www.iFourWinns.com

Hello all, new member here. I have been lurking for awhile since I have been rebuilding my '88 Horizon 200. Great info here. First I will give a little background before asking questions.

I've been wanting to get back into boating for the last five years or so. Last October I purchased the above mentioned boat from my girlfriends uncle. The interior was shot and needed a total replacment. The hull was supposed to be red but looked more like pink. The Cobra outdrive was corroded, and the prop is banged up pretty good. Sounds like a nasty boat eh? But the hull was solid, the 305 Chevy (230HP) motor was new with about 10 hours on it, and I picked it up for $1500 with trailer. After buffing out the hull, stripping the interior down to the fiberglassed deck, re-glassing the deck, and rebuilding the interior I now have a boat that has gotten 6 "NICE BOAT!" compliments in four outings. Total investment so far is $3200. I am pleased with that. The outdrive is still corroded but shifts "almost" with a finger and it still holds oil so it is staying put for now.

I know there are a few here with the same style Horizon as mine and my question is directed to them. I currently have a banged up SST 15x17 prop on this boat. Top speed at 4500rpm is 42mph(gps). Cruising at 3000rpm gets me 25mph. The holeshot is OK with two people up front but if you put two people in the stern seats the boat will pretty much stand on end and does NOT want to get on plane but will with alotta throttle. Prop slip work out to be 22% at 3000rpm and 13% at 4500rpm, I think.

Is anyone running the same prop with similar results? I have seen that some boats are running a 14.5x19. Is this a better choice? Is anyone running a 4 blade? I have heard good things about the Renegade Offshore, mainly a much improved holeshot with no loss of top end.

A 45 to 50mph top speed would be nice but a lower plane speed would be more helpful. Currently it planes out right around 22mph.

Thanks

Welcome!

I have a similar boat, 89 Horizon 180, and I have had a similar project like you, my floor was trashed and is finally fixed. However my boat is a 4.3l V6.

I run the stock 15x17 prop. However my boat has a pretty damn good hole shot, and is on plane with ease no later than 2700, and can easily stay on at 17 or so MPH (according to my Speed-o). However I do have the same issue with 2 people in the rear seats, or more than 4 people in the boat.

As far as I can tell my boat runs out of prop at 5200rpm, and is running approx 37 or so on the OEM speedometer.

I have been thinking of upgrading to a stainless and I am wondering about similar questions that you have.

_________________
Rob

Present: 1999 Formula 280SS
Past: 1989 180 Horizon

http://www.robcamerondesign.com

I have an 88 Horizon 200 but with the 4.3-4bbl carb....the boat came with a 14.5 x 19 and would only pull 4200 rpms wide open...I switched to the 15 x 17 and it pulls 4700 which is what the WOT rpm should be so that's as good as it gets...but the V-8 and V-6 use different gear ratios in the drive....I would advise making sure the engine is in good tune with no fuel system restrictions and then look up the WOT rpm spec for your engine...but I think you're pretty close to where you should be...maybe with a prop in better shape you will get better performance...if you switch to the 14.5 x 19 it's going to drop your WOT rpm probably and reduce hole shot but may improve top speed...I recall reading that when you drop one inch in pitch it gives you 200 more rpms....

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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

To the best of my knowledge the engine is running great. I am a maintenance mechanic/electrician and can find no problems with this engine other than hard starting after first putting in the water. Anti-Siphon valve I wonder? Starts perfect every time the rest of the day. I just changed the plugs and wires for the heck of it. Everything else checks out OK. It sat for about 5 years winterized, getting moved from in the garage to the yard and back. The previous owner attempted to winterize himself one year and the block cracked. He had a Jasper rebuild installed and ran half a tank through it, he never ran it after that but got it out of the garage every year thinking he would.

Maybe the best thing to do is to buy a replacement SST for now. Seems that you guys are getting good performance from this prop and I am sure that just about any new prop would be an improvement over what I have now. I cannot find any information on this boat that tells the original prop size. I am reasonably sure that the 15x17 is the original but would like to confirm this. Do you guys know where to find this info? The Four Winns site has the original specs but no prop size that I could find.

I was hoping that someone here with a similar boat would have already done the work of trying numerous props to find that "perfect" one and I could just ride their coat-tales to perfect prop bliss! Thats OK though, you two fellas just confirmed what I was already thinking, that 15x17 is a good performer on these hulls.

I guess it is like a right of passage with these boats to replace the deck and or stringers. LouC, you had me scared to death after reading your posts about replacing your stringers. I was wondering what I got myself into! Luckily for me I only had to replace a small 1x2 foot section of the floor. Not because it was rotton but because it was slightly bulged up and driving me nuts. Guess I got lucky?

