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Adventures with our new (to us) 348 Vista
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Author:  DoneRampin' [ Mon Oct 23, 2017 2:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Adventures with our new (to us) 348 Vista
Islandtime wrote:
Hi David:

Just letting you know I joined this forum to keep up with your work on the Vista so please keep posting. We are considering a 348/358 Vista for our next boat.

Thanks again,

Ken


Nice! Glad that my post motivated you to join the forum! We absolutely love our 348. Even with the engine problem, I have no regrets with this boat. We just got the luck of the draw with a bad engine. To me, the amount of information I've learned from sourcing the long block and building the complete engine will be invaluable as we enjoy this boat. I'm also hoping that the long block we had built will be stronger than the original.

That being said, there are a few minor design issues in the 2006 348 that might have been resolved in the 358. Let me know if you're interested in getting my thoughts on these issues.

Good news is that the boatyard got the motor dropped in today!! Now they are going to set the boat aside so I can get everything hooked up and running.

Here are a few pics:

Image

Image

Image

Image
Author:  DoneRampin' [ Mon Oct 23, 2017 2:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Adventures with our new (to us) 348 Vista
psusound wrote:
I have a 2005 Four Winns 348 with the 6.0 Crusaders with 700 original hours. Very well maintained and no issues.

Sorry to hear of your bad luck.

Did you happen to come across my boat when purchasing? I have had my 348 for sale for almost a year now.

https://sites.google.com/site/2005fourwinns348/

Best of luck with the new engine.


I think I may have come across your boat, it is beautiful! Unfortunately it would have been too far away for us to seriously consider it (although I'm sure we could have transported your boat down here for about half of what the engine cost).

Thanks for the best wishes!
Author:  Islandtime [ Thu Nov 02, 2017 2:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Adventures with our new (to us) 348 Vista
DoneRampin' wrote:
Islandtime wrote:
Hi David:

Just letting you know I joined this forum to keep up with your work on the Vista so please keep posting. We are considering a 348/358 Vista for our next boat.

Thanks again,

Ken


Nice! Glad that my post motivated you to join the forum! We absolutely love our 348. Even with the engine problem, I have no regrets with this boat. We just got the luck of the draw with a bad engine. To me, the amount of information I've learned from sourcing the long block and building the complete engine will be invaluable as we enjoy this boat. I'm also hoping that the long block we had built will be stronger than the original.

That being said, there are a few minor design issues in the 2006 348 that might have been resolved in the 358. Let me know if you're interested in getting my thoughts on these issues.

Good news is that the boatyard got the motor dropped in today!! Now they are going to set the boat aside so I can get everything hooked up and running.

Here are a few pics:

Image

Image

Image

Image


Thanks for the comments and photos but I can't see them...must be blocked here...
Author:  jtkey [ Thu Nov 16, 2017 1:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Adventures with our new (to us) 348 Vista
Welcome to the forum!

Sorry to hear of your troubles. I had a not too dissimilar experience with the new to me '08 318 this past year. I purchased in December under a good survey and sea trial and put her right to sleep for the winter. In the spring, she woke up to two bad raw water pumps that had the protruding shaft issue. Basically, I launched and immediately hauled that day and was out for a couple weeks. Not nearly as bad as a thrown rod, but still a bout of bad luck. I enjoyed the rest of the season trouble free.

Anyhow, all is fixable and you're hopefully enjoying your new boat!
Author:  DoneRampin' [ Mon Nov 20, 2017 11:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Adventures with our new (to us) 348 Vista
jtkey wrote:
Welcome to the forum!

Sorry to hear of your troubles. I had a not too dissimilar experience with the new to me '08 318 this past year. I purchased in December under a good survey and sea trial and put her right to sleep for the winter. In the spring, she woke up to two bad raw water pumps that had the protruding shaft issue. Basically, I launched and immediately hauled that day and was out for a couple weeks. Not nearly as bad as a thrown rod, but still a bout of bad luck. I enjoyed the rest of the season trouble free.

Anyhow, all is fixable and you're hopefully enjoying your new boat!


I guess that is the risk we take with buying a used boat. I still feel like I'm ahead of the game as we got the boat for a decent price. Also, the lessons learned from this experience have been invaluable. I was able to save quite a bit by doing most of the work myself. Overall, the engine swap only cost about 6 hours of labor from the guys at the boatyard.

I'm not familiar with the protruding shaft issue, can anybody filled me in on that one?

