www.iFourWinns.com

We are new boat owners, almost. Delivery scheduled for mid March. Here is my checklist of the items I am trying to pre-purchase:
Anchor (including chain [if appropriate] and rope.) - looking for recommendations.
Bumpers (4 taylor made 6 1/2 x 22") - on order.
Ropes (4 15' 1/2" double braided) - already puchased.
Ropes (2 20' 1/2 double braided) - already purchased.
First Aid Kit - already purchased.
Marine tool kit - looking for recommendations.
Drink cousies - put a bag of them together.
Cooler - comes with boat and have others.
Life Jackets - Have plenty to get started.
VHF Radio
Cleaning Supplies

Let me have it. What else am I forgeting?

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2008 H210SS VP 5.7 Gi/SX
2011 Ford F150 FX4 EB

Gas money

Seriously though, be prepared for the possibility of buying some of your stuff again once you've got the boat and have begun using everything. We started with the same fenders you listed and replaced them promptly after using them the first time. I'm not saying you'll have any problems with them - lots of people love them - I'm just saying you don't really know what you have or what you need until you've tried different things.

On the coozies, one of our members here did a group buy on some FW-logo'd GREAT coozies. I wonder if he'd get some more made if enough people begged him

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

Hey Impulse - welcome & congratulations!

You have a great list going. If you are not having a VHF installed on your boat, find a good, full-power portable. I don't know if your dealer throws in a fire extinguisher (or if it comes from the factory) but be sure to have one aboard. Pick up flares and a hand-held air horn plus a deployable flotation device such as a floating cushion. Binoculars are great to have and, depending on where you do your boating, charts are a must. So is a roll of duct tape.

Other items to pass the time buying... Cleaning supplies, a ship's log to record your good times, monitor fuel consumption and track your maintenance. Then go completely overboard (no pun intended) like me and get towels, hats and a welcome mat with your boat's logo (it's a sickness).

Polite correction time... (you'd eventually hear it from someone else):
"ropes" = lines
"bumpers" = fenders

Happy shopping!

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Previously:
2008 V358/Volvo 5.7 GXi Inboards

Hey Impulse, you need to back up a pinch. For this board step #1 needs to be Post Pic's! Especially since you are a fellow SS owner

Good list.... Hey, we've got the thread about drain plugs. Maybe we need to start a pre-float check list as well?

Welcome!

_________________
Walt B
"Debt-Charged"
Black '07 H210SS
6.2L Bravo One turning a 21P HIFive
Wakeboard Tower with Perfect Pass Stargazer version
Missouri River; Kansas City, Mo.

Great, thanks guys for the warm welcome. I'll definately get some pic's posted as soon as we get the boat. Scheduled for delivery some time in March. Closest they could tell us was mid-March. I was definately thinking about the VHF radio and it does come with the fire extinguisher.
I am sort of a neat freak as well, so I was thinking I'd put together a small box of cleaning supplies like: spray vinyl cleaner, paper towel, trash bags, windex, etc. Maybe even a small portable 12v vaccume cleaner or dustbuster type thing, which may be better off left in the garage.

230 Mike, I totally understand about having to repurchase some items, but that's partly why I started this list, to hopefully avoid as much of that as possible. I'm curious why you singled out the fenders? Did you not like the brand or the size? The Taylor Made brand came highly recommended by a friend that has a beautiful 23 ft Crownline. He got the Large ones and they are huge, I went one size smaller, just to conserve a little space.

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2008 H210SS VP 5.7 Gi/SX
2011 Ford F150 FX4 EB

First, after re-reading your post, I think we had the next size smaller Taylors (4 or 4.5" I think). 6.5" might be just fine, and a good compromise for space purposes.

I only used fenders as an example because they were the most glaring disappointment of all the things we've bought for the boat. The first time we slipped the boat in a transient slip during a 1-week vacation, it was immediately obvious that the small diameter of those fenders made them ineffective in protecting the boat. Again, whether or not a 6.5" fender would have been enough, I can't really remember - maybe so. I also noted that the Taylors deflated very quickly and needed to be pumped back up every few days. A little smaller boat, and/or knowing for sure ahead of time that your slip is well padded and properly maintained, and I wouldn't worry as much about the fenders. For us, until we arrive at our destination we never know for sure what kind of docking conditions we'll have to deal with. We found that having 8" fenders enables us to dock anywhere and deal with any conditions without losing sleep over whether the boat was safe. On the 240, there's room to store four 8" fenders along with everything else; I just think whatever the largest ones you can comfortably store - kind of like getting the largest diameter lines that will fit your cleats - is the safe way to go. The first time you tie up in a slip with a bunch of rusty nails sticking out where the padding used to be, you'll be glad you made the choice.

