www.iFourWinns.com

Completed my end of year clean up/out today. While cleaning out the below deck ski locker I noticed it had standing water in it. The drain is a piece of 1 inch pvc that appears to reduce down to less than 1/4 of an inch about three inches behind the locker. I would like to drill this out so it won't clog again but can't determine how it drains to the back of the boat and under the gas and water tank.

Anyone have any experience with this?

I had the same problem with my H 240 but the gas tank is just to the rear of the drain in the ski locker on that model. I don't know about the 310 but you better be careful about drilling back there.
It turned out my problem was caused by the plastic tip off of one of the poles that hold up the snap on canvass had come off and clogged the hole.

Could you just blow it back out with an air compressor vs. drilling?

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2007 Four Winns 190 Horizon Merc 4.3 MPI

Our boat on Crescent Lake in Oregon

A Fish Tape may work enough to force out any obstructions.

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-Rob.


Current boat: 2011 Yamaha AR210
Previous boat: 1998 Horizon RX 4.3GL SX

My 310 is at the dealer for this very issue. We had a problem with no water draining from the ski locker back to the engine compartment. The water eventually built up to where it filled up the ski locker half way. The dealer thinks that they forgot to drill the drain.

Please let me know how it turns out.

There are one or a few threads out there about this issue on the Horizon. The brackets that hold the gas tank in place loosen and allow the tank to move forward some. This pinches off the drain hose that exits the ski locker just forward of the gas tank. Known issue-have the dealer fix it under the warranty.

Do a search, you'll find the threads I'm talking about.

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Paul
2007 Four Winns Horizon 220
Mercruiser 350 Mag MPI w/ Bravo III Drive
2004 Ford Explorer Limited (V8-AWD)
Pomme de Terre Lake (Southwest Missouri)

Another way to clean the drain line is to pour bleach into the drain, most of the time it is algea or mold that clogs a line just like an air conditioner line is a house.

Mike

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Mike
2007 Horizon 200 SS
5.0 GXi SX drive.

[quote="pet575"]There are one or a few threads out there about this issue on the Horizon. The brackets that hold the gas tank in place loosen and allow the tank to move forward some. This pinches off the drain hose that exits the ski locker just forward of the gas tank. Known issue-have the dealer fix it under the warranty.

FW did have a problem with the gas tank moving foward just enough to block the ski locker drain; however, they began putting spacers between the tank and the ski locker to prevent this from happening. My 2006 H240 has the spacers.

So I just got the 310 back. They could not unblock the drain. Four Winns corporate did not approve taking the whole boat apart to fix the problem correctly. What they did was add a second bilge pump to the ski locker. Not sure how I feel about this yet.

I don't dispute that, but I have a 2007 model that DID have the problem. I wouldn't rule out this problem solely because of the model year of the boat.

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Paul
2007 Four Winns Horizon 220
Mercruiser 350 Mag MPI w/ Bravo III Drive
2004 Ford Explorer Limited (V8-AWD)
Pomme de Terre Lake (Southwest Missouri)

THAT is unacceptable, IMHO. That is like flattening the other 3 tires on your car because one went flat. They need to fix it right.

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Paul
2007 Four Winns Horizon 220
Mercruiser 350 Mag MPI w/ Bravo III Drive
2004 Ford Explorer Limited (V8-AWD)
Pomme de Terre Lake (Southwest Missouri)

I just think it was kind of a dumb solution. For the time and cost to install a bilge pump (assuming it was plumbed correctly), they could have just fixed the problem. Not that having a 2nd pump is a bad idea, as long as it's not in the way.

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

They did what? why could they not remove the big hatch over the gas tank and find out why that compartment is not draining....a foward bilge pump is fine in a cuddy under the floor but every bowrider I have ever seen has a drain from the ski locker that goes through the gas tank compartment and back to the bilge under the engine...It was probably as much work to add a thru hull and the wiring for the pump as it would have been to fix it the right way...

I've said it before...unless those plastic tanks are really well secured I'm not a fan of them in boats...for one they are harder to secure than an aluminum tank with mounting tabs for another they do allow the permeation of fumes which has been a problem in certain cuddy cabin designs with fumes under the floor coming in to the cabin....they are cheaper and they do not corrode...but I think a proper aluminum tank 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