www.iFourWinns.com

So I thought I would take the liberty of starting an "official" thread as a catch-all for any and all thoughts/ideas/issues specific to these models - I guess we'll see how it goes. Yesterday, I finalized my order for a 2008 V358. While she is still a glimmer in a boat builder's eye, I officially consider myself a part of the Four Winns family. I was a Sea Ray brand loyalist and like a lot of people moving into this size, I was sure the 340 Sundancer would be my next boat. And like a lot of people, I was let down by what that model Sea Ray had to offer compared to what else was out there. After a great deal of research and a great many conversations, I was sold on Four Winns. After spending some time with a 2006 348 and several hours on a factory-fresh '08 yesterday, I am certain I made the right decision. They really got it right with this model, and it is also clear to me after checking out the other Vistas in the lineup, Four Winns has a lot going for it. So thanks to all who knowingly and unknowingly led me down this path. I'm really pleased to be here and look forward to the continued dialog.

_________________
Previously:
2008 V358/Volvo 5.7 GXi Inboards

Well welcome aboard and congrats on the new boat. When is delivery scheduled for?

_________________
Jvalich
http://www.badcock.com

'04 FW 288 Vista "Mental Floss"

Did they give you a "gel date" yet? Mine is this week and I'm hoping to hear that they started. I expecting delivery around Christmas, hope it fits under the tree.

I have the same Searay experiences as you, really believed a 340 was my next boat. Too bad the Club Searay website is so much more active than this one, we may need to go on a membership drive.

I didn't buy the factory Navigation package so I'll be asking a bunch of questions about installing an aftermarket system. I'll probably wait until it gets here to decide on what gear to buy.

_________________
2008 V358 Two-tone Blue V/P Dual Prop 320 HP
Lake Winnipesaukee, NH

Installing an aftermarket nav system is pretty straightforward. The only "hard part" is putting the depth/temp sensor into the hull. You "can" install one entirely on the inside of the hull. But better signals are often obtained when using one that has an actual through-hull. If you've never installed one before you would probably want this professionally done. It'd be one thing to have done BEFORE it gets put into the water, so you don't have to pay AGAIN to have it pulled. You learn to plan "out of water" things carefully when you find out how much they charge to pull it...

But other than the transducer it's just regular wire-pulling effort. It helps to have tools like a set of fiberglass rods to help fish the wire. Getting from the back of the circuit breaker panel back through the inside of the port gunwale is a bit of a challenge without the rods. That and getting into that access panel is a LOT easier if you remove the stairs (this is just a few screws). Just make sure you secure the wiring and don't leave it loose. If it's loose it'll eventually wear due to normal wave action. Best to secure it, zip ties work fine.

If, however, you plan on getting an autopilot you may want to get it professionally done. There are some placement and setup tasks that are a complex enough to be outside the typical DIY skill-set. I know HOW to do it but even with this I'd still pay someone else to install an autopilot rig. But after a few seasons I've generally found there's little or no need for one here on the Chesapeake. There are just too many obstacles that truly require your attention (crab pots, other boaters, debris). For a long run offshore, out in open ocean, I'm sure it'd be helpful. But in the Bay or other small bodies of water? Save your money to spend elsewhere on the boat.

Your wiring would run just power from the breaker, back along the port gunwale to the engine compartment. Form there you'd pickup the network wiring from your depth/temp transducer. Those would run over to the starboard side, up along the gunwale and out into the helm console. You'd have a second leg of the network running from the helm down through the starboard gunwale again but this time up into the radar arch for your GPS antenna. If you had radar you'd also run along the same path.

There are, of course, many options that can be added to an instrumentation system. I added fuel flow sensors and a 2nd GPS antenna. At some point I'd also like to add weather (air temp, pressure). They'll be simple to join to the networks I now have in place (both seatalk and NMEA 2000).

