www.iFourWinns.com

Hello, New to the group here. Just bought my first Four Winns as my subject points out. Ive had it for about 3 months now. Have had to do a lot of work to it due to squirrels getting in and chewing up all the wiring under the dash. What a pain in the butt but it was worth it for only paying $3500 for it. Engine runs great and looking to put it in the water this weekend for its first trial run. Little nervous but excited at the same time. Have been working on buffing out the oxidation and its starting to look good on one side. Will post more pics as it starts to clean up.
Anyways, just wanted to introduce myself and post a pic of my boat.

Chuck

_________________

Chuck
1988 245 Vista 5.7
Weatherford, TX

Welcome orto55.
If you have been watching this forum for a while, you will see there are many items to check and/or replace when purchasing a boat of this age.
Good luck with it and post some more picks.

Cheers, Graham

_________________
2012 H180 ss
1976 Swiftcraft

Contrats on your purchase, and welcome to the forum.

Just an observation from your picture:
Your trailer does not look original (which is mostly good because the Four Winns Trailers rust out from the inside out). It looks like yours is made from Channel, which is good. However, the winch post / bow-stop setup looks pretty wimpy compared to the size of the boat. Also, the bow stop is normally ABOVE the bow eye, not below. This is what does most of the stopping of the boat when you hit the brakes. I would be afraid, with your setup, that if you have to hit the brakes really hard, the boat would "ride-up" over the bow stop as well as bend the bow stop down.

I would use a safety chain from the bow-eye down to the trailer frame, or in your case, it might be better to use two chains...one from each side frame of the trailer.

The transom can also be tied down with transom tie-downs, but they are more for holding the boat and trailer together. Since they are usually vertical, they don't help much with preventing the boat from sliding forward during braking.

_________________

"Knot Easy" 2000 Horizon 240 Volvo 5.7GS /SX
tow: 2017 Honda PILOT EXL-AWD
prev. boats:
'87 Chaparral 198CXL 4.3 OMC Cobra
'69 Jetstar 16ft Ski Boat, 115hp Yamaha
'68 Aluminum Jon Boat, 3hp Sears
'64 Water Wings

congrats on your new boat. kind of looks familiar. good to see another 245 out there. how many hours are on the boat? it a lot of work buffing it out but it will be worth it when you are done

_________________

1989 245 vista
5.7 cobra

I agree with the expressed concerns with the trailer set up. There is only a winch strap, no safety chain or turnbuckle tie down chain. I use a roller trailer and I have both a safety chain and turn buckle tie down chain. Of course rear straps also. That winch post is not at all properly braced. There needs to be a brace attached to the forward top end of the post, down to the trailer tongue. If you had o stop suddenly the weight of that big boat could easily snap that post.

Is this a Cobra drive system (many FWs of this era were because OMC owned FW then). If so we have a lot of knowledge on how to get them shifting well. Make sure all the safety stuff is in good shape (fuel tank fittings, hoses, bilge pump, auto switch, etc) before you put it in the water. Has the drive been serviced ( drive oil changed, oil checked for water, bellows checked for leaks, gimble bearing, u-joints and driveshaft splines greased, shifter bell crank in the pivot housing cleaned out and greased)?? All this should be done each year. The Cobra should shift very easily, if it's stiff into or out of gear get it looked at promptly. How about the impeller (raw water pump) in the upper drive housing? This is another very important maintenance item.

_________________
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

rpengr
Thanks for your reply. I agree that it looks pretty wimpy. I plan to replace it soon but I was wondering where would be a good place to find something like that.

Chuck

_________________

Chuck
1988 245 Vista 5.7
Weatherford, TX

Nice looking boat crossram. I cant wait till mine looks that good. Took a couple of weekend to actually learn what it took to get the oxidation off and how to properly use the buffer to do it. Now its just going at it a little bit at a time. Its already starting to look good. At least in section.

Chuck

_________________

Chuck
1988 245 Vista 5.7
Weatherford, TX

Hey LouC

Thanks for your reply. Im going to need some help with the cobra drive system. I took it out today and low and behold, it no longer shifted in to neutral or reverse. Of course this didn't happen when I checked out the drive on land. Everything worked as advertised but out on the water it didn't. Can you point me into the direction to look for the problem?
Chuck

_________________

Chuck
1988 245 Vista 5.7
Weatherford, TX