www.iFourWinns.com

Thanks for all the replies to my orginal post...this is a great web site with great people! I am sitting here at my desk, sun burnt, hungover, and very tired...but I still have a smile on my face! This is a amazing boat for what I paid for it. The first thing I noticed right away is how much better in rode in the water. Their is no comparison...it is by far a much smoother ride then the 185 bayliner. The second thing I noticed right away is how much quieter the engine is...even at full throttle we could still talk to each other without yelling. The gas mileage was not as good as the 4.3 v6 but I suspect that it will improve as it gets broke in more. The only problems I had were
1. the pasengers side chair no longer swivles like it is supposed to when you pull the lever on the underneath side.
2. When the gas gauge says it is empty..its empty!

A couple of things the dealer told me checked out wrong to...he said that the bimini top had to be in the radar postion to put the cover on..not true. Cover fits fine with bimini down. He also said that for the first two hours keep the throttle down...then after that go ahead and open her up for a few minutes at a time then back her down. I follwed his break advice for the most part... but by the end of the day it was running so good, I had already ran a full tank of gas thru her, and we been varying the speed like he told me to that I ran her wide open for a stretch. WOW...this boat has amazing speed and aglity on the water. I am in love and will not be planning on buying another baot for quite sometime!!!

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2006 four winns horizon 200
Ted C Ballinger

Congrats on your boat Ted. I can see that you enjoy yours just as much as we enjoy our. See you on the water.

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Rex
2005 210H 5.7GXI DP

Without bashing a BL 185, you have now experienced what many FW owners already know, they make a superior product. I'm happy that you are so excited about your boat. You may just keep it for quite a while, but 2 foot itis is an easy disease to catch.

Enjoy your boating experience.

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

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

I was informed by my finance that if I bought another boat within the next ten years she would kill me!!! We have been thru this twice within a year. First the bayliner and now the four winns. I am completly satisfied with this boat and have not caught the bug (2ftitis) yet!

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2006 four winns horizon 200
Ted C Ballinger

Your not even married yet and she is already nagging you. You may want to rethink this marriage thing.

Marriage=Negotiate

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2005 Funship 214 5.0GXi/DP | 2006 Yamaha FJR1300

Since she is the only women that I have met that loves boating as much as I do, and her family owns a cabin on otter tail lake, mn... I think I will simply agree with her!!! I finally got my pictures uploaded...they are kind of crappy as I forgot our good camera and had to use my cell phone. They are the photo album under "doublescorpio"

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2006 four winns horizon 200
Ted C Ballinger

DS, I was only joking. Myself I have been married 10 wonderful years. But remember she is the boss. At least that is what my wife told me to say.

You keep having a blast in that new awesome FW 200 of yours Not bashing BL, but my neighbor has a 2005 185, and at the lake, you can hear it coming a mile away. It is 10 times louder with his 3.0 than my Penta 5.0.

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2001 FW Horizon 190 w/ 5.0GL PEFS

The boat I traded in was a 2005 Bayliner 185 w/ 4.3 v6 mercruiser. When I was in MN last year my 1998 Four Winns with a 3.0 mercruiser. On the first day of vacation the motor blew up. There was no used boats around there because they had a big storm and it wiped out a lot of boats on the lake. There was no Four winn dealers anywhere close...so I ended up buying the bayliner. It was not a BAD boat...just no where near the quality of the four winns. This is my thried four winns and I am extremely happy with this boat. I would recommend a bayliner as a good Starter boat becuase they are in ex-pensive and will hold up okay if you take care of them...when you are ready to get serious...BUY a four winns!!!

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2006 four winns horizon 200
Ted C Ballinger

My son has a friend who owns a Crownline 230 BR --not a bad boat -- due to a bag sucked into a stern drive inlet he lost his water pump and they had to load everything into my 240 Horizon and they were on the boat with my son all weekend -- He must have commented three times he could not believe how quiet the Four Winns was compared to his crownline with a mercruiser V8 ---and how you could not hear the engine running at idle on the Four Winns --- it was nice to hear that.

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DaleG -- West Palm Beach FL
2003 240Horizon -- 5.7Gi -Duoprop

I actually have to tell ppl to be quiet on the boat so I can listen to see if it has started. It's that quiet. But I guess I could just look at the tach

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2001 FW Horizon 190 w/ 5.0GL PEFS