_________________
-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Thanks! My production slot start date is 1.7.08. Since I can't splash until April in any event, it works for me. If my schedule allows, I'm hoping to go to Michigan for a tour when it's in production - what better place is there to visit in the dead of winter? I also really enjoyed the Club Sea Ray community and hope to see things get active around here. As I said, I have a good feeling about Four Winns as a brand, particularly having taken a look at their other boats. The dealer I hooked up with is very connected with the company and gave me some great insight into their practices and philosophies. It definitely shows in the decisions that were made in the design of the 358. As far as the specs, here's how I optioned her out:

-Volvo 5.7 GXi Inboards
-Bow thruster
-Navigation E series upgrade
-Auto pilot
-Cockpit refrigerator, exchange for ice maker
-Sunpads, deck
-Windshield header, stainless steel
-Stereo remote with display at transom
-Teak & holly floor in cabin - also getting the lay-in carpet (scratch protection when the dog's aboard). Best of both worlds.
-Cockpit cover

I'm getting tri-tone paint which is not represented on the website - Black hull with driftwood tan accent stripes (yes, I'm prepared for really looking after that black gel). Black canvas. Harmony black for the interior curtains. The wooden blinds in previous years and as shown on the site are no longer offered although I'm looking into getting them - I think it's a great look. Apparently they were discontinued because they'd bang around when underway.
The bow thruster is also not listed as an option but it is available. It should be standard with black hull . As discussed here before, central vac and the inner spring mattress are now standard. Other observations: they have upped the BTU's on the A/C and replaced the fresh water/holding tank guage. I like the idea of the two stereo head units now offered, but without a jumper from one unit to the other (which doesn't seem like a big deal to add in theory) you would have to have two Sirius subscriptions to have satellite in both the cabin and cockpit. The door to the electrical panel and stereos no longer hits the couch as I think it did before. The coffee maker now has a stainless steel, thermal carafe. Unfortunately, there is no longer a cabinet door hiding it. The TV is not a Sharp as depicted, but some off-brand. The two projects I have in mind right now are adding a Raymarine ST70 Multifunction display and the neccessary gear to monitor fuel flow (I'll miss that about Smartcraft) and wiring the video output of the E80 to an aux video input on the cabin TV (why not). Time to start downloading manuals and spend the winter reading them over and over an over...

_________________
Previously:
2008 V358/Volvo 5.7 GXi Inboards

Where do you think you'd install the ST70? There's a surprisingly limited amount of free space on the helm if you don't plan things just right. On mine the factory install of the autopilot, the satellite watch service (seakey?) and the vapor detector take up more space than necessary. I'd have ditched the seakey but it came with it. I've never activated it as it really seem hideously overpriced. I have Lowrance fuel flow sensor and installed their 2" gauge in the starboard-side binnacle. Their 4" wouldn't fit. I greatly prefer having this separate gauge. Trying to show fuel and engine data on a chartplotter just doesn't work, you lose too much screen 'real estate'.

I'd love to add an ST70 down below. But sadly the ST70 can't show water (fresh/waste) tank levels! I put a second radio down below to allow the admiral to use it in the event of bad weather. But the LCD on the handset doesn't show full GPS coordinates (don't get me started on THAT bit of stupidity). So it'd be nice to have something like an ST70 down there for the full GPS lat/lon info. Being able to make additional use of it for things like ambient air and sea temps and tank levels would be great (and would help "justify" the expense...)

Good question about dual sirius subscriptions. I have no idea whether two head units can share a single sat radio interface. It'd certainly be something to look into. Sirius does offer some decent deals for multiple units though, so that might ease the burden if a unit can't be shared. Personally I've found the way Clarion controls the sat interface to be pretty pathetic. You really don't get decent control over it from the wired remotes. I'd almost rather have one of the small portable sat radios instead. That way I'd at least be able to take it home and use it there instead of leaving it idle on the boat all week when we're not on it. You can suspend the subscription for up to 5 months too (saves over the winter). And from what I've seen Raymarine's interface for it is equally lame.

Have they integrated the DVD player with the cabin head unit? I ran audio from the DVD player to the AUX input on the head unit. Now we can watch movies and get decent sound instead of just the tinny little ones on the TV (a sharp aquos). I personally think it's a terrible location to put the TV if you want to do any sort of longer viewing from the cabin sofa. I'd much rather see them do something like the new 31's cabinets instead. They seem to get a lot more storage out of that layout too. I've been toying with the idea of moving the TV to a bracket somewhere else, replacing the door with a plain blank one and regaining the use of it as storage. But I'm at a loss to find a better location for the TV that doesn't introduce other hassles (like getting the screen broken).

I added a video link from the DVD player to the E-80... and have never, ever bothered to use it. Save yourself the hassle. The viewing angle of the E-80 makes it useless for anyone not standing RIGHT in front of it. This is fine for it's chartplotter functions, of course, but lame for TV. I'm thinking of a TV over by the cockpit sink would be a better solution, at some point.

I also like the wooden blinds. They do tend to move a bit. Not enough to be a problem but you do usually have to keep them adjusted up a little bit to keep 'em from slapping the cabinet behind the sofa. We absolutely love having them up in the forward berth (we have the forward stateroom wall option). They do a fine job of keeping the sun out in the morning.

