www.iFourWinns.com

This weekend I put my boat in and ran just a little ways to the beach. When I was beaching her (I know I shouldn't) I beached as usual then gave her a little throttle to put her on land for the day and felt a thud. I hit something, it wasn't bad but enough to stop the boat. Got out and tried to look and my outdrive was in the sand, just a little-maybe an inch of the keel. Raised it and inspected, didn't see any damage. So went on enjoying the day.

About 2 hours later my auto bilge kicked on...uh oh! I have never seen this happen except while on the trailer and after a hard rain, the boat rarely takes on any water. By the time I opened the engine compartment the bilge was off and it was almost empty. I looked around and couldn't see any water coming in. Waited and in about an hour it kicked on again.

I decided I had better get her on the trailer and see what was going on. No hull damage that I could see..and no bilge the entire trip back. I let her sit for a little while and started looking for leaks...it looks like there may be a trickle of water from where the outdrive mounts on the hull, as seen here;

but to be honest there was no way to really tell as she was still pretty wet and it could've been running down from anywhere. When I finally pulled the plug I would guess about 4 gallons came out, more than I have ever seen, but even on the ramp with all the water in the aft, not enough to turn on the bilge.

So how do I figure out where the leak is? My guess is to fill my bilge with water. But I don't want to get things wet that shouldn't get wet (starter, electrical, etc.)

Should I just bite the bullet and take her to a shop?

TIA,

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Chris and Alicia
Las Vegas, NV
ALTIVA
1996 Four Winns 238 Vista Dlx 5.8Fi

That would be the most logical way to test it, if you crank the tongue jack all the way up, tilt the drive up a bit then you don't have to put as much water in. If you have access you could also try tightening the nuts that hold the inner transom mount tight, if they were not that tight that minor beaching may have tweaked the seal just a bit.

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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

Thanks Lou that's good advice. I will have to look and see if I may have access.

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Chris and Alicia
Las Vegas, NV
ALTIVA
1996 Four Winns 238 Vista Dlx 5.8Fi

What Lou wrote is sensible; the transom shield mounting nuts might have been slightly loose ( all nuts on a boat seem to come loose !) and the jolt may have just been enough to break free the physical joint between the seals and the transom. All plastics suffer from "creep" so nuts that were once tight become loose as the plastic ( in this case the transom) deforms under the load.

Yep to all the above. Evidence points to a transom mount seal leak. I believe I have the same thing happening to my SD. Not enough to kick on the bilge pump, but I get about 1-2 gallons out of the drain plug when I trailer after a day out...

I mean to tighten the bolts this fall when I winterize. Don't look forward to bending myself into a pretzel to reach em tho

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

Chris, I had a similar problem, and it was just the transom bolts/nuts
I did manage to tighten all 6 , it wasnt easy. the 2 bottem bolts I did from the starbord side and lying between the motor and the water tank. it wasnt easy, I used a box end wrench and doubled up to get leverage. It worked great except for the pain in my body.
the others I used a ratchet from each side. never leaked again

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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

Aw man, your really making me NOT look forward to this chore. I assume I have even less room that you to get at those 2 bottom bolts.

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

NC........I'll bet you have less room, thats one reason why I sold my sundowner.... good luck man

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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

Thanks Neutron. Hope to get to it this weekend since they closed our beautiful lake. Hey do you have a grill mounted on your vista? any pics of mount if you do? I just bought a very used magma kettle....and think I will be using a rail mount to attach it to the bimini, but not sold on that idea just yet.

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Chris and Alicia
Las Vegas, NV
ALTIVA
1996 Four Winns 238 Vista Dlx 5.8Fi

Chris I have a Magma Cabo grill. no mount but I either use it on my swimplatform on a large cutting board(for any spills) or I have a large removable bait board that mounts on the port side aft and it works great because it hangs off the edge, I will get ya some pics this weekend

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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

That would be great, I'd really like to see that bait board and how it's mounted.

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Chris and Alicia
Las Vegas, NV
ALTIVA
1996 Four Winns 238 Vista Dlx 5.8Fi

No problem.. this is the board



I wil get a picture on how and where its mounted Sunday

_________________
"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

Oh my that just shot to the top of my want list. and at only $22 it's a no brainer...
http://www.jmsonline.net/magma-gnnl-mnt-trnmnt-ser-cln-mag-t10482.htm?gclid=CLqfzMfr-LkCFSZxQgodjD8AAw

wait I think that is just the mount...glad I re-read it before I ordered....

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Chris and Alicia
Las Vegas, NV
ALTIVA
1996 Four Winns 238 Vista Dlx 5.8Fi

I think I paid around 50 bucks on ebay for a new one and it came with the quick release mount.
here is a link to Magma's site, I have the larger one:
you can see by the pics how it mounts. But because you and I have a slanted downward surface you should attach a shim to the rear to compensate for the slope so that the surface will be level. then attach the mount to the boat.

http://www.magmaproducts.com/Products/Marine_Products/Tables/EconoMateBaitFilet/economatebaitfilet.html

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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

You might want to do a search for previous posts about leaks between the transom and the transom shield. The gasket has leaked on others, including both of mine ('95 190 Horizon and '02 268 Vista). Some of the bolts can be very hard to get at. I found mine to be tight when I checked. As an added precaution I run a bead of 5200 sealant around the perimeter of the shield to seal it to the transom.

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Surface Interval: A scuba diving term for that time between dives to relax and prepare for life's next great adventure.

Current boat: '02 FW 268 Vista
Previous boat: '95 FW 190 Horizon