www.iFourWinns.com

poke, I gotta respectfully disagree with you. 25% is entirely too much for these hulls. Keeping in mind what I said about each boat being different, I rarely trim up to the marks that are near the 25% area on the trim gauge. You should be able to feel (by vibration) and/or hear the right spot to trim up to, and it should come WAY before you start porpoising/cavitating/whatever you wanna call it. If I trim mine up as far as the limit allows while doing 35-40 (without a fully loaded boat), I get some significant porpoising.

I'd highly recommend playing with this a bit and reducing the amount of trim you are using by quite a bit. I'd start by going half as far as you normally do, and then bumping it up in tiny bits from there until you feel any vibration go away.

_________________
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 think you've got the wrong prop period. Here's the prop sizes FW recommends for your boat based on the engine size (which you didn't mention):

Power HP/KW Propeller (Dia x Pitch) Type Top Speed Cruise Range
IN CM MPH KPH MI KM
MC4.3L/A/190/142 131/2 x 23 34 x 58 AL 46-49 74-79 125 201
VP4.3GL/SX/190/142 141/4 x 23 36 x 58 AL 46-49 74-79 125 201
MC4.3MPI/A/220/164 141/4 x 21 36 x 53 AL 49-52 79-84 125 201
VP4.3GXi/SX/225/167 141/4 x 21 36 x 53 AL 48-51 77-82 125 201
MC5.0L/A/220/164 141/4 x 21 36 x 53 AL 49-52 79-84 125 201
VP5.0GL/SX/220/164 141/4 x 21 36 x 53 AL 48-51 77-82 125 201
MC5.0MPI/A/260/194 141/4 x 21 36 x 53 AL 52-55 84-89 125 201
VP5.0GXi/SX/270/201 141/4 x 21 36 x 53 AL 51-54 82-87 125 201
VP5.7Gi/SX/280/209 143/4 x 21 37 x 53 SST 53-56 85-90 125 201
MC350MPI/B1/260/194 133/4 x 21 36 x 53 SST 53-56 85-90 125 201

As you can see most configurations come with a 14.25 x 21 AL prop. You might want to go back to stock given your issues.

_________________
2007 Horizon 200
4.3L GXi/ SX 225 HP

Maybe this applies here:
The June issue of trailer boats magazine had this article in the tech letters section:
REWORKED PROP
In fall of 2007, we purchased a demo Four Winns 220 Horizon with a 300 hp MerCruiser/Bravo 1. Buying a new boat, I did not see the need for a sea trial. My brother has the same boat, so it should perform the same, right? All through last season, I tried to figure out why my boat ventilated so badly in turns. It turns out that the “new” propeller that was on the boat had been reworked by the dealer. When we installed a new, out-of-the-box, properly specified prop, the ventilation disappeared!
We learned that the original prop was reworked and had no cup. The new prop is cupped, and it made all the difference. Just like tires allow the true performance of a good car to shine through, so does the correct prop for a boat.

Mike Roberts
Milton, Wisconsin

_________________
2008 H210SS VP 5.7 Gi/SX
2011 Ford F150 FX4 EB

This is all very strange. I took the recupped 21 pitch back to the prop shop, boat was still cavitating. They said it may not be a prop issue at all so I went back, hooked on to the boat and took IT to the prop shop where they found no problems with the hull or anything else. We put on a huge looking to me prop, I believe he said 15 inch diameter. I took it out to the closest local lake and guess what, no cavitation. In it's place was a rumbling sound in exactly the same amount of trim the "blowout" started, in even the slightest amount of turn. I call the dealer, they say it could be a gimble bearing or u joints. I told them the gimble bearing was replaced by them at purchase so shouldn't be that. They said bring it on in and in about 2 and a half weeks they could look at it. I take it back out on the water and seems be be making this noise much less the 2nd time around. My question is if it is the u joints why would this sound show up with the new prop and not the old? Is it even the u joints? I'm getting pretty much sick of it all.

I feel your frustration... All I can suggest is buy yourself a new stock standard Volvo Penta Aluminum prop and your problems will go away. Sounds like your boat dealer is spinning you a line and now getting tangled up in his own BS... or he is just plain incompetent...

Buying a genuine new Volvo prop (make sure it is real Volvo prop and not any other brand) won't cost you a heap of money, but will definately fix your problem, give you more time on the water, and is a hell of a lot easier than towing your boat to the dealer each time. This will establish a known good working factory base line for you. Then you can try other props, but always have a known good combination to fall back on.

Sounds to me like your dealer is simply guessing, or trying out each of his repaired props in the store until he finds one that will work for you. I have never been a big fan of repairing props - they never seem to get it half way as good as a new one and the cost difference between a repaired prop and a new one is not huge. Your story simply reinforces this.

_________________


Alec

2006 Horizon 190
VP 4.3GL/SX, Sunsport

The boat dealership and the prop shop are 2 separate entities but yes I feel like the dealership started all this and yes they are incompetent. At least the prop shop is trying to help. Thanks.