I'd take the bow thruster if the price was right or it was part of some package. But I'd wonder how it impacts the fresh water tank. The thruster seems like it'd have to be located where the water tank is already installed. Or maybe there's just enough room forward of the the tank to accommodate it. I've learned to live without one as the Teleflex digital throttle/shifter controls really ease docking. But there have been a few times where it'd have been nice to be able to edge the hull one way or the other to avoid problems when docking. But once you get used to the boat you learn to plan ahead.

The door on the radio does come close to the couch, but doesn't hit it.

I like the old coffee maker being behind a door. One less thing to get tossed around. I've heard friends with SeaRays bitching about the carafe not being securable properly. That and I use a bit of the space behind the coffee maker to stash spare coffee filters and jam two boxes of breakfast cereal along side of it.

Tangentally, we just picked up a Krups coffee make that uses pods and love it. If we even have to replace the coffee maker on the boat I'd certainly look into a pod-based one for it. The only downside to the pod units is they require power to make each cup. The drip kind only require power long enough to make a whole pot. There's a 'warm up' time on the pod unit. So unless we added an inverter we'd have to run the genset each time we made more coffee. But since we really only end up drinking one cup each it'd probably be the same amount of genset time either way. Just something to consider.

You're going with the 5.7 inboards? I've got the 6.0 inboards and might have considered something else. They're a bit slower and less efficient than the sterndrive setups. True, they're less maintenance, but that depends on what sort of water you're going to be in. But I'd probably go with diesels instead next time, for the added fuel efficiency. With the cost of fuel these days the payback cycle isn't as long as it used to be.

I hear the stainless header isn't worth the expense. But I've ever actually seen one. Mine's the powder coated style and it still looks new.

I'd also consider a fridge for the cockpit. But the icemaker is handy, if just for saving me from buying a bag of ice (and not having to walk allllllll the way back to the clubhouse!). If/when this one dies I'll certainly put a fridge in there instead.

_________________
-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

wkearney99, I don't think I'll need to run a power wire from the port side breaker panel. According to the 2007 manual, there's a three ACC switches in the helm with 14 Awg wire and a 10 amp breaker in the helm breaker panel. Plus there's four other circuits for vhf, radar, nav, and autopilot in the helm breaker panel. I don't know if they install the breakers if you don't buy the options but it should be easy enough to add one or two.

I'm definitely having the thru-hull transducer installed by the dealer before the first splash. Where is the factory location, do you get good readings on plane? MY wife wants me to have them do the entire Nav install, but I like things done my way. How is access to the back of the dash area?


I think I posted this before but just to keep the thread complete, my order is:

Volvo 5.7 GXi Sterndrives DP 320 HP
Cockpit Fridge (more beer/coke than mixed drinks)
Sunpads (for the sun bunnies)
Flag Pole (just wanted one)
Rod Holders (for a grill and salmon trolling)
Stereo Remote (too cheap not to order)
Windlass Upgrade (I use it a lot)
Aft Cabin TV (one TV is never enough)
Gray Water (NH state law)

Didn't order the bow thruster, it was just on the edge of availabilty, being an engineering guy I don't like to buy the first one off the line. Went with two tone Navy hull and the blue interior. My wife is going to be very upset about the blinds, she loved them at the show. I guess we could order 2007 blinds from the dealer parts department or just get some at Home Depot.

_________________
2008 V358 Two-tone Blue V/P Dual Prop 320 HP
Lake Winnipesaukee, NH

Look here and you will see mine from Home Depot

_________________
Jvalich
http://www.badcock.com

'04 FW 288 Vista "Mental Floss"

Here comes the world's longest post...

It looks like by relocating the vapor detector the ST70 will install nicely in that panel. I won't have seakey so it won't be an issue.

I already have several Sirius subscriptions and the idea of two for one boat doesn't appeal to me (although 6 months are included, presumably with each, when I first get the boat). The head units are now Sony. It would be a question of running a line-out of one of the units to the aux input of the other to have them share the Satellite signal from one. Again, probably not a big deal to do.

I'm not sure if the DVD is interfaced - I'll let you know. My Sea Ray DVD had an FM modulator which worked surprisingly well, but the fix you did would be easy enough. I agree with you on the TV location, although it works fine for the forward berth. Not sure why they don't do a swiveling panel on the bulkhead aft of the galley. I'm going to check out the marine grade 15' TV/DVD combo at West Marine for the possibility of a set to use in the mid berth or the cockpit. I don't like the mid berth TV offered and don't want a permanent TV in the cockpit (better things to do there than watch TV), but it's great that they include TV/12V connections in both spots.

