Grady-White Canyon 456 Center Console Review
Size matters—the new Grady-White Canyon 456 is the biggest Grady White center console ever built.
The Grady-White Canyon 456 is the biggest Grady White center console ever built. If size matters when you’re looking at a new fishing boat, then this is one you’ll want to take an in-depth look at—starting with this First Look Video, which we shot at the Miami International Boat Show during its unveiling.
In this case, although we are talking about a Grady-White, we do use the term “fishing boat” a bit loosely. Yes, the Canyon 456 has all the features you need to bag everything from a minnow to a marlin. There’s a huge 459-quart fishbox with integrated freezer coils and a digitally controlled thermostat built into the transom, flanked by a pair of 35-gallon insulated livewells with full column water inlets. The back of the hard-top pipework has a full array of rocket launchers to complement the six flush rod holders in the cockpit and four more in the bow. The inwales are so dang long Grady includes not one but two sets of under-gunwale rodracks on both sides of the boat, which also have locking hatches that close over the aft end to protect your reels. There’s plenty of tackle stowage built into the mezzanine-style seating. And as expected, the cockpit is rather enormous.
But lest you imagine a rough-and-tumble fish-fighting arena, know that this cockpit is also designed to pamper. It has chilled air blasting from the outdoor air conditioning, right behind the triple aft-facing mezzanine-style seats and also at the helm station. While the mezzanine seating may be ideal for bait-watching, it’s also ideal for sunbathing. And we’d agree that the giant LCD screen mounted in the transom could be used for fish-hunting with the fishfinder, but it seems a lot more likely to be used for entertaining views of things like dredge-cams and other underwater video feeds. Fishing boat? Nah—the Grady-White Canyon 456 is really more of a center console yacht that you can fish from.
The Canyon 456 is one massive center console, and in truth is more yacht than boat.
Yacht, or Not?
To be a yacht, of course, you need accommodations. Never fear, there’s plenty of room for a serious cabin inside that huge center console. It has a forward dinette that converts into a berth, a fully-enclosed stand-up head with a separate shower stall, and a galley with a refrigerator, microwave oven, cook-top, and six-bottle wine chiller. The entire space is chilled, too, via a 12,00 Btu air-conditioning system that comes standard. The cabin also has a yacht-like feel, with a teak sole and a teak dinette table, wine glass racks over the galley, and integrated lighting in the overhead.
Gentrified though it may be, the cabin does not ignore the angler in you. It has multiple rod stowage areas built-in, each of which is quite clever and makes use of space in unexpected ways. To either side of the V-berth, there are racks for a pair of rigs as large as 30’s tucked under the side-decks. The would be a major pain in the butt to access there, accept that Grady-White came up with that utterly ingenious way of accessing the space that we saw in the video: grab the rack itself, pull inboard, and it slides out on tracks for easy access. A clip-down top holds the rods in place no matter how rough it gets, but can be popped free with one hand.
Four more rods can sit in vertical holders by the galley, where they’re secured in place with a slide-uot support. This is a bit less impressive than those forward racks but it’s an effective way of stowing rods, and there’s one more surprise in store. Duck into the head, swing out the door laying against the aft bulkhead (which serves as the divider between the commode and shower stall) and you’ll discover another set of four vertical holders in a spot where it didn’t seem possible to locate a darn thing. Added bonus: fire up the shower, and the stall acts as a post-fishing washdown closet for your gear.
Between the berth, head, and galley rodracks, there’s dedicated stowage for 12 full-sized offshore rigs in the cabin of the Canyon 456.
Up in the bow, more yacht-like features abound. As is true on most giant center consoles, the top of the console cabin supports a monstrous sunpad. It boasts a thickly-cushioned backrest, and fold-down arm rests. The bow is so utterly huge, however, that there’s still room for a full forward bow cockpit with wrap-around seating and a split-table dinette. As such the bow isn’t dedicated fishing territory by a long shot, and you wouldn’t want to station more than a pair of anglers forward of the console while drift fishing or casting. But it does offer plenty of relaxing and socializing space—space which any yacht needs, of course. And again, considering the boat’s sheer volume, we wonder if it will ever make much of a difference to all but the hardest-core anglers. After all, you can still find room for eight or 10 swinging rods. Will that ever fall short? We seriously doubt it.
Thunder at the Transom
Whether you’re more interested in the fishing aspects of the Canyon 456 or its yachty attitude, the brace of quadruple Yamaha F350 outboards lining the transom are sure to please. Cruise is in the mid 30’s and top-end hits 55 MPH, which is rather stellar for a boat of this size and weight. Better yet, at cruise the 365 gets better than 0.6 GPH. While that may not seem very efficient at first glance, remember that this is a 12-ton boat – unloaded. And this is about the same cruising fuel economy you’d commonly see from a twin diesel convertible or express sportfishing boat of this length, but with a whole lot more zip at top-end.
Another performance high-point will come clearly into focus when the seas get snotty. The Canyon 456 comes standard with a Seakeeper 6 gyroscopic stabilization system. We texted these units extensively while researching How Seakeeper Works: Gyroscopic Stabilization for Boats, and found that they reduced rocking and rolling by up to an amazing 90-percent. Add to that the standard ZipWake auto-leveling dynamic trim system, and you’ll soon discover that there’s no need to stow the stemware prior to making that long run home after a day of fishing.
Size Matters
After going through this boat stem to stern, we’re ready to make a claim almost as big as the Canyon 456 itself: this isn’t just the largest Grady-White ever built, it’s also the best. It somehow manages to provide the perks and pleasures of a luxury yacht, right alongside all the fishing features you need to bag a blue-water behemoth. It offers the performance of an outboard boat, with the efficiency you’d expect from a diesel inboard boat. And it has the accommodations of a cruiser, built into the foot-print of a center console.
The cabin in the Grady-White Canyon 456 is worthy of being called yacht-quality.
You want a true center console yacht? The search ends right here.
Other Choices: Shoppers looking at this model will likely also want to see the Everglades 435cc, which puts more emphasis on the fishing end of things and less on the luxury touches. Another contender will be the Boston-Whaler 420 Outrage, which is currently Whaler’s largest offering. Another to look at, particularly for the performance-minded anglers among you, could be the Hydra-Sports 4200 SF.
See Grady-White Canyon 456 listings.
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Length | 45'0" |
| Beam | 14'0" |
| Draft | 2'6" |
| Deadrise | 21 degrees |
| Displacement | 24,500 lbs |
| Fuel capacity | 616 gal. |
| Water capacity | 80 gal. |
