www.iFourWinns.com

We have had our boat out 3 times so far. The weather has been perfect two weekends in a row. This past Saturday we hit the beach with Wet Dogg and his family. Then made a run down to Grand Haven. We went out yesterday as well for the entire day. We put on 10 hours of run time on the new boat, and should have the 20 hour break in period done by next weekend. A couple of pics from the great boating weekend.













We are lovin' this bowrider thing, and are soooo happy we made the switch from the cruiser lifestyle. So much fun !!

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

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

That's great to hear! I'm guessing from the look of the water those pic's are from Saturday considering there was a strong south west wind all day yesterday. Did you get a chance to "check" your top speed yet or is that only after 20 hours?

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Our Boating Blog: http://ben-dana.blogspot.com/

2005 268 Vista "Sea Pickle II"
1979 AMF Alcort Puffer
Previous:
2003 FW190 Horizon
1973 Startcraft 18ft "Sea Pickle"

Top speed with 1/2 tank and the wife and I so far was 56 mph and still climbing. Yesterday with 4 people, full tank and coolers 54 mph was tops.
Yes that was Saturday, but we were on Lake Michigan yesterday too. A little rougher, but not bad enough to keep us off of it.

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

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

Yes...what a great day. Family had a blast. Boat ran great. New platform is awesome and the new pump I installed really kept my temps down.

Lake Michigan is already 62 degrees. We spent the first part of the day with Capn Morgan on the beach in Muskegon and then at about 2:30 headed the 13 miles south to Grand Haven where we went all the way to Spring Lake, fueled up and then headed back to Muskegon and the ramp. Man was it nice out and Lake Michigan had about 18" rollers...just awesome.



Capn Morgan's new boat







Where my kids rose most of the trip on Lake Michigan...they had a blast.





Son driving through Grand Haven...



You can kind of see how low my teps is reading...this is after cruising about 10 miles

Nice pix, are you sure your thermostat is not sticking open a bit? Mine does that every few seasons. Rust or a bit of sand keeps it from closing. Normal is about 160-175 or so.

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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

Nope...not 100% positive it is not. Can you walk me through checking it?

Well your temp is low on the gauge, so if you want to check first without taking anything apart, get an IR gun from Radio Shack or Sears and let the motor warm up. Then shoot the temp right under the thermo housing on the intake manifold. It should be around the rated opening temp of the thermo, which for most late model Mercs and Volvos is 160, so your reading could between 155-165. Lower than that, and it's sticking open a bit. Using the IR temp gun eliminates any question about the accuracy of the gauge. BTW, my old gauge is pretty much right on with the temp gun.

In that pic, you are at 3000 rpm, right and if that's a true reading it has to be stuck open. Mine when it sticks a little, will idle at 100-120, then heat up to 160 on plane, then cool down to 120 again when I slow down to idle. So if it's that low at that speed I'm guessing it's stuck wide open not just not closing all the way.

To check for sure, I get a pot that my wife is not going to use anymore (if you don't want to get hollered at) to check it. I then remove the stat from the thermo housing. If its a Volvo, they use the same housing as OMCs, you turn over the housing look inside and there is a rubber ring you have to pry out with a small screwdriver to get the stat out. I take a length of coat hanger wire and use that to hold the stat in the pot so it doesn't touch the bottom or sides. Then fill with water and use a radiator thermometer to check the water temp while heating it to a boil. You could also use the IR gun to measure the temp. It should be all the way closed and then start to open at 155-160 and be fully open at 165-170 or so. Let it heat up and cool down a few times to make sure it closes and opens. Re-assemble if OK, if not OK buy a new stat and re-assemble. OMC gasket sealer or similar on both sides of the gasket and the bolts so they will come out. I have done this even with the boat in the water on my salt water mooring. I just stick a wood plug in the raw water intake hose so water does not leak in the boat. I change em every 2 seasons, sometimes if I put it in the boiling water and cycle it open and closed a few times they work OK again. Next engine will be closed cooled no more of this raw water cooled nonsense. These engines are designed to run at 195-220 or so running them at 120 is not good for them. 160-170 is Ok but 180 with closed cooling is better.

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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

If you are going to go through the effort of taking it out and sticking it in boiling water why not just replace the thing. Its not too expensive (<$15) and it is worth way more than that in piece of mind.

The housing was held on by two bolts on my GL and the entire operation took a whopping 30 minutes (20 of which was scraping off old gasket material)

Ive had em get sticky even after a few months, heating them in the pot can flush out the debris and you can re-use them, I have 3-4 spare ones, they're about 15 bucks each. I'd guess in fresh water you don't have this problem as much as we do in salt unless you have water with high mineral content. Or you go into shallow water a lot.

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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

Awesome!

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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 have same problem, and will get a spare and try cleaning the old one, now the question is this a standard auto thermostat that I can get at any auto parts, or is it marine specific ?? 5.8 omc, in otherwords, Ford 351.

BTW what happens if you don't do anything ?? it's stuck in the open position, so the engine will not overheat, is that a bad thing ??

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1994 235 Sundowner w/351 Ford

Awesome Pictures Thanks Hard to believe Lake Michigan can look that smooth, I remember the last time I visited Chicago the lake was pushing waves onto Lake Shore Drive if I remember the street correctly.

Marine specific

It is not the end of the world, but it is not en entirely good thing either. These engines are designed to operate at a specific temperature. The only system I can think of off hand that will be immediately effected is oil, as if the engine never gets up to operating temp then your oil never reaches the appropriate viscosity and ultimately you will be running the oil at a higher pressure than what was intended.

As long as pressure is somewhat within range I would still run it, but would not forget about it.