www.iFourWinns.com

Just wanted to say hello. My wife, kids and I bought our first boat this summer and are loving it. I've been boating/fishing since a little kid and it's great to finally share that with my family. I've been reading through a lot of the forum postings and have found them very helpful. Had a starter problem a couple weeks ago and diagnosed it pretty quickly thanks to all of you.

Here's a picture...it's the 245 and we love all the room. Hoping to afford some new upholstery this winter and a few odds and ends...not sure I can hang with Ric's mods though.

Want to get the rest of the camper enclosure this winter and hopefully a slip next boating season. I live near south lyon Michigan so any suggestions on inland boat slips (where my boat fits!) or Lake St. Clair would be great.

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1996 Sundowner 245 DLX
5.7L Volvo Penta SX

Great looking Sundowner! Looks very clean indeed! Welcome to the forum!

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1988 215 Sundowner 5.7L OMC

Welcome! Great looking SD! What type seating do ya have? U-Shaped or the sunsport? Also, what type engine drive combo ya runnin?

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1996 205 Sundowner DLX
5.0FL Volvo SX Cobra
Tow Veh: 2012 Nissan Frontier Pro-4X

Welcome aboard! Nice boat!!

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Walter

2003 248 Vista - VP 5.0 GXi
2009 Toyota Tundra SR5 5.7L 4x4

We have the 5.7GL with the SX drive. The previous owner put a stainless prop on it and seems to help. Still think it's a bit underpowered - but for the size of the boat it seems to move pretty well (close to 45 WOT - but I'm not sure I trust the speedometer).

The seating is the L-shaped seat. Driver's captain chair & lounger on the passenger's side. Would love to put in a new captains chair and reupholster the lounger & rear seats. I'm getting tired of re-stitching!! : )

Been trying to keep an eye on some of the mod's people have been making on their sundowner's. Has anyone checked out the Plasteak flooring? Been considering replacing some of my carpeting with this in the cabin and using the plasdeck flooring in the cockpit. Any experience? http://www.plasteak.com

Would also like to replace my dash (not a fan of that cluster). I see the replacement for the VDO cluster with Faria instruments, but not sure if a completed "plug & play" kit is still made for a 1996 SD? I'm admittedly not handy enough to re-wire all new instruments if it's not plug & play.

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1996 Sundowner 245 DLX
5.7L Volvo Penta SX

Eh, depends on what ya want the boat for. Tubing, skiing, cruisin'? SD's aren't speed boats. Me personally, I like to cruise (25 knots is my sweet spot). But I can pull a 2 person tube with 4 adults in the boat easily too. Now, I realize my SD is 4 feet shorter than yours, but with the 5.7 and a SS prop you should be able to do just about anything ya want.


I have never been a fan of the lounge seat. Have you considered adding another captains seat in its place? It really opens up the deck space. I have the U-shaped seating with 2 captains chairs, and its really nice to have the space even in a 205.

No experience with the plasteak decking, sorry. Also the VDO gauge change out is a well documented item here. Lots of postings about it. Post some more pics of your SD. Always like seeing boats of the same year with different layouts.

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1996 205 Sundowner DLX
5.0FL Volvo SX Cobra
Tow Veh: 2012 Nissan Frontier Pro-4X

Welcome to the forum.

Some people have posted about "FlexiTeak" and like the look, but hate how scorching hot it gets in the sun. Not sure if PlasTeak is the same thing.

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"Knot Easy" 2000 Horizon 240 Volvo 5.7GS /SX
tow: 2017 Honda PILOT EXL-AWD
prev. boats:
'87 Chaparral 198CXL 4.3 OMC Cobra
'69 Jetstar 16ft Ski Boat, 115hp Yamaha
'68 Aluminum Jon Boat, 3hp Sears
'64 Water Wings

welcome aboard!

pics, pics, pics and more pics.....

she looks great on the outside.

A 5.7GL is a 2bbl carb I believe, I am sure with some tuning you could fit a 4bbl intake and carb that would help some. if it were me in the winter I would install a better camshaft and 4bbl conversion

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"Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes "

1996 238 Vista dlx "Casper's Toy Too"
2006 5.0GXI w/closed cooling, DP-sm 1.95 drive
Previous boat:
1998 Sundowner 205

Here are a few pics of the inside when I purchased the boat. Hard to see from the pics, but some of the stitching was coming loose and I hand stitched them back together.

Any ideas that anyone has for upgrades and improvements please let me know. I'm storing the boat indoors this winter and plan on spending some time trying to cherry out the inside.

Priority checklist for the winter....