I'm actually talking about going the opposite way... the video out of the E-80 can feed and aux in on the TV essentially making it an additional monitor below for the GPS.

Don't know about impact on the tank. Will certainly master docking without using it. But if it saves me one scratch because of a gust of wind, it will be worth it.

On the coffee maker, I played around with it and the carafe seems to lock in solidly (and I prefer the thermal type) but the cabinet was nice.


The engine choice was made after much debate and lots of discussion. I was definitely going with inboards and heard enough good things about the Volvo package to be satisfied. The performance numbers are surprisingly close to the Crusaders. On the header, the dealer told me he only ordered his stock boats that way (he had a variety of reasons), but when I finally saw it in person over the weekend, I loved the look. And yeah - I need the fridge real estate for the beer!

_________________
Previously:
2008 V358/Volvo 5.7 GXi Inboards

On the topic of stereo's, I have a bunch of questions:
I can see from the pictures that there are two stereo heads. They look like a flavor of Sony CDX-HS70. I'm assuming one is for inside and one is for outside.

There is only one 6 disc changer in the picture. Do they share it?

There are two Ipod jacks, one at the helm, one near stereo. I assume one goes to each stereo head.

Are there two Sirius recievers? Do they share one antenna? Or is there only one.

How are the wired remotes connected, both to the outside head unit or one each.

Will the wireless remotes work or will one remote control both head units.

It doesn't seem that hard to add wiring to allow one unit to be a slave to the other using an AUX input but other stuff (Ipod) might be using the AUX

_________________
2008 V358 Two-tone Blue V/P Dual Prop 320 HP
Lake Winnipesaukee, NH

I took some detailed pix over the weekend. I'll take a closer look when I get home to get the exact model of the stereos. It is one for the cockpit, one for the cabin. Don't know if they share the changer but assume they do. Correct about the external "ipod" jacks - one for each. Each radio has a Sirius tuner built in and a subsequent need for two subs (see post above). I am sure they can be interconnected. There are two Sirius radio antennas on the arch (low profile, you don't see them) and a separate antenna for Sirius weather if you have that. Don't know about the wireless remote. I'm sure the transom remote controls the cockpit unit.

_________________
Previously:
2008 V358/Volvo 5.7 GXi Inboards

Congratulation on your new boat.

_________________
348 Vista ( Last Call )
Raystown PA

Thanks Cattailspa!



They are the CDX-HS70MW units. These units only have one aux input in the rear so you can bet that's where the 1/8" plugs are routed. It may take an a/b switch to feed audio (for Sirius) from one unit to the other. Or an A/B/C switch if you want to feed DVD audio. The DVD player comes to us from the fine folks at "Blackmore." Who? It appears to be their BDP 331. From my limited research, it doesn't seem to have an FM modulator, but that's off an ebay listing where a factory-fresh unit can be yours for the low low price of $79. If the Sonys do come with an IR remote, that will definitely be a problem if you've got both units on at the same time. It is an odd setup, but with a little work it could be great - I actually like the idea of having two distinct zones.

_________________
Previously:
2008 V358/Volvo 5.7 GXi Inboards

Sierra, I downloaded the stereo manual and installation sheet from the sony website (search for marine). It doesn't mention that the Sirius is built in to the radio. Usually it's an add-on box, so there may only be one. It doesn't matter how many there are, I'll only subscribe to one. Now if there are two, I'll take the free 6 months on one the first summer and the other the second summer. I have Sirius in my Jeep and I like it, especially during football season.

I'd be surprised if the DVD player doesn't connect right to the TV AUX inputs. The video has to route over there, why not the sound. Now that I think about it where is the DVD player?

jvalich, thanks for the link, nice work, the colors seem to match very well. I went to the parts manual for the 2007 358 and the picture of the blinds even show the exact width of the blinds. There's a measuring tape in the photo

_________________
2008 V358 Two-tone Blue V/P Dual Prop 320 HP
Lake Winnipesaukee, NH

However they rigged it, I assume there are two Sirius tuner units as there are the two antennae on the arch. The DVD player is just below the head units and just above the Sony CD changer. If you want to PM your email address, I'd be happy to share photos I took of the '08.

_________________
Previously:
2008 V358/Volvo 5.7 GXi Inboards