www.iFourWinns.com

Hi All,

Looking at purchasing my first boat. Went to the local Four Winns dealer (Im in Ontario) and he suggested the F224. It's a 23'8" boat, but that includes the swim deck (it's 22' without the swim deck). I live 10 minutes from Lake Ontario, near the mouth of the St Lawrence river, and I've been told to get at least a 22' boat for that lake. I want to make sure I get the right size boat so Im also considering the H240, which is 24' (no swim deck). My question is, will I notice the 2 foot difference if I buy one or the other?

My main concerns are handling and the boat being sufficient for Lake Ontario.

Thanks

**edit** The F224 is actually 21' plus 2'8" for the swim deck, totaling 23'8"

Looking forward to this one as well. I was told I should consider 22'-24' for Lake Norman and went with a 21'. A lot of it is the depth of the boat. An example would be a guys 24' ski boat that is so "short" that it's not a good boat for the lake (530 miles of shoreline). But a 20' "tall" boat like a Hurricane Deck Boat would be more than enough.

A primary concern for me was keeping it small enough to be fun, while still big enough for the lake. I didn't want to drive a minivan if i didn't have to!

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2006 Four Winns Horizon 210
5.7 320hp Volvo GXi - closed cooling
Lake Norman, Charlotte NC

You must be near me... Come buy mine . It will handle anything Lake Ontario can throw at you !!!

As for the F vs H series... people say the bowriders handle waves better because of the V nose. I've never been on a funship though.

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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

Spending that kind of money...insist on taking both out on the water and compare how they do in rough chop.

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2005 Horizon 210, 5.7L Volvo

The H240 is 24' including the platform and the back sunpads... that's alot of footage.

You really need to sit in both, and drive both. They are great boats.

Having owned a 240 - it's a fantastic lakeboat. It's got plenty of mass and sits deep in the water - it handles chop very well.

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2008 318 Vista -SOLD, but I am still around!
All Night Long, Seattle WA

In my opinion, comparing the two, I think you'll end up with the same amount of room, or even slightly more with the F224. They are almost the same length when you consider the swim platform. And, on the F, the front seating area is larger. I'd say it's close to a wash... get the boat you like best and can get the best deal on.

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2008 Four Winns F224
5.0 Volvo Penta
Towing with Audi Q7 4.2 V8

We see many F224 in 1000 Island area… F224 has more room than H240 but H240 should ride better in rough water and takes chops better. Horizon is sportier looking than Funship in general, However, Funship is more practical for family use and economical… I do not think you can not go wrong with either one but for 1000 island area boating larger boat is a preferred if you can afford it. We used had H240 but now own H260 and 2’ difference is very noticeable on rough water of St Lawrence River…
We can always offer you a ride on our Horizon if you have a chance to come across a 1000 Island bridge to Alex Bay….
See you on water.

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08 H260 VP 8.1Gi DP.....Previous
2013 Crownline E6 Merc 8.2MAG BIIIX, DTS/SC

+1 to trying both boats out in the water. Please post your impressions if you do this. We just got the F224and are very happy with it. We moved from a Freedom 190 and the F224 is much more stable.

I ran into a similar situation when I was buying, but my choices were the F204 I ended up going with, and the H210. Both were the nearly the same price in my case, but the we chose the F204 because it had noticably more room and features that the H210 didn't have. For example, you would think that the H210 would be larger than the F204 based on the number, but thats not the case. The F204 is actually 4" longer and weighs about 500lb more. It may not be as fast on the top end as the H210, but I haven't had any difficulties with handling it in rough lake waters. In addition, the F204 holds 10 more gallons of fuel, 2 additional passengers, and 12 gallons of fresh water (the H210 doesn't have a potable water system).

This also depends on personal taste and where you boat. The H210 is a great looking boat, perhaps even better looking than the F204, but having enough room for everyone was more important to us than looks. In my opinion FW's deck boats are probably the best looking deck boats on the market.

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

I like my 2006 H240. With the wake tower it's rated for 11 people, handles well, pulls skiers up even with a load of people on board (VP 5.7 duoprop). I have not tried the deck boat so cannot compare but I love the 240!

IMO, of course, but I think you will definitely get a better ride out of the larger hull. I went with a funship 264 for the chop on Lake Norman, and the more time I spend on the lake (especially on weekends) the happier I am with the larger hull even sacrificing a little ride quality versus a traditional bow rider (for the $$, I would have had to go a little smaller). I also really like the open layout of the Funship boats. We usually have between 6-10 people on the boat, tubing etc., and everyone likes the more open layout.

All things being equal (layout etc), I think bigger is almost always better.

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2003 Funship 264
Volvo 8.1Gi DP
2007 Lincoln Navigator tow vehicle
Weekends on Lake Norman

[quote="KDriskel"]IMO, of course, but I think you will definitely get a better ride out of the larger hull. I went with a funship 264 for the chop on Lake Norman, and the more time I spend on the lake (especially on weekends) the happier I am with the larger hull even sacrificing a little ride quality versus a traditional bow rider (for the $$, I would have had to go a little smaller). I also really like the open layout of the Funship boats. We usually have between 6-10 people on the boat, tubing etc., and everyone likes the more open layout.

Did you buy your FW from Lake Norman Marina?

From my point of view, to compare the two, I think you will find yourself with the same amount of room, or even a little more with F224. They are almost the same length if we consider the swim platform. And F is the largest area of the front seats. I would say it is close to a wash take the boat you like best and get the best deals.

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DELETED BY ADMIN

Bigger is usually better, but one thing you want to look at is not just overall length but waterline length (not including swim platform) and most important is deadrise, the angle that the sides of the hull makes with the horizontal. If you look at the stern from the rear, notice how steep the angle is between the hull sides and the horizontal. A true deep vee hull (with a deadrise from about 20* on up) will ride much better than a hull with a shallower deadrise of the same hull length. Bowriders tend to have closer to a true deep vee than deck boats which are more of a shallow vee. My old 88 200 has a 21* deadrise, about the steepest ever offered on a Horizon and it handles rough water great, otherwise I would not take a boat that size into Long Island Sound on certain days.

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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

Probably too late now to contribute anything to this thread, but we went through the same comparison (214 vs. 230 at the time; same boats). We went into it with every intention of buying a Funship. On the sea trial, it became clear that the top of the windshield cut right through the middle of my line of sight no matter how I adjusted the seat. We loved everything else about the boat, but that was a deal breaker and I wouldn't have known about it until it was too late, if I had only sat in it on the trailer.

The good news was that we found we could get the additional 2' of the 230/240 for not much more money than the 214/224, and most importantly, for almost exactly the same tow weight. With that in mind, we tested a 230/240 and the deal was done. I'm very happy it worked out the way it did. An SL series boat might be a good option to look at too.

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