www.iFourWinns.com

Bugs, you may have the same problem I have and I think many other Fourwinns have. They put hose-like spacers/cushions under the fuel tanks that run parallel to the keel. The clips holding the fuel tank aren't as secure as they should be so the as the tank bounces around the hoses shift forming a dam and can block the drainage. (IMHO)
I think one cure is to remove the tank, tape the hose spacers inplace with fiberglass tape and refasten the tank more securely.

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'96 Horizon 200
"Have fenders...will raft"

Thanks!

I will check it out.

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Jeff

2006 Four Winns Yellow Horizon 30th Anniversary 200 SS
2005 Nissan Titan Crew Cab
2004 Ford F-150 Lariat

http://www.seabrook-services.com

bugsdoc,

Did you ever get this problem solved? I just ran across the same thing this weekend while giving my interior a good cleaning. I now have a ski well with a couple of inches of water in it.

Dry bilge, plug is out, even took it back the ramp and put it on the incline, but the ski well was still full. I ran a fishtape through the drain, but just kept hitting something that felt REALLY solid and felt nothing at all like blockage. From this thread, I'm guessing it is the gas tank.

Just curious if you had any words of wisdom.

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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)

Not likely the gas tank as it's held off the hull by the spacers. It's likely the spacers have shifted as the gas tanks are not secured that well. Mine had about one inche gap under the aluminum clips so it must have bounced around a lot over the years.

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'96 Horizon 200
"Have fenders...will raft"

mine drains slower than i would like but still drains. it is hard to get the bow up high enough to get it to run to the back anyways.

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Four winns 180 horizon

Still have problem. Coat hanger and fish tape are hitting some strong resistence.

I have solved by using Hand Pump from Boaters World till I winterize.



http://www.boatersworld.com/product/351660030msk.htm




I will have the dealer repair under warranty.

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Jeff

2006 Four Winns Yellow Horizon 30th Anniversary 200 SS
2005 Nissan Titan Crew Cab
2004 Ford F-150 Lariat

http://www.seabrook-services.com

Well, at least it will be easy to verify the dealer's fix. "Pass me that hose, would you?"

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2007 Horizon 200
4.3L GXi/ SX 225 HP

Update: I got my boat back after some warranty work, which included the non-draining ski locker. As suspected, the gas tank had shifted and pinched off the drain hose. This was the solid thing I was hitting when trying to snake the line. Dealer says they moved it and braced it to where it will not move again. Dealer indicated this is a known FW problem that occurs "in spurts" when boats come out of the factory. They attributed it to not installing very good brackets that hold the gas tank firmly in place.

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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 would imagine they're the same brackets that they use to hold the fresh water tanks in place on the 240's & larger. The brackets themselves are fine, but I discovered on mine that they didn't do a very careful job of installing them. I had screws not driven in all the way, extra screws laying loose in the area, etc.

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

Once the tank has benn correctly repositioned, anybody know if a block of wood or some such would prevent future blockages?

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2007 Horizon 200
4.3L GXi/ SX 225 HP

My dealer said that part of their "bracing" procedure was the use of a little bit of lumber.

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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)

Is this because of the installation of the brackets, or the surrounding structure, or because they use a plastic tank? Seems like they should be doing better with this, a gas tank should not shift around. When I re-did the deck/stringers on my 88, which has an aluminum tank, I made up some mahagony "stringers" that went between the middle structural stringers, and the tank. Those mahagony stringers were screwed into the main stringers, and the aluminum tabs on the tank were screwed into the mahogony. The original mounting was a series of firring strips wedged inbetween the tank and the main stringers, attached with screws, just enough to hold it till all of that rotted out.

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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

Can't say I know the answer to that for sure. The dealer said that the shifting distance was less than an inch, but that amount was just enough to pinch off the drain hose. They indicated that the brackets weren't doing the job, but I don't know if it was a situation where the brackets were inadequate or if they were just poorly installed-as 230Mike alluded to. All I know is that they said they braced it with some lumber, and that it should never move again.

They were thankful that my tank was less than half full, so that it was lighter and easier to move back into its proper place for re-bracing. They said if it is half full or more they have to drain it to get it to move as far as it needs to go. As others have said, you would think FW would have heard from enough dealers to make this a problem of the past. Apparently not the case, though.

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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)

WE are picking the boat up this week.

I will give all a report on what they did to fix the ski locker drainage situation!!!

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Jeff

2006 Four Winns Yellow Horizon 30th Anniversary 200 SS
2005 Nissan Titan Crew Cab
2004 Ford F-150 Lariat

http://www.seabrook-services.com

This is an interesting discussion, and I will definitely have to check the mounts on my fuel tank and water tanks, but in the meantime, I would be concerned about bracing the fuel tank with a block of wood. With all the pounding that the boat takes I would worry about the fuel tank rupturing where the block of wood comes into contact with the tank.
I have no exp in this area, but I would suggest extreme caution to anyone thinking of bracing the fuel tank in this manner!

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'04 FW 268Vista "Andiamo"