www.iFourWinns.com

My 2006 Vista 378 is equipped with Fireboy-Xintex’s fresh and waste tank monitor model LLM-2. During the ’06 and ’07 seasons, the dealer replaced the gauge twice and the sender unit three times.

During the 2008 boating season, the level in the waste tank would routinely be inoperative. I removed and thoroughly cleaned the “sender” regularly. It would work for only a day or so. Surely, it was not designed that the sender would have to be removed and cleaned so frequently.

I see other tank monitor products on the market (e.g. http://www.raritaneng.com/products/acce ... nitor.html) where the “readers” are placed on the outside of the tank. While I see a lot of advantages with this approach, I am concerned with having to fish the wires back to the head where the gauge would be located. Has anyone attempted to do so? One approach would be to attach the “new” wires to the old in the engine compartment and attempt to pull them through to the head. It is likely, however, they will get snagged somewhere along the way.

Any suggestions? Have others encountered similar issues?

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Lime Cutter
'06 378 Vista
Lake St Clair, MI
Mac Ray Harbor

Similar experience had by jvalich on his 288. He was under warranty and had FW replace his with these exterior mounted sensors.

http://www.snakeriverelectronics.com/Sn ... oducts.asp

I believe he is very happy with the results .

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

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

You may have already considered this, but perhaps you should simply relocate the gauges to a more accessible location (while it would obviously be a shame to abandon the existing gauges) as there's no true benefit to them being located in the head that I can see, other than it seems the most appropriate place for reading waste levels. You may also consider using a NMEA 2000 compliant system and interfacing it with your helm display - I assume you have a Raymarine C or E? I have thought about doing it just to centralize all of my data but as long as my current system works properly I think it would just be overkill (beyond the overkill I already engage in).

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Previously:
2008 V358/Volvo 5.7 GXi Inboards

We also have the Fireboy-Xintex monitor in our '99 258V, and the sender no longer works. I purchased a Raritan unit last year but haven't gotten around to installing yet. I was about to, and then saw that Fireboy-Xintex now has a plug-and-play "Pneumatic Liquid Level Monitor", with sealed senders that replace the old problematic ones used with the LLM-2 monitors. The senders are a little pricey but if they work as advertised, it would be a lot easier to replace the sender than install a new system.

I didn't see any issues with running wires for the Raritan unit; my concern was where to install the monitor without having to cut a new hole in the fiberglass in the head.

Does anyone have any experience with these new pneumatic senders?

http://www.fireboy-xintex.com/liquid-level-monitors.htm

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1999 258 Vista
2003 Avon RIB280
1991 Freedom 170 (gone but not forgotten)

I too have had the same problem.... we had a 99 258 vista nd the sending unit/guage never work from the get.... I replaced sending unit, and still had the same problem, then the guage... same problem.... checked the wiring, and that was good. I complainded to our dealer and they came back with Four Winns recomending the snakeriver system. I never did change it out, we ended up selling and buying our 268. For part o fthe first season the guage worked fine, then somewhere along the way, the same thing happend, it doesnt work...... (cnat remember if reads full all the time or near empty all the time).... I finally resoleved myself, that that was the way it is.... so I kinda "monitor" how much we have been out/how much the head has been used, and error on the side of cation and get it pumped out. Where we are there are several pump outs and it cost just 5 bucks... so its not worth hassle to menot to be sure there is "room" in the tank.

Not sure why FW hasnt addressed this. I dont know what they use now.... but from '99 to 03' is sure enough time to figure out a better "mousetrap"

If anyone is looking for a gently used '03 268... let us know... we are looking at a gently used 318.....

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Jeff

'14 Cruisers 380 Express "Simon Sez"
Merc 8.2 Mag MPI 380
DTS B3X, (x2) Axius Premier


(SOLD)
'08 V318
Merc 350 Mag MPI 300
DTS Seacore, B3 (x2)