www.iFourWinns.com

I am purchasing a 2004 H240 next week and I'm getting a little concerned about the poor ride or porpoising I keep hearing about. I have the 5.7 single prop. Has anyone with this boat had true success with the addition of trim tabs? Do they make the wake larger or smaller? I have seen 2 install locations, in the well and on the two rear pods. Can anyone comment on the locations.

Thanks

Rob

Poor ride? That's news to me. There are a couple of people here who have put tabs on them, but more on the pre-'04 models. It can be done, just be sure to remember clearance for tie-downs. As far as porpoising goes - many people think they're supposed to play with the trim constantly; the 230/240 is easy to make porpoise if you over-trim it. I recommend you use the boat at least a couple of times before you resort to tabs.

A more predictable problem will be if you have dual batteries and they're still installed in the factory (starboard side) location. Most of these boats list if they have dual batteries installed there. The fix is to move them to the port side.

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

Mine's a 2004 245 Sundowner with dual batteries. It does list at rest to the starboard side; the fresh water tank and pump is on the port side, not sure about where it is on the 240 Horizon of the same era, so it would make it a bit complicated but not impossible to move the batteries.

Mine has tabs and indicators, on a perfectly calm sea ( not common !) then the port and starboard ones need to be set very slightly different to keep the boat level when on the plane, hardly enough to bother with doing it really. The tabs are more usefiul when the sea is not flat calm and can help enormously with handling beam seas. For some reason, all 245's I've seen with factory fitted trim tabs have the cylinders mounted at slightly different heights on the transom; I don't know whether this is because they tried to compensate for the effect of the batteries, or got the drilling jig wrong !

We owned 06 Horizon 240 with VP 5.7GiSX and installed a pair of Bennett Trim Tabs .. We never thought 240 has poor ride or porpoise much. Hole Shot of SX (single prop) with 240 was not great and installing Trim Tabs and 4 blade prop (Merc Revolution 4) helped a lot of performance.. We installed similar location as factory installation for H260 (shown on photo) We have not notice major difference in wake size.... As long as we did not have more than 8 passenger SX was ok with trim tab.... However, no mach for DP.

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08 H260 VP 8.1Gi DP.....Previous
2013 Crownline E6 Merc 8.2MAG BIIIX, DTS/SC

My Horizon 240 is an early 2000 (same as the 1996-1999 models) with no trim tabs and SX drive. I would certainly say that there is no porpoising issue, and it is a great handling boat.

If I try to trim up too high at high speeds, I will get aeration (prop slip) prior to any porpoising.

For tight fast turns, I trim all the way down (the same as every other boat I have owned). The Horizon corners "flatter" than other boats, and can corner so hard that a cooler will slide across the carpeted floor.

From my experience, any sport boat can porpoise at lower planing speeds if trimmed too high, but I have never had one that porpoised if trimmed down (drive only...no trim tabs).

In my opinion, trim tabs are mostly a convenience for leveling an imbalanced load when planed off, and possibly increasing your "no-wake" speed by keeping the nose down at 7-8 mph. My no-wake speed is about 6-7 max. They also reduce bow-rise when planing off, but that's not much of an issue with an H240

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"Knot Easy" 2000 Horizon 240 Volvo 5.7GS /SX
tow: 2017 Honda PILOT EXL-AWD
prev. boats:
'87 Chaparral 198CXL 4.3 OMC Cobra
'69 Jetstar 16ft Ski Boat, 115hp Yamaha
'68 Aluminum Jon Boat, 3hp Sears
'64 Water Wings

Agree with rpengr 100% We have a 1997 240 and with the 7.4GiDP we have never needed trim tabs. My older boats I had them so I know how they work. If you have a boat that needs them, they are great. Our 240 has not.

It's odd really; our 1999 225 Sundowner with 5.7/ DP did not have trim tabs but adjusting the drive trim made a big difference,. Our 2004 Sundowner, again with 5.7/ DP, really performs better with them used but seems totaly unaffected by trimming the drive up. It's just not worth trimming it up from the fully down position; Maybe it's a weight distribution effect, the 245 having significantlyy more weight in the bow ( and it's not because I have put on any weight !)