Thanks

there is some information on the four winns website in the literature for previous models section....it does not go back to 88 but the Horizon was basically the same from 88 to 92 and I am pretty sure the V-8 models were supposed to have a 14.5x19 and the V-6 models were supposed to have the 15x17...when I got my boat 8 years ago it had the 14.5x19 on it and I was looking through the literature one day and realized it had the wrong prop on it for years! It does perform noticably better with the 15x17...

http://assets2.fourwinnsmarketing.com/p ... %20(p18-20).pdf

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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

I looked at the 1990 and 1991 model year info and it seems that every one of the V8's has the 14.5x19. Only the 4.3 V6 was using the 15x17. So now I'm not sure which to get for a replacement.

I sent an email to Four Winns asking if they could tell me what props the '88 Horizon shipped with or if they could recommend a suitable modern replacement. Its been three days and so far have not heard anything back

I have a 89 Horizon 200-5.0 Ford.My boat performs similarly. I've tried a 14 1/4 x 21 that came as a spare and it was horrible.lost top end and holeshot. For my boat i think the 15x17 is the way to go.

Without seeing it, you've made your prop sound pretty ugly. I would try a new stock prop 1st. Better yet, if your in good with a marine mechanic or FW dealer, they may possibly let you "try one out" for a couple of weeks. It won't hurt to ask. Offer to put down a deposit and see what gives. Trial and error is the best way to prop a boat, but that is really expensive unless you get some help by trialling a couple.

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2005 FW Horizon 250
8.1L VP DP

i have an 89 180, 5.0. my prop is 14.5x19, I have great hole shots, crusing at 3000 gets me around 30 mph.. top speed is 50 mph trimmed at about 4800 rpm. I think thats whats stock my boat and seems to work great, I have been tempted to change props or try something else, but this one just seems to work great for whatever I do. actually had a few people say the boat pulls them out of the water too fast. lol. if thats a possibility. even with 4+ people in the boat, still plains pretty quick and top end drops to like 40-45 depending on waves..
Hope this helps.

Still no word from Four Winns yet. I am going to get another 15x17 to replace the one currently on the boat. I'm sure a new prop will improve things a bit and I already know that it will provide acceptable performance. I need to "get in good" with a marina around here and see if I can try a 14.5x19 at some point. Maybe I will wait til next year for that testing. Does anyone have any recommendations on a manufacturer or is the old OMC/BRP stainless the way to go?

Got caught in a horrific thunderstorm last Sunday. Thought I was going to sink the thing. The bilge pump screen got junked up with some leftover saw dust that was still in the bilge. Thought I got it all cleaned out, guess not. The sky seemed like it was dumping buckets on us with 65+mph winds and hail. The water made it half way up the engine crank pulleys. Not sure why in the middle of it all I decided to "just check" to make sure the pump was working, glad I did!

Mike

I've got a 1989 horizon 200 with the 2 barrel 4.3l. I'm running a 15x17 as well. Mine doesn't seem to be performing quite as some of yours. Mine tops out at 5200 rpm WOT. It seems to have a pretty good hole shot, but not the best top end. I'm only at 38 mph at 5200 RPMs.

Took a file to the 15x17 and smoothed out the edges some. No increase in speed, still 42mph@4600rpm with full tank and two people, but it does run alot smoother. Got a 14.5x19 OMC SST II prop from eBay yesterday and will update for those who want to know when I get to try it out.

Also thinking of getting a set of Smart-Tabs to help plane out while carrying people in the rear seats. I wonder if they are too good to be true but I cannot find one bad comment on these things. Anyone here using them?

Update. I installed the Smart Tabs and adjusted according to the instructions. It is like a different boat now. Much smoother and handles better at slow/no wake all the way to top speed. The amazing difference was minimum plane speed, dropped from about 20 to about 15mph. It really seems to jump out of the water now. The boat gained 1mph to 43mph and rpm decreased to 4500. The directions say I should see a two to three mph increase, maybe I need the 60lb. actuators instead of the 80lbs?

Also changed the prop after testing with the trim tabs. Changed from the 15x17 SSTII to a 14.5x19 SSTII. Speed increased another 2mph to 45mph without much, if any, loss of holeshot. The funny thing is I GAINED 200/300rpm from 4500 to 4700/4800rpm. This was not expected at all??? RPM should have went down??? Maybe because of the condition of the old prop?

Now I wonder if a 14.5x21 or 15x21 is the way to go? Is anyone running one of these?

Mike

I have tried the 14.5x21 prop on my 89 h200 and i lost holeshot,had the same topspeed of 40 but rpm's dropped.didn't like it,so i went back to a 15x17.