www.iFourWinns.com

I required a replacement part and have been told that the factory is on a 5 week shut down!

Here is the blurb from last week.

http://wjmlnews.blogspot.com/2009/02/fo ... anned.html

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

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

Not an entirely true statement...

Yes, they are shutting down for March. No, they are not 'out' of orders. However, they do need to let current inventory balance out with demand and orders have not been coming in at the pace which was expected.

From what I have heard though - customer service, parts, warranty, and areas like that would still be "working".

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2008 318 Vista -SOLD, but I am still around!
All Night Long, Seattle WA

Hmmmm, I guess the president does not know what he is talking about. Shame on him for misleading the local news station.

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

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

Having grown up in Cadillac, being a good friend with the VP of Sales & Marketing for Four Winns as well as quite a few other employees as well as having Four Winns as a client of mine. I can tell you Mr. Olson does know what he is talking about.

Wonder if that means my email inquiry about a 258 will be unanswered for 5 weeks....

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

No need to take things so literally.

That statement makes it sound like they have nothing left to build.

There are outstanding 408 orders... SL262 has orders backing up.

They just don't have 'enough' orders to justify keeping everyone going at a full time pace.

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2008 318 Vista -SOLD, but I am still around!
All Night Long, Seattle WA

Like Joe Friday used to say: "Just the facts maam"

From the Cadillac News:

http://www.cadillacnews.com/story_news/ ... &year=2009

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

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

I'm glad my boat was built and delivered and my deal is done...I guess it worked out for the best in my case. Hopefully the factory will get going in the spring...I think everyone is a little gun shy with the economy...and add that to the fact its been a long, cold winter most places and people are just not thinking boats. That usually changes once spring fever sets in!

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2009 SL262, Merc 8.1L HO 425 HP With
Bravo III "X" Drive and DTS Smart Tow

I have been trying to reach someone in support for the last 3 days and all I get are voicemails........now i know why.

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Walter

2003 248 Vista - VP 5.0 GXi
2009 Toyota Tundra SR5 5.7L 4x4

Thank goodness we have Genmar backing the Four Winns brand. Right after I purchased my 2000 298 Vista in October of 2000, OMC (who owned Four Winns at the time) went bankrupt and I was sweating bullets for a while. I still have the OMC label on my throttle. We are lucky to have Genmar and such a quality brand in Four Winns.

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Current Boat: 2000 Four Winns 298 Vista
Previous Boat: 2000 Carver 406MY

Sad...very sad. Yet another boat brand, this time one that is a little more near and dear to us is struggling. Hopefully the shutdown for March will dry the supply up enough to keep things going.

I have been told my more than one person that wholesale financing (the type the dealers use to finance the boats before consumers buy them) is getting VERY tough to obtain and the lenders are cutting back. This is bad in a lot of ways. In some ways, its nice though. It results in boats being made to order rather than have them stacked up. This helps resale value for us, but then again, makes it hard to just head to the boat shop and buy a boat and be in the water by the weekend.

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Current Boat:
2004 Sea Ray 320 Sundancer "Nauti Luvin'"

Previous Boats:
1999 298 Vista "Seas The Day"
2008 H200SS "Nauti Luv"
2006 Tahoe Q4

I'm glad that my 2009 has already been shipped and will be waiting for me with the FW shrink wrap still on in the spring. I guess I am lucky, I didn't encounter any financing difficulties.

Jeff

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2009 H180 3.0 Volvo Penta

The financing difficulties I am talking about are not the loans that consumers get when they buy a boat (although they are also harder to get now than before I am told). These are lines of credit that banks give dealers to finance the boats from the time they arrive at the boat dealer until the consumer buys them. Its called "floor plan". The major players in this market are reducing dealers lines of credit and making them pay down or pay off aging inventory faster than they have before. 2 years ago, they may let a dealer have 5 million dollars worth of inventory, now they may be only allowing 2 million. Thats just an example.

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Current Boat:
2004 Sea Ray 320 Sundancer "Nauti Luvin'"

Previous Boats:
1999 298 Vista "Seas The Day"
2008 H200SS "Nauti Luv"
2006 Tahoe Q4

It's all about reducing that extended credit these days.

Just think of the millions that are sitting on lots these days -- cars, boats, motorcycles, RVs.

Holy cow. These institutions HAVE to get their liability in order.

Makes me shudder just thinking about it.

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2008 318 Vista -SOLD, but I am still around!
All Night Long, Seattle WA