a very user-friendly search function for the forum archives.
-- Edited by Marin on Wednesday 19th of May 2010 05:12:58 PM
