www.iFourWinns.com

We will be at Clearwater condos. up Niangua arm of the main channel. We will be all over the lake that week.

I'd offer you a ride as well though I'm a little far away at the 14mm of the Osage Arm, we are there just about every weekend. This Sunday we drove from the 14mm-31mm on the Osage Arm, 1mm-6mm on the Big Niangua Arm and then roughly another 6+ miles to the end of the Little Niangua Arm. A good solid trip of around 29-30 miles one way (~60 miles round trip) without any major problems though the water at "4 corners" was a little rough (along with the usual traffic around the intersection of the Grand Glaize Arm) and we had to monitor the throttle to not get beat up, dang those big cruisers....

Followed that up with another little trip on Monday, from the 14mm of the Osage to the dam, back to the Gravois Arm up to "Coconuts". A good trip of around 30 miles to the dam and back up to "Coconuts" and another 18 miles home from there.... A grand total of ~48 miles...

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2005 250 Horizon
8.1L Volvo, DuoProp
14MM Lake of the Ozarks

That's exactly what I want to be able to do. Drive some distance without getting beat too bad. You can only imagine what it's like in our 18' boat. Not to mention when we do come up on some cruiser waves it gets extremely hairy!

My Dad wasn't wanting us to upgrade to a bigger boat so soon, but I think I have finally convinced him we need to do so. I pretty much maintain everything on the current boat and will do so on the new one as well. That and the fact I will be paying for part of it makes him more apt to go through with it. It just makes me nervous with our kids on the boat out in the rough waters.

My Dad is actually down at the lake right now with my aunt and cousins. One of them has a newer Crownline 245 SS that does pretty well. He has ridden in that all week and is excited to look around at some boats next week when I get there.

So I found this...

http://www.surdykeyamaha.com/2004-four- ... in-stock=1

I think this will be on the top of our list to look at now. LOTO_H250, it looks similar to yours but obviously has a smaller engine and a different drive. I really like the looks of these though.

Also there is this Rinker...

http://loz.craigslist.org/bod/5148926371.html

Might be worth taking a look at as well.

I'm kind-of partial to the Four Winns at Surdyke! There are a few design changes from 2004 to 2005 but not many... I like the fact that this boat also has trim tabs... They will really help with the starboard lean if the boat has dual batteries and a full water tank! I never really had a problem with the lack of trim tabs when running other than a slight list to the right but they may help in other instances as well. Overall from the pics, the boat looks real clean, the 6.2L small block will definitely get better fuel economy than the big block and with the Merc dual prop, the performance where needed will still be there. Plus it has the Corsa Captains Choice exhaust, quiet or loud at the push of a button!

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2005 250 Horizon
8.1L Volvo, DuoProp
14MM Lake of the Ozarks

What are your thoughts on the price? Once again, no trailer, but we may not need one if the boat stays on the lift year round.

According to NADA website the low retail is $22,895 and the average retail with the options I can identify shows a value of $26,060 without a trailer. Surdyke clearly has this priced near the average retail price but they probably have a little room to move down as the main focus of the summer vacation ends pretty soon for the majority of people whom have kids starting school in 3 weeks or so. It really depends on the condition of the boat and how mechanically sound it is of course. Plus, really stress how undesirable it is because it doesn't come with a trailer, (Haha) anything to get the price down as low as you can. I have a Four Winns trailer but I haven't seen it for 3+ years as it is in storage at Performance Boat Center, where the monthly storage fee is a mere $10. The boat has spent its time with me on a lift all year round, I only hang onto the trailer in case of resale where a buyer may want the trailer. If you never need a trailer then that should not be a factor in your decision, but if the boat you do decide upon does come with a trailer, you have to have some place to park that trailer when not in use.

As an example, I purchased my boat for $32,500 three years ago with the Volvo 8.1L big block, SS Duo-Prop, Silent Choice, trailer, cockpit/bow/mooring covers, and with about half the number of hours on the clock (172 hours). The 8.1L engine itself is currently about a $3,000 markup over the 6.2L when comparing the NADA prices for the 2004/2005 model year prices. I haven't taken a ride in this boat with the 6.2L engine, but I've been in similar boats (size and weight) and the performance didn't seem to suffer with the smaller 6.2L.

If the boat is located at Surdykes Marina just take a trip up to the community bridge 20mm to the 16mm on Saturday (if you can go up to even smaller mm #'s, do so) you'll get a pretty good idea if this boat performs to your expectations. Saturday afternoons will present the worst conditions you'll see typically here on the lake, specifically at these mile marker #'s.

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2005 250 Horizon
8.1L Volvo, DuoProp
14MM Lake of the Ozarks

Just noticed after clicking the link for the Four Winns listed by Surdyke this evening, that the price mysteriously jumped up to $29,999 from $25,999 when I wrote the above response. What gives?.....

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2005 250 Horizon
8.1L Volvo, DuoProp
14MM Lake of the Ozarks

I noticed too. I always scour Craigslist as well and first noticed the higher price there. I wonder if it was a mistake or was on "sale". I will be stopping in there this week to have a look at it anyway and will ask them then. Thanks for the info.

we are heading to the ozarks tomorrow if you are there and want a ride in a 260

Sorry, never got back on here down at the lake. We went and looked at a 2005 Rinker 262 and got to drive it. With the 350 MAG it seemed adequately powered, but I wanted more. It topped out around 45 mph according to my phone GPS, but got out of the hole decent with the duo-prop. The boat listed at 24,900 and it was being brokered so they didn't have much of any room to wiggle on it. They were also only going to give us 3,000 for our boat which is a bit absurd. I know our boat isn't worth much, but I know we can get more than that very easily by selling it on our own.

We went and looked at the 2000 Four Winns 260 as well. The interior was perfect, exterior not so much. They did say they go over and fix all the scuffs, dings, etc., but once again, 3,000 for our boat. This place seemed a little shady though as they had boats just thrown everywhere. Some with covers on, some with covers hanging off, some with no covers, muddy parking lot, office was disgusting, I could go on and on.

The plan will be to bring our boat home at the end of September, clean it up, and put it in my garage for easy showing. Hopefully by next spring we have something a little bigger.

Sent you a PM RedRocketSS!

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2005 250 Horizon
8.1L Volvo, DuoProp
14MM Lake of the Ozarks

I have always thought they look shady. They post a lot of larger bow riders for sale and they never seem to sell quickly.

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NEW - 2000 Cobalt 246 w/454 Magnum 385HP | SOLD - 2000 FW Horizon 180 LS w/5.0Gi 250HP Volvo Penta