www.iFourWinns.com

Does anyone know the height of the 328 swim platform? I'm looking for the measurement from the water to the top surface of the swim platform. I did a search and saw mention that it might be 17", but I would like to know for sure if possible. Unfortunately I can't measure on my boat as it's in storage at the moment (and an hour and a half away).
I'm going to build a pull on davit system for our dinghy over the winter and would need to understand how far it is to the water so I can get the angle correct. None that I've seen on the market seem perfect, particularly when you look at the crazy prices they ask.

Steve.

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1969 Chris Craft Commander 47
1999 Four Winns 328 Vista - SOLD

Hmmm, seems that the height of the swimplatform from the water will change with added passengers, fuel, gear as well as the weight of the davit system,dinghy ,motor and fuel. So what type of measurement do you want ? empty boat, full boat, with dinghy, without dinghy, etc ??????
Or just a measurement from top of swimplatform to bottom paint/water line ?
Most systems are adaptable in original design to already compensate for the few inch difference when the boat is heavy or light. Never hurts to ask I suppose.

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

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

Sitting there drinking a cold beer on watching the sun go down my feet are just into the water.....so if I measure from the underside of my leg to the top of my feet in about 17" +/-.

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Current Boat - '04 328 Vista "Be As You Are"

Previous Boats
'04 268 Vista
'97 238 Vista
'94 210 Marada
'88 175 Sunbird

Hi Steve,

I would help you with your measurement request, but like you our 328 is blocked and wrapped for the winter. I do think though that the height from the water to top on swim platform is greater than 17".

I considered a bunch of davit options for our 328 and ended up going with the Burke Davits. See link below. I modified the "hoops" that go on our swim platform to be removeable. Just pull two pins per side and the davits are removed. I also modified the angle of the "hoops" so with our 310 Mercury inflatable in water the inflatable davits and boat davits line up like you would want them to. Now like Cap'n mentioned above the height will vary around 3 inches inches typically depending on boat load etc., but my davits as is can work with this variation just fine.

http://www.burkebrackets.com/burke-brackets.html

P.S. Erie cruiser, that's funny, I didn't see your reply before posting and I was thinking the same way you did, I actually put a long ruler to measure from floor to underside of my leg. I like the tall height of the 328's swim platform.

Mike.

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Current Boat
- 2001 Four Winns 328 Vista "Hour Decision"
- 2010 310 Mercury Inflatable

Previous Boats
- 30' Doral Prestancia
- 25' Doral Citation

Cap'n - Absolutely. I guess I'm looking for average, or range, or approximate? Really anything that gives me an idea, then I will design so that there is a +/- usable range.

Erie - That confirms what I've read before, thank you. Before I typed the question, I was trying to remember how far my feet are in the water while I sit there; probably one of my favourite spots.

Decision - Thank you for the link. I would like to have the dinghy sit level (not vertical) so that I can leave the fuel and such in the dinghy. From what I've seen available and what I've read, most of the level type don't work very well with a higher swim platform like the 328 has. They just don't give you a nice 45 deg slope, typically a much greater angle. I also don't want anything left on the platform to stub toes on if I can help it. Even if I could find the perfect one, the prices are crazy for the cost of materials and the amount of development required. Besides, it will make a nice winter project.

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1969 Chris Craft Commander 47
1999 Four Winns 328 Vista - SOLD

I hear you with wanting to keep the top surface of your 328's swim platform free of davits (trip hazzards). I was able to mount the swim platforms portion of the davit on the back side edge of our 328's swim platform in order to keep our swim platform top clear. See pic below. Many davit choices for you to pick from to suit your needs. I'm glad I made my boat davit "hoops" removable as we really only take our inflatable with us on holidays and most long weekends and it is nice to have those "hoops" off when we do not need the davits. Pretty easy to install the davit arms on inflatable and "hoops" on swim platform. No davit patches to worry about riping or pulling off on this set up.



Mike.