This will be the 3rd season with our Polyforms, and for the first time since purchase I'll probably need to give them a pump or two of air at the beginning of the season.

As to radios - although I have a handheld and agree that everyone ought to have a radio of some kind on board, I can tell you that in KS and MO - including Table Rock - you'll hear very little, if any, radio traffic. In some parts of the country a radio is an absolute must-have piece of equipment; around here it really isn't. At TR, the terrain is such that even with a fixed mount and 8' antenna there will be places no one hears you - forget about a handheld.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

In lieu of a radio, I carry a cell phone at all times. I have the luxury of getting a decent signal on most/all of the lakes I normally boat at, so I can get away with that. Obviously, an unreliable signal makes a radio a lot more of a priority so that is something one should keep in mind when deciding between the two.

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Paul
2007 Four Winns Horizon 220
Mercruiser 350 Mag MPI w/ Bravo III Drive
2004 Ford Explorer Limited (V8-AWD)
Pomme de Terre Lake (Southwest Missouri)

Good point on the Radio's. I guess we would be taking our cell phones with us anyway, but the radio may be a good back-up in the event we broke down.

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2008 H210SS VP 5.7 Gi/SX
2011 Ford F150 FX4 EB

I always keep a cell phone with me. At the KC area lakes, you just never know when you urgently need to order a pizza and have delivered to the dock. You can't imagine how many times that has saved us from utter starvation!

_________________
Walt B
"Debt-Charged"
Black '07 H210SS
6.2L Bravo One turning a 21P HIFive
Wakeboard Tower with Perfect Pass Stargazer version
Missouri River; Kansas City, Mo.

A cell phone is useless for getting help from other boaters. With a radio you're BROADcasting to anyone in range and listening. With a cell phone you're stuck calling one number at a time, and then only if you know the numbers. Don't substitute one for the other as they're BOTH useful. That and a VHF radio built into the boat will BE THERE when you need it, not buried in a locker or bag somewhere. And if you're worried about having to take it overboard, well, there's a whole other checklist for a 'ditch bag'.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

I agree they both may be useful, but I think it's important for new boaters to realize that a radio - fixed or HH - may also turn out to be useless, depending on where they're boating. In fairness, a cell phone may turn out to be useless also. Best bet is both, but don't assume either will bring help.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

Another option, which we used to do in our old boat quite a bit as it got older, is to just have the boat not start at the ramp. That way you don't even go out on the water. Try it sometime. It is foolproof. If your boat won't start at the ramp, you definitely won't get stranded in the middle of the lake.

In all seriousness, I saved the phone number of a local tow service in both my wife and I's cell phones so that we would always have that number in the event we needed it.

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Paul
2007 Four Winns Horizon 220
Mercruiser 350 Mag MPI w/ Bravo III Drive
2004 Ford Explorer Limited (V8-AWD)
Pomme de Terre Lake (Southwest Missouri)

Excellent point, and another great reason to check someone's profile location too. I see he's listed as Corinth in north Texas. Probably lake boating. Some lakes have better VHF coverage than others (as in, likelihood of there being anyone actually listening). That and places with canyons or high walls aren't known for decent cell OR radio coverage. So I'll defer to someone else that has local experience there, anyone?

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

For the most part the N. TX lakes that we frequent are close to populated areas and no high cliffs, etc. Possum Kingdom is another story along with Lake Travis in Austin. Both remind me very much of Table Rock in MO, except on a much smaller scale. In some places they all have massive cliffs. Beautiful but not so good for reception. I think a cell phone and VHF radio are the best you could do and I will get the radio once I get some of the other stuff out of the way. In the meantime, I'll have to count on the cell phone and the kindness of strangers.

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2008 H210SS VP 5.7 Gi/SX
2011 Ford F150 FX4 EB

I started out with the small fenders last year and picked up some 5.5" Taylor Made ones over the winter. Definitely something you don't realize is too small until you try to use it.

Over the winter I've gone through and upgraded some of the basics that I picked up last year when starting out based on what we used and how we used the boat.

I always bring my phone (turned off mostly), then again the lake is close to home and reception is good, and found a small handheld radio that I can keep on board just in case.

Your idea of the cleaning box is good, I keep mine in the garage though. No sense having on board unelss you're cleaning out on the water. I bring 2 small towels for the kids to dry the boat after we pull out.

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-Rob.


Current boat: 2011 Yamaha AR210
Previous boat: 1998 Horizon RX 4.3GL SX