www.iFourWinns.com

I know everyone is always excited about a new boat, the media hype, the new designs, inovation. Looking at the photos online and that have been posted , including ones friends sent me who were on hull #1, there are some things leaving me sratching my head as to why.

1. The pics on the website and the ones posted here make it obvious that FW had no good place to mount the TV. On the FW website pictures, over the galley counter by the sink? Kids are going to love that. While mom is cleaning up she will litterally get an eyefull!

2. In the pics posted by rjrose ( thank you for the time and effort) it's mounted at the end of the couch at a low level? Hard to watch and I see the kids or someone putting an elbow through the screen.

3. The Mid cabin head doubles as a shower. Cherry laminate in the head where moisture will be high and it will get wet when the shower is used. Ya, it looks pretty and "rich" but what about durability and practicality? Teak I could understand...

4. 45' of boat and the engineers couldn't manage to design the forward stateroom with a island berth? A v-berth that you have to climb up on? I'm going to ASSume that the demographic that will be affording this boat will be beyond willing to climb into a vberth.

5. Workstation/Dresser, give be a break. There is no way a person could sit there and use a laptop of even use that space effectively to work. IMHO, that space would have been better added to the aft head and a seperate shower installed? I can see someone seeing on the literature or told by a salesman that the boat has a workstation area and when they see that they will wonder what else is hype.

I guess I'm just disappointed as this boat seems to be just a oversized 378, no real new design. For example, looking at the new Motor Boating mag, Sea Ray has an island berth in their 47' Sedan Bridge and even the Silverton 33 Sport Couple has a forward stateroom with a berth that is against the starboard bulkhead offering IMHO a much better design in a boat with 2' less beam than the v458.

Perhaps I'm expecting too much. We have been begining to look at lager boats in a 3-5 year time frame for extended cruising. I was hoping earlier when rumor was out about a larger boat that I would be able to stay withing the FW family of boats as the quality and value has been great. The 378 would be a comfy boat for an extended weekend, but I couldn't see spending 2 - 3 weeks on it. The same holds true with the v458.

I look forward to getting on one and seeing for myself as pictures can be deceiving. There just seems to be no "now that is really cool" stuff on the new v458.

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Jvalich
http://www.badcock.com

'04 FW 288 Vista "Mental Floss"

Jv,

I am in agreement with you. I beleive FW needed to hire an external, professional Yacht interior designer to come in and design the entire interior for this model to maximize space and layout. The externals of the boat are to die for but the internal photos also left me scratching my head. What size boat do you need in an EC to be completely comfortable for weeks at a clip, 100' ? Perhaps FW needs to get into the Flybridge/Salon market.

The Silverton's look great but after some horror story threads about Luhrs it is very doubtful they would ever make my short list. I guess if I want a nice big boat it's going to have to be a Paul Spencer, and I am still waiting for my Lotto numbers to hit!

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Brett DiMichele

Take a look at the Cruisers 440 EC http://mfile.akamai.com/12689/wmv/boattest.download.akamai.com/12689/_dld/cruisersyachts/cruisers_440express_0300.asx

Cruisers and FW IMHO are equal in quality and customer service. But this boat, cabin-wise is one that would be, IMHO, more comfortable on an extended cruise. They have an equal size beam. The cabin layout is amazing. I expected FW to be at least as ingenious.

With our 288 Vista, FW hit a homerun. The boat is very comfortable and has some of the best use of space I've seen in a boat this size. Perhaps I'm just spoiled...

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Jvalich
http://www.badcock.com

'04 FW 288 Vista "Mental Floss"