For anybody interested, we got the boat back on the water this weekend. I was extremely anxious about the initial water tests as we have a lot of money, time, and effort invested in the engine at this point. Definitely had sweaty palms all morning before getting to the boat. Had about a 20 mile trip from the boatyard back to the marina, and both engines handled perfectly.

We put about five hours on the engine this weekend (following the break-in instructions closely) and so far it is running great. The engine runs smooth and responds to throttle very well, and has no problem getting the boat up on plane. I was a bit concerned as the new engine has a tad higher compression than the older one due to the upgraded pistons. Was concerned that this might lead to a pre-ignition problem.

We are getting a bit of steam out of the exhaust of both engines (is that normal for these engines?) which we have always gotten but was hoping would be resolved after replacing all coolers and risers. It does seem like there is less steam now than there was before.

Both engines heat up to about 170 - 175 and stay right on that mark. This is a big improvement as before both engines would heat up to about 190 when on plane, due to poor raw water flow.

The plan now is to change the oil at the 20 hour mark. The engine will be considered 'broken in' after 25 hours.
Author:  chris268 [ Mon Nov 20, 2017 8:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Adventures with our new (to us) 348 Vista
Glad to hear you got her on the water. Good luck, enjoy, hope all the issues are behind you
Author:  DoneRampin' [ Fri Dec 15, 2017 2:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Adventures with our new (to us) 348 Vista
chris268 wrote:
Glad to hear you got her on the water. Good luck, enjoy, hope all the issues are behind you


Thanks Chris! So far we have about 8 hours on the new engine and it has been running great! Both engines are running better than ever.

In case anybody is interested, I've started a blog to document the experience of replacing this engine. My intention is to dump all of the information about this engine that I've learned with the hopes that it might help someone out that is in the same situation.

Here is the link - http://crusaderblue.com
Author:  chris268 [ Sat Dec 16, 2017 10:30 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Adventures with our new (to us) 348 Vista
That’s great news. A guy that moved in our dock mid summer had an issue with with one of his motors. I felt So bad for him. He had issue after issue with it. Finally got it right by the end of the summer. By sharing your info, it will help others, thank you!
Author:  DoneRampin' [ Mon Dec 18, 2017 3:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Adventures with our new (to us) 348 Vista
chris268 wrote:
That’s great news. A guy that moved in our dock mid summer had an issue with with one of his motors. I felt So bad for him. He had issue after issue with it. Finally got it right by the end of the summer. By sharing your info, it will help others, thank you!


These issues can be very frustrating, especially when you are relying on the knowledge and honesty of mechanics that you don't already have a relationship with. Fortunately, I'm able to take advantage of year-round boating and the weather was beautiful this weekend!

I hope that someday my experience will be able to help someone out. Any time I work on a project I am amazed at the amount of knowledge that is available online. I've even been able to take apart the dashboard of my truck in order to replace the AC evaporator, simply by following someone's video online.
Author:  Decision [ Tue Dec 19, 2017 3:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Adventures with our new (to us) 348 Vista
You have a nice area to boat in - Fort Myers FL. My wife, son and I are flying to Fort Myers Beach for a week starting December 27. To enjoy boating in Fort Myers, we have made reservations for a catamaran cruise, a half day Pontoon Boat Rental and a Jet Ski Dolphin Guided Cruise.

So I hope "DoneRampin" we both have good weather in Fort Myers that week. :)

Enjoy your boating.

Mike.
Author:  rpengr [ Wed Dec 20, 2017 10:45 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Adventures with our new (to us) 348 Vista
Decision wrote:
You have a nice area to boat in - Fort Myers FL. My wife, son and I are flying to Fort Myers Beach for a week starting December 27. To enjoy boating in Fort Myers, we have made reservations for a catamaran cruise, a half day Pontoon Boat Rental and a Jet Ski Dolphin Guided Cruise.

So I hope "DoneRampin" we both have good weather in Fort Myers that week. :)

Enjoy your boating.

Mike.

My wife and I will also be in Ft Myers for New Years weekend. (without the boat this time)
Author:  Decision [ Wed Dec 20, 2017 9:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Adventures with our new (to us) 348 Vista
Cool, I hope you and your wife also have good weather too for "New Years Weekend" in Fort Myers FL. We are staying in Lovers Key Resort this year and I have no idea what we are doing for New Years eve yet down there, but having fun has got to be a priority. :)

Mike.
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