www.iFourWinns.com

I am new to Four Winns boats, and I recently sold my mastercraft 200VRS and purchased a 1998 Four Winns Horizon 200. We wanted a boat that was better suited to family boating and cruising rather than a wakeboard specific boat.

The boat has a 5.0L Volvo with dual stainless props on the outdrive, a dual axle trailer with new tires and big air wake tower. I paid $8000 for the boat, but it needed some clean up
1. a few of the seats needed re-stiching and I replaced the wooden base on the rear seat and sun platform
2. One of the cushions skins needs to be replaced ($170 from four winns)
3. The hull needed a good buff (which came our really nicely thanks to "buff magic" )
4. The boat was really filthy with mildew etc but nothing that 409 wouldnt remove
5. The outdrive could really use a repaint.

My question is did I pay too much, or does anyone have an idea on the value range for this boat.

Thanks

Dave

This past spring I sold my 98 H200 for almost double your amount!!! The boat was pretty much mint with less than 400 hours and an SX drive. I think you got a steal even if you have to do some major cleanup. BTW I miss that smaller boat! It was easy to handle, had lots of space for a family and the storage was quite respectible too. You will love your boat, if you plan to keep it a long time, I would suggest you have an extended swim platform installed, It will give you a little more space when the kids want to play.

_________________
Marc, Kathlin & Nathalie


'89 Chaparral Laser 32

'93 Vista 245, 5.8L w/ King Cobra

Former Boats
'01 H260, 7.4 VP Duoprop
'98 H200, 5.0 GL w/VP SX drive

They're all too much .

But wanted to say, welcome to the board, and Four Winns!

Make sure you've got the right anodes on your drive .

_________________


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

Thanks for the input.. makes me feel better after the hours of sweat I put into cleaning the boat out and buffing the hull . I gotta say that the getcoat must be really good quality because the shine really came back .

Since the boat doesnt have a bimini cover yet I plan to add one so thats the next expense.

I like the idea of a swim platform for the simple fact that it gets the props and other sharp parts out of the way so kids dont end up jumping on it and getting hurt. Where would you suggest getting a swim platform from ??

Also what is an SX drive. Mine has a 5.0L volvo (not sure of the HP) and Volvo outdrive with 2 stainless props.

Cheers

Dave

I'd say you did well pricewise. It's pretty hard to get anything decent for less than 8K, boats cheaper than that usually are older and have expensive problems like deck and transom rot, engine/drive problems, etc. In fact by the time I got done with fixing the deck, stringers and other stuff that needed work on my '88, I for sure have more than $8K into it combinbing the purchase price and the repairs. Probably closer to 10K but it was worth it as the boat runs great and has been reliable, espcially given a 20 year old powertrain. The best thing you can do it get the Volvo manuals and go thru the drive and engine, make sure the fluids are changed, the engine is in good tune and I'd have the drive removed, check the drive shaft bellows (very important to check for water intrusion, I do this each season), gimble bearing and u-joints. Usually I/O problems are a result of never checking stuff like that. The 200 Horizon is a great size first boat, big enough to feel safe but small enough to handle by yourself.

SX drive=American style Volvo single prop.
DP= dual prop---->very important, make sure you remove the props and grease the propshaft each season, or they may be close to impossible to get off. I use OMC triple guard water proof grease and the prop on my Cobra comes right off after 6 months in salt water.

_________________
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

I say you got a great deal also.
5.0 Volvo with a Dual prop. Nice.
I paid $7900 for my 94 Horizon 180 last year. It was in MINT condition though. I am a neat freak and didn't have to do any cleaning to it. And I have had no major problems either.
Post some pics when you get a chance.

_________________
Troy
2008 Centurion Avalanche
1994 Four Winns Horizon 180 SE 5.0L OMC Cobra (Sold)
2002 Ford F150 Harley Davidson Edition (http://www.nhtoc.com) 378 hp & 465 tq at rear wheels
2008 Honda Accord EX-L w/Nav

Swim platforms are available from several aftermarket retailers or maybe even your local dealer. Search these threads, somebody has a nice platform installed recently and they show several resources plus pictures of there install.

Enjoy your new boat!

_________________
Marc, Kathlin & Nathalie


'89 Chaparral Laser 32

'93 Vista 245, 5.8L w/ King Cobra

Former Boats
'01 H260, 7.4 VP Duoprop
'98 H200, 5.0 GL w/VP SX drive

Four Winns makes great platforms and they make them to fit your exact boat. I don't know if one is available for your year/model. I'm not saying they're any better or worse than other aftermarket makers; I'm only saying they're worth checking into as well.

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

Marc, you're not sorry about the 260 are you? I don't miss my 20 foot cuddy except when I have to buy gas.

_________________
2001 Horizon 260 - 7.4 Volvo GSI DP

I miss the portability of the H200, yes the lesser fuel consumption too and to be honest with you the other boat had a very similar amount of room in the cockpit due to it's seating pattern. The H260 is a wonderful boat but the fuel consumption is heavy (which I expected but not at these prices!) I keep the H260 slipped and I have to pull it out every three weeks and wash down the bottom (my H200 sat on the trailer so it was always clean); this is a good and bad thing though because I also take it to the gas pump and put 50-60 gallons in it which saves me probably $30 Canadian each time. The season here has not been that good and I seem to be reflecting alot on how much money I have sitting in the creek that could be put to use elsewhere..... Then I go for a ride and it makes everything OK again

We seemed to have hijacked this thread though so I apologize now to sapilot!

_________________
Marc, Kathlin & Nathalie


'89 Chaparral Laser 32

'93 Vista 245, 5.8L w/ King Cobra

Former Boats
'01 H260, 7.4 VP Duoprop
'98 H200, 5.0 GL w/VP SX drive

Wanted to post some pics now that the boat is starting to look like it is cared for... Seems like posting pics is not so easy and the pics need to be hosted on a web site somewhere...

Any tips on how/where ???

Cheers

Dave

There's a few places with free picture hosting. I use http://picasaweb.google.com the have a lot of storage and when getting the link to post, you can specify the size without resizing pictures, very simple.

Looking forward to the pics!

_________________
-Rob.


Current boat: 2011 Yamaha AR210
Previous boat: 1998 Horizon RX 4.3GL SX

I use photobucket http://www.photobucket.com also free with a very intuitive user interface. Best thing is I have yet to run into any bandwidth restrictions.

_________________
2007 Horizon 200
4.3L GXi/ SX 225 HP

Thanks for the data...


Okay so here we go.. I tried to attach the pictures and that didnt work so here is a URL that has 4 pictures you can scroll through.

I still have some work to do on the boat, but it starting to look better.

PS... ignore the ugliest tower you ever saw.. I am having it bent/modified on Friday and then repainted in the same dark green as the boat.

Cheers

Dave

http://picasaweb.google.com/djbusa143/F ... 3574986914

Very cool.

To get the URL to the picture and display it in a post, use the "Link to this photo" option in the right menu in Picasaweb. Then select the size from the drop down list (400px is usually a good size). Then copy the url that is with href="" from the "HTML to embed in website" field. Past that into the Img tag in the post.

Hope that helps. You're 1/2 way there

_________________
-Rob.


Current boat: 2011 Yamaha AR210
Previous boat: 1998 Horizon RX 4.3GL SX