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2000 Grew Canada 174... 17ft / 5.18 m Bowrider Boats |
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2006 Grew Grew 186 GR Photos
2006 Grew Grew 186 GR Test Details
| Category | Bowrider |
| Length | 17ft 6in / 5.18 m |
| Dealers | Contact Grew Boats Dealers |
| Buyers Guides | Search For Grew Boats Buyers Guides |
| Boats For Sale | Search For Grew Boats For Sale |
2006 Grew Grew 186 GR Description
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Avenerable name in Canadian boat building is Grew, whose history of solidly made wooden boats has evolved into today's attractive and innovative line of fibreglass family runabouts. Our 186 GR Sport Deck test boat delighted us with solid performance and clever interior features.
This 17'6" long deep vee fibreglass runabout has a 7'4" beam, a hull weight of just under 1,500 lbs and like many contemporary outboard designs, has the stern extended to be both the engine mount and swim platform in one. This Sport Deck model has been designed with wake sports in mind and the swim platform, with its convenient telescoping boarding ladder, will make it easy to retrieve a skier from the water. Other exterior features include stern and spring cleats (yeah!) as well as the usual bow ring for mooring.
The bowrider area has handy grab handles and storage under the bow cushions but we felt it was more appropriately sized for children than adults. Instead, Grew has wisely put the emphasis on adding space to the cockpit. The layout is a wraparound bench seat with a smart aft-facing companion seat for wake sports watching. Two big storage areas are accessed from the companionway. There is more storage underneath the wraparound seat as well as a cooler that lives under the aft rear section and we counted seven interior drink holders.
The helm seat is attractive, comfortable and the instruments are mounted up high near the driver's line of sight for easy viewing. A row of lit switches controls the lights and accessories. Unfortunately, as we find so frequently with boats of this size equipped with a sleek, curved glass windshield, our six-foot test driver found the top rail directly in his line of sight forcing him to look either over the windshield or slump down to look through it. The tilt steering helps but it was mounted a bit low for our liking and a foot brace would be a good addition because the foot well is very spacious. Luckily, the helm seat has a flipup bolster helping you to see over the windshield.
Other good interior features include a Clarion stereo, underfloor ski locker, fibreglass floor with snap-out carpet and to make particularly good use of the wraparound seats, a removable picnic table.
Grew has sorted out the hull design very nicely. Equipped with its Yamaha 115 hp four stroke engine, our test boat rose a mere 10° in the transition from rest to planing speed, keeping the bow well down and out of the driver's line of sight. Or, maybe it was just that the Yamaha got on plane so quickly. On several tries we measured a mere 2.6 seconds from a standing start to watching the nose come down and a full speed blast to top speed took only 7.9 seconds. The Yamaha wound out to 6,000 rpm at 44 mph which is right on the mark but the acceleration was so sharp, so quick that we suspect the boat could pull a little bit more prop for an even higher top speed. Another way to look at it is that it can handle a family sized load or serious ski duties with ease. The Yamaha was delightfully quiet at idle and only reached 86 dB even at full speed. The boat cruised effortlessly at 21 mph turning 3,500 rpm and with a quick jab at the throttle would litreally jump to 6000 rpm and full speed. The boat steered well even when trimmed all the way up, turned in really tight and seemed to have both a smooth ride and good control crisscrossing other boats' wakes or the smallish waves we experienced on test day.
The Grew 186 GR Sport Deck delivers a really compelling combination of bright interior features, tow boat capabilities and strong overall performance. It's a sweet combination with the Yamaha 115.
2006 Grew Grew 186 GR Test Specifications
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Test boat engine: Yamaha F115, 115 hp inline 4 cylinder, 106.2 ci / 1,741 cc, DOCH, electronic fuel injection, driving a 13" x 19" stainless propeller
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