www.iFourWinns.com

Hello all, first post and thank you in advance for the assistance.

I am looking at buying a used Horizon 200. Only other thing I have been told is that it has a "Mustang engine"/302, runs good, but sometimes hard to start.

I've not seen the boat in person yet, only have one picture.

What are the things I need to check?

What's the best way to check for any rot?

Need y'alls help...never bought a bought like this before.

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No boat yet
2005 Forest River Flagstaff 5th wheel
Wife and two beautiful daughters!!

Here's the crappy picture...if it works.

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No boat yet
2005 Forest River Flagstaff 5th wheel
Wife and two beautiful daughters!!

Anyone??

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No boat yet
2005 Forest River Flagstaff 5th wheel
Wife and two beautiful daughters!!

I'm sure someone with a lot more knowledge than me will come along soon, but IMHO if it's "hard to start" you might want to find out why before you buy it. Sucks being out in the middle of a lake and the boat won't start.

My other observation is the trailer. Take a REALLY good look at it. Maybe it's just a bad picture, but it kinda scares me just looking at it.

Hope it all works out for you and Welcome to the site!

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2010 H190 4.3VP
Tow Vehicle:
2007 F150
Previous boats:
2009 H180 3.0VP
1996 Horizon QX 3.0VP

What about the trailer?

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No boat yet
2005 Forest River Flagstaff 5th wheel
Wife and two beautiful daughters!!

I have that exact boat.88 horizon 200. Mine had rot in the deck and was a big job to fix. If its an OMc don,t buy it...trailer needs bunks recovered. It's a good handling boat but watch out for rot.

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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

Before you buy it, MAKE SURE you take it in and have a mechanic do a basic inspection on it. Sounds like you need some one to help you out on this one. Check compression, drive oil, bellows, no frozen and cracked block or outdrive. There are alot of things that can go wrong on a boat and if you dont know what you are looking for, you can spend your money on something that wont work and costs too much to fix it.

The 302 engine is good. The OMC drive needs mechanics that know how to work on them and they are getting fewer and fewer. I would stick with a boat that has a Mercruiser drive on it. Keep looking.

I think the trailer looks scary as well. Bunks need recovering at minimum...maybe even replaced. Tires probably need replacing as well. Hopefully the bearings are in decent shape and it doesn't look like it has brakes so thats one less thing to worry about.

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2008 FW F204 - 5.0 VP "Stand On It"
Former Boat: Larson 186 LXI - 4.3 VP

Chuck the trailer altogether it's going to be a hassle in the long run. I have heard the OMC outdrive is a big pain in the transom. Good luck brother on your new purchase.

Spend 250 on a survey trust me it's well worth it. My surveryor let me be present and explained every single item he was checking.

Compression test is vital! He took off each spark plug and attached a hose with what looked like a tire pressure reader and cranked the engine and he wrote the compression on each cylinder. He tested the bilge pump to make sure that was working also and the blower . All the lights and under his advice I chucked the trailer and purchased a new one.

Checks all vital areas outdrive, bellows, anodes, water pumps, the impeller which after he checked it he put a new one in since it's pretty cheap. The dealer opted to let the surveyor and myself to do an hour long seatrail also which was really nice. He used some kind of infrared heat device to measure any hot spots in the engine and manifolds and everything checked out. It was the best 250 dollars I have invested into a purchase not to mention the peace of mind. My insurance company also gave me a price break since I had a survey done. The price of the survery was well worth it since he wrote a page worth of minor details that needed to be fixed and I worked all of the items into the price of the deal. He also tested the hull with a sound machine against the gelcoat. I got a free replacement on a horn that wasn't working and also a serius radio that had a cd stuck inside it so I am definitely happy with the survey. Trust me it will be worth having a surveyor go over it before you buy