www.iFourWinns.com

The fuse panel in my Vista278 was showing signs of wear and there was a dead spot or two. The plastic for the new door was cut at a local factory and I bought two Blue Seas fuse boxes.

Old fuse panel



Getting ready to remove old panel


New Blue Seas fuse boxes


Nearly finished. The old system had 28 places, this one has 24. Three fuse areas are doubled up but this will be fixed. Access is easier and I have ring terminals rather than the push on type.

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John
2006 Four Winns Vista 278 (sold)

WOW! Thats nice! And much cleaner.
I like the covers over the terminals. It looks like you had to cut the opening since the new block looks larger or is it the pics that make it look different.

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--2002 3880 Regal Flybridge | Twin Merc 8.1HO **Seven**
--2003 AB 13 VST Console Inflatable | Tohatsu 40hp TLDI **Phish'n ski**
--310 Mercury Inflatable | 1982 9.9 Johnson

Looks great!

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-Tony
2016 Robalo R200 w/Yahama 200!

Previous boats:
2003 Four Winns 248 Vista - sold
1994 Sunbird Corsair 200 - sold
1980 Checkmate Predictor - sold

Nice job!

I cut the opening as large as possible given the amount of flat area available. Not as much room as I would have liked but still an improvemnent. One feature you can't see in the photo is that the plastic factory cut a rebate in the frame for the door. I had attempted to buy a standard hatch cover but couldn't find anything close to the required size. The Seaboard only cost $40 supplied and cut.

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John
2006 Four Winns Vista 278 (sold)

This is the Blue Seas fuse block which forms the basis of the renovation. The picture shows the model with a negative bus bar which I would have preferred but I couldn't squeeze two of them in. I installed fuse blocks without negative bus bars and have a separate bus bar which is buried below the spaghetti junction in the background.

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John
2006 Four Winns Vista 278 (sold)

Nice job! I had to make a similar repair on my 268.

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Jack
2005 268 Vista - Sold

2001 Silverton 35C 8.1L Crusaders

The wiring on my 2009 278 is so bizarre, huge current draws with nothing switched on and many components being supplied with less than 12V permanently when they should be " dead". Bilge pump wiring that could never have worked properly. I think I will rewire the whole boat this winter (clearly using as much of the original wiring as I can). The wiring schematics in the owners manual are wrong. FW steadfastly refuse to provide wiring schematics for my boat even to their dealers ! Either they are ashamed of what they did, or have no record of what they did ! I am very disappointed and that's before the fatal Volvo EVC issues are considered. A whole boating season lost. What a shambles.

My manual shows the wiring colors, for example navigation lights orange/gray, engine hatch orange, fridge red/green. Before pulling the old fuse panel out I labelled each wire and checked it against the color code. With the new fuses in place I pulled one fuse at a time to check that its device was correctly identified. Additions since leaving the factory were a little trickier. The latest development is a fuse layout diagram. Each circuit was tested before the drawing was finalized.

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John
2006 Four Winns Vista 278 (sold)

2009 seemed to be a tough year for FW offices. It was the year they broke up Genmar. I had tons of issues trying to find a part for my Glastron(same parent company then and now) Four Winns said everything was sold off, even schematics to remake the part were not to be found.
I think someone packed a truck and headed to Mexico.....

_________________
--2002 3880 Regal Flybridge | Twin Merc 8.1HO **Seven**
--2003 AB 13 VST Console Inflatable | Tohatsu 40hp TLDI **Phish'n ski**
--310 Mercury Inflatable | 1982 9.9 Johnson

I have no doubt I can sort it out; then I'll have a nice boat.

Whilst there was problems with the EVC system (shift actuator; failure ==> by no means safe, trim switch, shift lever, new shift lever refusing to work with HCU:what a BAD idea) I was reluctant to attack and sort out the conventional wiring. Now the EVC demon has been exorcised, I can progress !