www.iFourWinns.com

Hey all, recently purchased a 1990 Horizon 200 with the 5.7L Cobra engine. We sold our F/S and bought this and are super excited. Just thought Id share with ya what I got. Im sure Ill be one here a lot with questions. Pics may be kinda large, still working on it.

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1990 Horizon 200
5.7L OMC Cobra 260HP

Welcome. Looks to be in great shape.

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1998 Baja Boss 252 7.4L MPI Bravo 1 (SOLD)
2007 FW H200SS 5.0GXI (Sold)
2004 Chevy Silverado 2500 Crew 6.0L (tow vehicle)
1991 FW 170 Freedom 4.3L (SOLD)

Welcome! The more pics, and the bigger pics, the better, AFAIC.

That boat appears to be in good shape. Not a barn queen, but cared for appropriately and should be a lot of fun. I've never seen such long side guides on FW trailers. Interesting!

In the parking lot pics, is the boat all the way up on the trailer?

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

Amazing how close the 5.7L OMC looks compared to the 4.3L OMC I had.

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1998 Baja Boss 252 7.4L MPI Bravo 1 (SOLD)
2007 FW H200SS 5.0GXI (Sold)
2004 Chevy Silverado 2500 Crew 6.0L (tow vehicle)
1991 FW 170 Freedom 4.3L (SOLD)

Are you referring to how high the boat is on the wheel in the front? We noticed that when we bought it. I think it needs to go farther, I always pulled our old boat up a lot farther. But it is kind of nice because there are no nasty black marks on the front of the hull.

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1990 Horizon 200
5.7L OMC Cobra 260HP

Nice looking boat (I have the same year in 22 feet...same engine). You'll enjoy the boat I'm sure.

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'90 Horizon 220 5.8

I have the same basic boat just a little older and with the 4.3 4bbl engine...it's a great running boat and it should fly with the 5.7...in fact if I ever re-powered mine I was thinking of getting a 5.7 since the price engine wise is not much more but since you have to change the gear ratios in the drive I'm thinking that might be the time to either do a Volvo SX conversion (only if I could get the drive at the right price) or convert the whole thing over to a Merc Alpha...

mine was pretty trashed compared to this one and I re-did the whole interior and replaced the deck as well...

I can say this hull design handles big water very well for its size...

The main things to be aware of is that the Cobra is a good drive system but it's not that easy to find mechanics who know how to adjust them right...and certain maintenance jobs are done differently than on a Merc...for example filling the drive for one...

http://support.crowleymarine.com/category/128/

this link has some of the maintenance procedures if you don't have a factory manual....

http://www.hastings.org/~stuart/cobra/

this link is the definitive piece on the Cobra drives and how to get them shifting right...

mine had a shifting problem in that it would not come out of gear easily and I took it to a local OMC mechanic he got it shifting right and it's been fine for 5 seasons since...we found that you can get salt deposits built up behind the bellcrank in the pivot housing so each season I pull the drive and clean out that area and grease all the pivot points on the shift linkage with OMC/Bombardier triple guard grease...the other factor in getting it to shift well is to get the engine in a good enough state of tune to idle in gear (on the water) at about 550-600 rpms...the slower the better....

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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

Yes, in the parking lot pics only one of the bow rollers appears to be in contact with the bow. In the driveway pics they're both in contact, as they should be. If you don't get the boat fully up onto the trailer there's a good chance the transom is unsupported (which does appear to be the case in those pics) which over time can cause hull deformation (a "hook") in the running surface. Hopefully, the previous owner didn't keep it this way all the time, but just didn't get it all the way onto the trailer the last time he loaded it.

If you have trouble with black marks from the black rubber bow rollers, you could replace them with yellow urethane ones.

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

Yea.. the picture that was in the driveway was taken by the previous owner. Think it will be ok sitting like that until we can get it out to the lake in a few weeks?

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1990 Horizon 200
5.7L OMC Cobra 260HP

nice boat!

I have a soft spot for this era of Horizons...no bias

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Rob

Present: 1999 Formula 280SS
Past: 1989 180 Horizon

http://www.robcamerondesign.com

Sure, and you probably don't have much choice about it.

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

Awesome, welcome aboard!

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Current Boat:
2004 Sea Ray 320 Sundancer "Nauti Luvin'"

Previous Boats:
1999 298 Vista "Seas The Day"
2008 H200SS "Nauti Luv"
2006 Tahoe Q4

Yea no kidding, in just a few weeks it will be decently warm out. Were just dying to get it out on the water as soon as possible.

This was the old boat.. a 1997 17ft Sunbird Fish and Ski with a 115HP Evinrude. Originally came with an OMC 90HP but was replaced. Good boat, just got two small and I had too many friends with bass boats to go fishing on it anymore.

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1990 Horizon 200
5.7L OMC Cobra 260HP

Welcome! And cograts on what appears to be an excellent purchase. Don't worry. you can't post enough pictures or enough detail. it seems that most of us on this forum will "remind" you if you don't post any. And remember, there is no silly question among us Four Winns owners....

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Optimus Prime
Now: 2007 Horizon 260, (2007/08 brochure boat)
Previous: 1995 Sea Ray Signature Select 220
Tow: '07 Avalanche LTZ
Seattle and Chelan, WA