1. New upholstery
2. Camper Canvas (already have the bimini and the front glass)
3. new flooring (found a soft spot in the cabin where the step is attached!) Haven't decided on Plasteak yet but interested.
4. Faria Guages

The first three are expensive, so I will only do what I can. Any other ideas from the board are very welcomed.

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1996 Sundowner 245 DLX
5.7L Volvo Penta SX

Look into Seadek for the cockpit. Not hot, handles water well, and very durable. Easy to install as well.

http://www.seadek.com/?type=GoogleAdWor ... Ogody0IAgQ

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One of 4 Previous (Sold) Boats:
2000 Four Winns 268 Vista

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

Wow, that is a clean SD! I haven't done too many mods to mine other than general cleaning, detailing and such. I did paint the non-skid on my swim deck to match the teal stripe, and I converted all my lighting to LED (navigation, anchor, cockpit, etc). I am currently in the process of switching over all the plastic pieces on my bimini to stainless steel too. But boy, is that an expensive conversion.

If ya don't mind telling, how much did ya pay for her?

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1996 205 Sundowner DLX
5.0FL Volvo SX Cobra
Tow Veh: 2012 Nissan Frontier Pro-4X

Congratulations, a very nice clean 245 ( the best Sundowner, but I'm biased of course !), By 2002 my 1999 225 Sundowner had all the black paint falling off the cuddy door frame, I can only blame it on the salt water atmosphere, The white paint on my 2004 one is lasting better, but is now showing some bubbling. I try very hard to maintain my saltwater 2004 boat, but your freshwater boat looks so new compared to mine ! I shouldn't be that surprised I suppose, floating anything in the sea for 6 months can't be good for it!

Looks great, can't believe the year vs the condition.
Graham the only way around it is for us salties to man up and quit buying as we call em here in the US 'lake boats' which are boats more designed for freshwater. You'd do well with a salt water style walk-around boat (raised cuddy style, outboard power). Even if you're not a fisherman, the boats designed to live in salt are much less work to maintain. Now that we are forced (if you buy new or nearly new) to accept newer I/Os with EFI and Cat exhaust systems here in the US, that is what it took to overcome my reluctance to move to modern 4 stroke outboard power (great engines but very expensive to buy and repair).

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

Come on Lou! We've heard that story from you already. Some of us like our FW I/O boats, even in Salt water or mixed use. I have absolutely no interest in a center-console fishing boat, or an overpriced Keywest dual console. My last I/O "lake boat" made it to 25 years old with a great deal of salt use, and I only averaged about $400/year doing my own maintenance on the boat and trailer. That includes refurbishing the floor and upholstery, buying covers, etc.

If you admire "real marine engines" so much, then go ahead and buy one. Your attempts at convincing the rest of us is like going on a forum for customized vans, and telling them how much more practical a pick-up is. While true in many ways, some people prefer a customized van, even though they are quite aware of the existence of pick-ups.

The extra work it takes to clean up my boat after salt use is how it got the name "Knot Easy", but I like the comfort/plushness of the Horizon. I like my small block Chevy and Volvo Penta SX drive and find it insulting when someone implies that it is not a real marine engine. In my 4 decades of boating, I have had 5 outboards and 2 I/O's and have done a lot of work on each of them, so I do know what the differences are.

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"Knot Easy" 2000 Horizon 240 Volvo 5.7GS /SX
tow: 2017 Honda PILOT EXL-AWD
prev. boats:
'87 Chaparral 198CXL 4.3 OMC Cobra
'69 Jetstar 16ft Ski Boat, 115hp Yamaha
'68 Aluminum Jon Boat, 3hp Sears
'64 Water Wings

Just wait till one day, a cooling hose pops off like happened to me and fills the bilge with salt water in no time. That can't happen with an OB and neither can you get a leak in the driveshaft bellows that ruins the gimble and u-joints because you don't catch it in time. You keep yours on a lift right? Mooring in salt (all we have here are moorings unless you get into a real expensive marina) is a whole 'nuther headache. As in anti fouling paint that does not work on aluminum for even half the season and barnacles growing in the water intakes. I would not have another......Especially because any of the newer I/Os (since '08 anyway) have cat converter exhaust big cost for manifolds.

If you trailer, or use a lift, then yes you can run them without too much trouble. Have you ever slipped or moored a boat with an I/O in salt for any length of time? Had to paint the drive 2 x in a 6 month season because the new environmentally paint does not work? Had to split the drive every other season because the water intakes are clogged with barnacles? At almost 58 years of age this is stuff I don't want to deal with anymore. Your comments tell me you have always trailered or used a lift which is fine. My comments were in reference to Graham's and mine use. The hardest for I/Os that is. When I pull it out at the end of Oct I'll take a photo so you can see what it looks like after just 2-3 months.

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II