I am going to add them to my 2003 240 (Volvo 5.7 SX) over this winter. My biggest problem is the bow rides high. This is due to engine in back, batteries in the back, coolers of ice and drinks in the back, large fuel tank in the back, and riders who want to sit in back. With all of that weight in back it is slow to plane and the bow stays so high that I have trouble seeing and I have to go faster to keep it on plane so my then wife complains that I always drive too fast. It will also porpoise (oscillate) if I get caught in waves of certain amplitude forcing me to work the throttle and practically drop off plane. I almost always run with full down trim on the out drive to no avail. I also rarely fill the tank to reduce weight. When I do get riders to sit in front it is a different boat!

I believe the tabs will help me get on plane, keep it on plane at lower speeds, get the bow down so it cut's through waves better (and lets me see better), will help eliminate proposing and of course deal with list.

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2003 Horizon 240 With 5.7 Volvo Penta

That's interesting that the different years seam to handle differently, so I compared the late 90's model 240 to the early 2000's model on the FW website to look for differences:

................. 1999 Horizon 240 vs 2003 Horizon 230 (there is no H240 listed in 2003)
Length..................24'2"...................23'6"
Beam....................8'6".....................8'6"
Deadrise...............20deg..................20deg
Transom Angle......15deg...................15deg
Weight w/5.7SX....3830#...................4150#
Draft..............35" / 18"up.............35" / 18"up
Capacity......13person 2500#.......12person 2500#
Fuel.....................65gal....................65gal

So the biggest specification difference is length and weight.

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"Knot Easy" 2000 Horizon 240 Volvo 5.7GS /SX
tow: 2017 Honda PILOT EXL-AWD
prev. boats:
'87 Chaparral 198CXL 4.3 OMC Cobra
'69 Jetstar 16ft Ski Boat, 115hp Yamaha
'68 Aluminum Jon Boat, 3hp Sears
'64 Water Wings

No 2003 240? Really?

http://parts.fwdealer.com/Catalog/Category?ModelCode=240H-U03

Results for: Four Winns / 2003


Boats

Freedom 170 Freedom O/B 2003
170 Freedom O/B F&S 2003
170 Freedom Std 2003
170 Freedom Std 2003
180 Freedom O/B 2003
180 Freedom O/B F&S 2003
180 Freedom Std 2003
180 Freedom Std F&S 2003
180 Freedom Sunsport 2003

Horizon 180 Horizon Std 2003
180 Horizon Sunsport 2003
190 Horizon Std 2003
190 Horizon Sunsport 2003
200 Horizon Std 2003
200 Horizon Sunsport 2003
210 Horizon U-Seating 2003
220 Horizon L-Seating 2003
220 Horizon U-Seating 2003
240 Horizon L-Seating 2003
240 Horizon Std 2003
240 Horizon U-Seating 2003
260 Horizon L-Seating 2003
260 Horizon Std 2003
280 Horizon 2003

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2003 Horizon 240 With 5.7 Volvo Penta

OK, my bad.

The 2003 archive on the FW website does not list the H240 in the Owners Manual, however, it is listed in the catalog and Fast Facts documents.
2003 Owner's manual: http://www.fourwinns.com/upload/Documents/OwnersManuals/2003/210-280-Horizon-215-285-Sundowner-Manual.pdf shows H210 H230 H260 H280 (and there is a different manual for the smaller H's)

The whole 230/240 thing over the years is very confusing.

If you want to get back at me, you can point out that there is no Horizon 240 listed in 2000, yet that is exactly what I have! (they carried the 1996-1999 model into the first half of 2000, and yes, my VIN# ends in "00" for 2000).

Ray

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"Knot Easy" 2000 Horizon 240 Volvo 5.7GS /SX
tow: 2017 Honda PILOT EXL-AWD
prev. boats:
'87 Chaparral 198CXL 4.3 OMC Cobra
'69 Jetstar 16ft Ski Boat, 115hp Yamaha
'68 Aluminum Jon Boat, 3hp Sears
'64 Water Wings

............


You are 100% correct sir.

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One of 4 Previous (Sold) Boats:
2000 Four Winns 268 Vista

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

Is that the standard mounting place for tabs? I'm thinking about putting some smart tabs on my 190H, but I can't figure out where I'd put them. If they go where they're pictured above, what do you do with the transom straps?

Yes they are... My trailer had strap very close to the center of trailer (near drive) so Trim Tabs were not on the way of transom straps.

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08 H260 VP 8.1Gi DP.....Previous
2013 Crownline E6 Merc 8.2MAG BIIIX, DTS/SC

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2003 Horizon 240 With 5.7 Volvo Penta