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Current Boat
- 2001 Four Winns 328 Vista "Hour Decision"
- 2010 310 Mercury Inflatable

Previous Boats
- 30' Doral Prestancia
- 25' Doral Citation

All I can say is that I obviously should a worked harder in school:-) my runaround boat is my only boat. Thanks for the pics....nice

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http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o71 ... wqm355.jpg


08' H210SS
VP 5.7Gi

Thanks for the picture Mike, that helps a lot. If I'd guess and say your 310's tubes might be 17" diameter, with say 16" above water + something like 4" of surround on the swim platform - I think it looks like the top of the platform is ~20" from the water (loaded as your is, of course). That's enough for me to work from. I like how you have adjusted the mounts to be on the surround, I'll need to look at that idea when I mount mine. For me, I want to leave the gas tank and motor on/in the dinghy, so the flip up style really wont work for my application.

Steve.

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1969 Chris Craft Commander 47
1999 Four Winns 328 Vista - SOLD

I just purchased the weaver davits for mine, just got a great deal on kijiji for a complete set new in the box. I already have the quick release portion mounted on the swim platform courtesy of the previous owner. I am going to put the fule tank and store it in the transom locker and on the longer trips remove my motor and store it in the transom locker

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2001 328 Vista "Nauta Dream 2"
AB Inflatable 10AL "Little Dreamer"
2000 248 Vista
1997 225 Sundowner


Mike

I'm glad I bought new and kept that little Honda 2 hp 4 stroke engine (as seen in the pic above) from when we had a smaller inflatable. That little engine weighs 28 big whopping pounds, has a great big 1 litre internal fuel tank that gives you about 2 hours of run time before getting close to empty.

I take with us and use the 2 hp most times due to the ease of taking it on/off, not needing to mix fuel/oil and not needing to take with us a bigger external fuel tank. Now when I do bring our 9.9hp outboard with us that has no problem getting my wife, son and I up on plane. With just me in it with the 9.9hp you can almost scare yourself.

Weather, it will be interesting to see your finished project. Hope everything comes together smoothly for you.

Mike.

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Current Boat
- 2001 Four Winns 328 Vista "Hour Decision"
- 2010 310 Mercury Inflatable

Previous Boats
- 30' Doral Prestancia
- 25' Doral Citation

I've got weavers on my 318. Previous owner used them and from what my research shows, they are about the best. I have yet to use them though, but kept all the hardware.

Can't wait to see pics of it all set up!

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2007 358 T-5.7GXi IB
Previous Boats
'08 H240, '08 V318, '04 268, '04 225

We had Weaver Davits on our last two boats and they work great (except for davit pads lifting a bit from inflatable) and are a quality product. But our last two boats had swim platforms that were probably only about 10" or so above the water.

With the 328 and how high the swim platform is I just didn't want to add the additional cost of purchasing the Weaver Davit Heads to lower the swim platforms davits down low enough to match up with the inflatable davits. Those Davit heads are expensive.

In the end my Burke Davits ended up being approximately less than half the cost of the Weavers.

Mike.

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Current Boat
- 2001 Four Winns 328 Vista "Hour Decision"
- 2010 310 Mercury Inflatable

Previous Boats
- 30' Doral Prestancia
- 25' Doral Citation

Personally I would not put the fuel tank in the transom locker, if it were to ever leak (liquid or gas) the transom locker drains directly into the bilge. Same goes for putting the engine in the locker if it has an integrated fuel tank. I'm guilty of this myself (I kept the 2.5 HP in there last summer), but I didn't feel good about it.


Steve.

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1969 Chris Craft Commander 47
1999 Four Winns 328 Vista - SOLD

As a follow up - I finally made it out to my boat and measured from the the (painted) waterline to the top of the platform (where it meets the hull) and it was 21 - 21.5".

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1969 Chris Craft Commander 47
1999 Four Winns 328 Vista - SOLD

If you are at Hindson wonder over and go look at my weaver Davits setup. Boat is in the shop getting canvas until Friday or Saturday

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2001 328 Vista "Nauta Dream 2"
AB Inflatable 10AL "Little Dreamer"
2000 248 Vista
1997 225 Sundowner


Mike