www.iFourWinns.com

This week I found that one of the carpeted plywood boards that line the inside of the fender wells was missing. Just gone. I looked at the other side and found that it was very loose. The fender board was attached to the fender at two locations with small wood screws and at three locations with just small plastic expanding plugs. Are you kidding me? The plastic plugs would be more appropriate for hanging a small picture on the wall than supporting a fender board that receives a lot of vibration.

What gives with FourWinns making their trailers so cheaply? I have already: re engineered the brake line supports because two of the three cheap plastic glue on clips fell off, replaced the tail lights because the cheap lights were impossible to reseal to keep water proof after replacing a bulb, had to tighten all of the brake connections and bleed the brakes when the boat was less than a year old because all of the connections were leaking so much fluid that the reservoir would run dry after only towing 100 miles, replace the crap Carlisle tires because they were trash after 4,500 miles, refit the pins on the swing-away trailer tongue so that they would extract without actually using a sledge hammer to remove them, refit the stern vertical side bunks that center the boat on the trailer because the boards warped so much, and so on. The metal cutout FourWinns logos on the outside of the fenders have both broken along the entire bottom and rattle like crazy then towing. I have not figured out how to fix that yet. I had a Shorelander trailer for my SeaSwirl boat for 18 years and towed it well over 10,000 miles. I never had one single problem with that trailer due to construction materials or design.

In the last seven years have spent far far more time fixing the cheaply make FourWinns trailer than fixing anything wrong or broken on the boat. I have come to the conclusion that I may need to replace the trailer for my own piece of mind because I do not know where it will fail next. Am I alone in this opinion or did I get a lemon trailer?

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2006 Sundowner 255, 5.7 GXi, 320 hp
"Simply Irresistible"

Nope, it's standard. I've spent at least an hour working on my trailer for every minute I've spent working on the boat, including replacing all hardware with stainless and attaching those fender liners correctly. You pretty much have to take the whole trailer apart and put it back together with your own hardware & lights in order for it to become the trailer it should've been in the first place.

But here's where I'll differ with some folks. I've looked quite a bit at other manufacturers' bow rider trailers and found them to be little (if any) better, and in some ways worse. And the good news is, once you get all that junk replaced it's a decent trailer. If we keep our boats long enough, we'll all have to buy new trailers, but by then we'll all know what to look for and what to avoid. The process you're going through is what will get you there.

You can assume you'll need to replace your bunks before too long.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

I agree with you guys......my 7 year old trailer was JUNK!.....it needed, all new brakes, brake lines, tires, bearings, jack, lots of rust.....

When I bought my boat just less than a year ago......I bought with the mind set that there was no way I was going to keep that POS Four Winns trailer.........As soon as I got it home I started shopping for a new trailer........I ended up custom ordering an all aluminum trailer......it took 10 weeks to have made and delivered.....

It's construction is light years ahead of the OEM trailer my boat came with..........some of the options I ordered.......led lights.....custom wheels....pressure treated bunks......Stainless hardware........oversized front jack.....Boat Buckles.........and the list goes on......

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2005 Four Winns Funship 214 VP 5.7/Duo Prop

Nice Alu trailer. I think a painted boat trailer is just a waste. You know they rust from the inside out and are going to be a headache down the road. I have a 19 year old LoadRite and I'd get another for sure. Galvanized roller single axle.

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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

I've been pretty happy with my galvanized FW trailer. Besides replacing the jack several times and the hubs/brakes in the last 10 years, I haven't had to do much to it. And I dip it in salt water most of the time.

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2002 Funship 214
VP 5.7 GX Si
2003 Tahoe

Nice trailer Johnny...very nice. My fw trailer is having same issues, brake fluid leaks, axle seals and fender inner panels loose. So its common...just a pain

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http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o71 ... wqm355.jpg


08' H210SS
VP 5.7Gi