If you didn't own a Four winns...

fi.na.tine · **Posted:** Fri Aug 14, 2015 2:45 pm

Our boat was a choice between it and a Sea-Ray. The only reason I chose the FW was it "felt" better. Went to our FW dealer locally and got why - better quality materials. I was told to stay away from a bayliner, too many problems there. However in my seeing boats and seeing boats being sold, I would say Cobalt and Chaparral make some nice boats. Their owners like them and say they would buy (or have bought) another - and that's a big selling point. My buddy with a Maxum would buy a different boat, and the Sea Ray that I was looking at sold last year after mine - and is now up for sale again 1 year later.

NickH · **Joined:** Sat Aug 02, 2014 7:55 pm **Posts:** 67

Formula 260 or 270 BR would be on the short list too!

GottWhat · **Posted:** Fri Aug 14, 2015 3:09 pm

NickH wrote:

Formula 260 or 270 BR would be on the short list too!

Awesome boats, big money!

I originally preferred the Formula 260 BR horse-shoe layout with sideways port seat vs the 270 BR layout. Now I like the more traditional 270 BR layout better. I see some with 5.7 and 6.2 but if you are spending that kind of money, go big block.

230 Mike · **Posted:** Fri Aug 14, 2015 9:05 pm

GottWhat wrote:

With that said, value is relative. Someone with a Chevy might not think a Mercedes is a good value and someone with a Mercedes may not think a Bentley is a good value.

Oh I agree. My family is from the area where Cobalt is, so I'm always a fan of them doing well. But as a buyer, the competition has closed the gaps so well that it just doesn't make sense for the typical buyer to spend twice as much for the name. I love the boats, but if I could afford a Cobalt I'd buy a Monterey and put a down payment on a lake house.

ridepate · **Joined:** Tue Apr 05, 2011 9:56 pm **Posts:** 220

Sea-Ray,Chaparral would be in-line for me. Please don't go to Bass-Pro and buy a Tahoe...............What a chopper-gun mess.........lol

TX H210SS · **Joined:** Thu May 27, 2010 9:10 am **Posts:** 1488

I ran my 97 Bayliner 2050 SS for 10 years with ZERO problems. Solid boat with a 5.7 mercruiser and came with all stainless accessories. Was definitely more than worth the 10k I paid in 2000 for it. Wood Floor, common issue on older boats, gave up the ghost and sold for 3500 in one day. It was a lower profile than the horizon so not great in big water but most bow riders aren't.

Bayliner and Sea Ray are or at least were Brunswick made...just saying that most people who bash bayliner have never had their ass in one.

I will say that I've been in some Tahoes and was waiting on them to fly apart. With their price tag I don't think they are a wise buy.

LouC · **Posted:** Sat Aug 15, 2015 1:32 pm

I looked at a Tahoe at the Nassau County boat show a few years back and it was a flexy piece of junk! I couldn't believe how much the deck flexed for a new boat. By comparison my 28 yr old re-built F/W felt like a tank.

blue dragon · **Joined:** Tue Jul 12, 2011 5:01 pm **Posts:** 792

I just had a scarab 25 footer next to my SL242. Very nice boat, twin Rotax engines, similar hull design.

LouC · **Posted:** Tue Aug 18, 2015 11:01 am

Probably my next boat will be a salt water friendly dual console.
Key West 2020 dual console, same size as my FW but self bailing, all composite construction. Now the choice...Evinrude Etec, or Merc 4 stroke, vs the Japanese 4 strokes?
I really could not have another boat with all maintenance of typical sport boats. Its getting to be too much really, esp with the I/O in salt water.

rpengr · **Posted:** Tue Aug 18, 2015 11:50 am

LouC wrote:

Probably my next boat will be a salt water friendly dual console.
Key West 2020 dual console, same size as my FW but self bailing, all composite construction. Now the choice...Evinrude Etec, or Merc 4 stroke, vs the Japanese 4 strokes?
I really could not have another boat with all maintenance of typical sport boats. Its getting to be too much really, esp with the I/O in salt water.

I would say a Key West 2020 with the Etec.

As much as a Yamaha fan as I have been over the years, I have lost desire for the 4 strokes due to higher maintenance costs and lower power. A used Yamaha 2-stroke would be a good choice though.

LouC · **Posted:** Tue Aug 18, 2015 1:02 pm

That's what I'm thinking, while you see more Yamahas around here than 'Rudes, as long as I can find a good dealer for the stuff you can't do yourself, I'd rather have a 2 stroke. Plus when they get up in hrs the 4 strokes can have some scary high repair bills compared to the simple old I/Os we started with. Its just the work that comes every year. Simple, not expensive but lots of crawling around in the bilge, bending etc that gets old at my age.
There is also an extra safety factor with outboards in a couple of areas...

I'll tell you all one thing, I have NO desire, at all to be stuck with an I/O with cat converter exhaust. What a rip off of the boating consumer when it needs to be changed (and in salt water not IF, it's WHEN). If I have to take the high technology, well then for sure I want less work and more convenience for sure (winterizing, etc much easier with OB).....
The I/O design is acceptable to me, when it is lower tech and cheaper to repair than outboards, to make up for the higher maintenance. As soon as it starts costing the same, the advantages are gone and the inconveniences are all still there....
Apparently boat companies are thinking the same because now you see outboard sport boats you didn't see a few years ago, when the OBs got more expensive but the I/Os were the same as they always were.....

LVChris · **Posted:** Tue Aug 18, 2015 2:23 pm

I think I'd have a jet boat of some sorts....so many prop injuries on our lake. Why don't more manufacturers offer jets? I think four winns made a jet fling for a couple of years...

LouC · **Posted:** Tue Aug 18, 2015 2:26 pm

Yamaha makes couple of nice ones...

GottWhat · **Posted:** Tue Aug 18, 2015 2:30 pm

LVChris wrote:

I think I'd have a jet boat of some sorts....so many prop injuries on our lake. Why don't more manufacturers offer jets? I think four winns made a jet fling for a couple of years...

Glastron offers jets, they are a sister company to Four Winns. Chaparral recently introduced a new jet boat (do they use the old Sea-Doo drives?). Yamaha obviously.

Cap'n Morgan · **Posted:** Tue Aug 18, 2015 2:40 pm

GottWhat wrote:

LVChris wrote:

I think I'd have a jet boat of some sorts....so many prop injuries on our lake. Why don't more manufacturers offer jets? I think four winns made a jet fling for a couple of years...

Glastron offers jets, they are a sister company to Four Winns. Chaparral recently introduced a new jet boat (do they use the old Sea-Doo drives?). Yamaha obviously.

Scarab (Also made in Cadillac , Michigan at the FW plant) also has jets. Scarab,Glastron and Chaparral all use the same BRP made Rotax engines and jet drives
in their boats.

www.iFourWinns.com

If you didn't own a Four winns...

Who is online