www.iFourWinns.com

Faria makes the Depth Sounder, Fariah makes the dash gauges.... It's not a Four Winns issue, you can't match them because that's the way Faria made them.. Four Winns is not about to put out a blanket P.O. for 10 thousand guage sets and then pay some schlub at the factory to install red LED's or Red bulb rubbers in all of the other gauges.

I agree it's an eye sore.. but for the record the Faria depth sounder is one of the better models out there.. Mine actually works! Can't say the same for some of the one's I've had in the past (like Teleflex).

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Brett DiMichele

It should be a very easy change for you. If you want all the gory detail with pics, etc., it's here:

http://www.boatingabc.com/forums/ubbthr ... 003/1.html

If you want the bottom line, I used the WLED-R replacements from http://www.superbrightleds.com. You need 4 of them - not 3 - because your 4-way gauge has two bulbs in it. You should never have to replace them again, but I'm in the habit of buying a couple of spares on things like this.

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

So you have changed yours to the LED's Mike?? How difficult was it. 1 being me and a 10 being your average 15 year old car theif?

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2008 Four Winns 224 Funship 5.0 GXI/DP Black w/ Tower
2007 GMC Crew Cab Short Bed / Bose Ed.
2007 Fourwinns H180 (SOLD)

"There are no stupid questions, only stupid people"

Yep, I did it in '06. I think Cincy did his at the same time. Outstanding improvement, and cheap. And no burned out bulbs or spares to worry about. It's a pretty easy job, although I did have to disconnect a couple of wires under the helm just so my fingers could manipulate the bulb sockets. On your scale I'd say it's a 4. Only thing is, before ordering anything I'd verify that your stock bulbs are the same as they were in '05 & '06. I'm pretty sure they are, but not certain.

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

Outstanding, I'll get right on that. It's not like there is a hole in the hull or anything that needs immediate attention. Thanks, read the article.......good stuff.

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2008 Four Winns 224 Funship 5.0 GXI/DP Black w/ Tower
2007 GMC Crew Cab Short Bed / Bose Ed.
2007 Fourwinns H180 (SOLD)

"There are no stupid questions, only stupid people"

Ahaha. Actually, I think there is a screw right in the middle already that I backed out and used. No new hole even!

Yeah, I did the LED dash lights too. Converted over to red as well. Very simple. But like Mike said there's a couple nuts you might have to loosen so you can rotate or remove the wires so you can access the bulb behind it. Little box end wrench is all you need. Then its plug and play. I wish I could have used brighter ones but the bigger bulb didn't fit one of the sockets for some reason. but its a major improvement.

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Former owner of:
1996 Four Winns Horizon 200 5.8L VP
2006 Four Winns Horizon 260 8.1L VP
2007 Sea Ray 290 Sundancer

Current boat
2004 Sea Ray 290 Sun Sport Twin 350 Mags

re the swim platform storage; mine ( '04 245 Sundowner) as it came from the factory did have a drain hole; something like a 3/8" hole drilled through the fibreglass with the exposed fibreglass unsealed. I enlarged the hole, filled it with epoxy and redrilled it so there in no glass exposed now. Ski ropes stay quite dry in there, unlike the anchor rope which is always wet, as the anchor locker drains are too high. My main gripe with the ESP is that I can't get at, or even see the props without getting into the cold Irish Sea. An access hatch would have been very useful.

re the screws fallling out, it continues to amaze me how many things on boats subject to stresses are just screwed direcly onto the fibreglass using what are essentially woodscrews, instead of using proper threaded inserts or through bolts/ nuts. At least FW used 1/2 " nuts and bolts to hold my swim platform to the transom, shame they were mild steel bolts!

.........and as for the engine cover, it looks like it was designed with the specific intention of letting rain water in and soaking the electrics at the back of the engine compartment.

Graham

Yeah the ESP would be a big problem for you cold water folks. In this part of the world if the water gets that cold we go to the bar.

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2008 Four Winns 224 Funship 5.0 GXI/DP Black w/ Tower
2007 GMC Crew Cab Short Bed / Bose Ed.
2007 Fourwinns H180 (SOLD)

"There are no stupid questions, only stupid people"

re going to the bar; for a nice warm pint of beer?

Graham

Do you remember if you got the 90 or 120 degree bulbs? Any chance you could have enlarged the hole in the gauge with a dremel and made it fit?

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2007 358 T-5.7GXi IB
Previous Boats
'08 H240, '08 V318, '04 268, '04 225

I honestly don't remember. I believe I followed whatever Mike got which should be in his thread. I thought about enlarging the hole because I really liked how the brighter ones looked but the problem as I remember it was the electrical "board" that it mounted to was too small for the bulb to go through and not the metal case of the gauge. I was afraid to enlarge it because it had the metal contact points for the bulb connection and I didn't want to dremel those away. I think that gauge only had 1 bulb so it woudn't match the others. Hope that makes sense.

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Former owner of:
1996 Four Winns Horizon 200 5.8L VP
2006 Four Winns Horizon 260 8.1L VP
2007 Sea Ray 290 Sundancer

Current boat
2004 Sea Ray 290 Sun Sport Twin 350 Mags

I have a 224 and really enjoy it. My swim platform box had a hole drilled and I have only used it to hold some wet rope and cold drinks.
I originally purchased the boat with a camper cover and I had a great deal of water enter the boat at the windshield. After a few storms, my garbage can located in the bow was filled with water and myh carpets were soaked. Once I got my cockpit canvas installed I had zero issue with water. I do know that my boat always has water in the engine compartment but the cockpit and bow are bone dry after storms. I would recommend trying to adjust your bow support to change the water runoff and reduce the flow.
I did have the same issue with my walk through door. I lost a screw and some hardware after my second trip.
Overall, We love the boat and are very happy with it. We are still learning, we only have 18 hours on the motor.
Enjoy