www.iFourWinns.com

I just purchased a very clean 1988 215 Sundowner and will get it home on Friday. (Now to sell old boat!) Glad I found this forum!

I am wondering if anyone has the specs on this year? I know FourWinns.com used to have product guides and owners manuals going bag to at least the early 80s. That doesn't seem to be on the site anymore, and I cant find reliable info about the specs and options, etc. I emailed Four Winns customer service a few days ago and have not heard anything. Can anyone help??

Looking forward to doing a few things this winter and heading out on Cape Cod Bay and Nantucket Sound next summer with the family!

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1988 215 Sundowner 5.7L OMC

I am out of Boston, good luck with the new boat. How many years have you been boating down there?

Welcome! Always glad to see another SD owner join up. You and LouC will be best buds, he has the same vintage FW, altho his is a Horizon. He has a wealth of knowledge on them. Lets see some pics!

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1996 205 Sundowner DLX
5.0FL Volvo SX Cobra
Tow Veh: 2012 Nissan Frontier Pro-4X

Welcome to the site. Nice to see I'm not the only vintage owner here. Bring on the photos

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1987/88 Kawasaki 650 sx jet skis
1994 seadoo Spx
1988 for winns 235 Sundowner
Used to own- mint 1974 amf 235 slickcraft. One greatly missed boat

I grew up on the Cape and have been boating my entire life. Look forward to the discussions! Pictures to come when I pick the boat up tomorrow!

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1988 215 Sundowner 5.7L OMC

Welcome, that's a nice boat, perfect size. Is the power package OMC or Merc? FW used to have all the older specs/brochures on their site, I hope they put them back.

We've had ours 10 years and in that time have basically done a resto on it, re-did the whole interior and had to replace the deck/repair stringers. Big job but worth it because I've got it the way I want it at this point.

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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

Its OMC, Cobra outdrive and a 5.7L supposedly, we will check the block number and verify once we get it home. Its definitely an 8, so could be the 5.0. It looks really clean, everything works except engine is seized. Engine was supposedly rebuilt a couple years ago and the first time out, the freeze plug popped. A marine mechanic put it back in, they ran it OK in driveway, then took it out again. Steam came from the engine, so they brought it back in, winterized it, and it didn't turn over this spring. I assume salt water got in there and its frozen. We will see when we get it home and disassemble. We are planning on just pulling the engine, putting it on an engine stand in the garage, and wrapping it up.

It looks like the next couple of days will be nice weather, so I think before I put the other boat on craigslist, I will take the fam out for once last ride!

BTW Does anyone know where I can get some Four Winns decals for the hull?

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1988 215 Sundowner 5.7L OMC

I'd call a couple of dealers for the decals, mine are long gone but I have seen some on e-bay.
This past spring I decided to get it painted because I could never get the burgundy gel coat to come back no matter what I did. I had it painted in Imron red, it really made it look great.

If you are going to pull the engine, you have to pull the drive first, but that's easy. The Cobra was a good drive but some parts are hard to find and it can be tough to find mechanics that can still set up the shift cable.

Believe it or not mine is still running on the original 88 engine and drive. The drive had a few repairs like oil seals and a few bearings. I replaced the manifolds 2x (salt water) the circulating pump, starter, rebuilt carb 2x and a few other things, but mechanically its been really good. When I do have to re-power I am going with a GM marine crate engine all new + closed cooling.

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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 might have to have it painted in a season or two. The gel coat is faded on top, but still looks good below. Was having it painted expensive? Came with a surprise: a bimini with full enclosure and zip in Isinglass! Its in fair shape, looks original, but definitely usable for at least one more season. Just pulled in an hour ago, so looking forward to getting to work on cleaning it up tomorrow!

Just glad we got it home safe and sound. Now the adventure begins!

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1988 215 Sundowner 5.7L OMC

A good paint job will be expensive, there are various options as far as doing it yourself but for me I did not have a sheltered place to work, and the weather here is not dry long enough to be able to do a good job with a project like that. So I had a shop do it in Imron, which is expensive but is about the most durable paint there is (used on aircraft and tractor trailers). I'd try to restore the gelcoat first, if you get lucky it may come out good enough to look presentable. Mine was done by a pro and myself several times and it never lasted more than a few months before oxidizing again. Best thing is all I have to do is buff the topsides (still white gelcoat) the area just above and below the rub rail down to the water line is all paint so all I do is wash and wax it.

To restore gelcoat you need a good rotary buffer, a random orbit like you use to wax a car won't cut it.

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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

So I figure its time for an update, as we have come a long way since last post. We rebuilt a 5.7L engine, and slowly but surely cleaned every part, replaced a lot of parts, and put it all back together. We installed a new crack, new mild cam, new intake manifold, and bought a reman Rochester 4 bbl carb with electric choke. The original exhaust manifolds were cleaned inside and out, checked over, and are in great shape, so we painted them and put them back on. We painted engine block Chevy orange, and the rest of the parts gloss black. We primed and painted the outdrive, new water pump, seals, fluid change, etc. The fuel pump is an external pump (old one was shot) and we installed a fuel regulator and gauge. So...after putting everything back together and in the boat, we fired it up today and it ran great! It fired right up and sounded good. We have to set the timing and make some minor adjustments, but so far so good..except for the carb. It seemed to leak a bit out of the accelerator pump and after running for 10-15 minutes, would drop in RPMS then backfire. It seems starved for fuel. We checked all the lines, filters, everything, and there is no issue getting fuel all the way up to the carb, the issue seems to be the carb itself. I bought it from National Carburetor, with lifetime warranty, but it took them 3 weeks to build and ship it. I dont want to wait that long this time, so I hope I can ship it, they can fix it, then get it back within a week or so.

Below are some photos and a video of the engine running. More photos to come soon, these are just from my phone. I will take some interior shots, etc. By the way, the wires have been sorted, but look messy in this photo...

Video

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1988 215 Sundowner 5.7L OMC

Motor looks great! Only thing that caught my eye is that filter before the electric fuel pump (on the left side of the engine), I think those are not CG approved in an inboard engine space, just like if you use a Racor filter with the bowl, the bowl can't be plastic with inboards only metal. Also not sure if the fuel pressure gauge is legal either, you can probably check though. If I do repower mine I considered going with a V-8 but then I'd have to change the drive and the whole exhaust system, but might well be worth it. The V-6 is very good on gas though.

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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

Thanks LouC! As the boat sat for a little over a year, we wanted to get a visual on the gas while testing it. Once we are confident that the gas isn't too bad, then we are going to remove that filter and use straight gas line. I am going to have a vessel safety check done in a week or two, and they can tell me about the gauge. Because of the need for the external fuel pump, we wanted to dial in the right amount of fuel pressure. It can be removed and capped.

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1988 215 Sundowner 5.7L OMC

That idle and backfire issue sounds like bad gas and possible timing issue...I would not use gas that is over a month old when tuning or starting a new engine....

Flush that tank or hook up a temp tank until your tuning is done!!

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1989 Sundowner 205 5.8 L

I had same though about electric fuel pumps, if you get a new crate motor they do not come with the boss for mounting a mechanical pump any more so you have to go electric. If you had a leak by the accelerator pump then they have to get back into it. I had a similar running issue one year and it turned out to have nothing to do with the carb but it was my old points n condenser ignition. I put in a new set and it was fine after that. To set the idle mixture on the Q-Jet you may need an special tool, the idle needles may have a d-shaped end to them vs a normal screw head. I know mine do. With the dog clutch Cobra system it shifts best if you can get the idle down to about 550 or so, as low as it will idle without stalling.

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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