www.iFourWinns.com

For my 348/358 bretheren, I have a couple of odds and ends. Any input you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

1. Any tips on getting the fresh water hook up tight? I can't seem to get a good connection inside the transom locker. I don't understand why the locking ring is inset inside the case?
2. If you have only one 30 amp dockside outlet, can you power all 120 needs (including HVAC) by using only one of the boat hookups or are you forced to make a choice? Also, I was mortified to learn that Boater's World wants about $260 for a 30 amp Y connector ... how could it cost so much? Has anyone found any other (better) options?
3. At our home port, we're getting lousy reception on the TV. I don't understand the various inputs - i.e. "Air" versus Cable. Any tips on how to improve it? Given our proximity to major broadcast locations I feel it should be better.

Thats it for now ... thanks for the input.

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"Foursome Fun" 2008 V358/Volvo 5.7 GXi Inboards
Lake Erie - Ohio

Previous Boat:
2003 Sea Ray 280 Sundancer

"Cable" is if you have dock side cable, and a cable input on the boat. Air is over the air (VHF) or if you have a tv with an HD Tuner you can add an amplified HD OTA Antenna. I put a radioshack water resistant outdoor HD antenna on my boat and I am adding a Digital Stream HD Set Top Box. In my driveway I already picked up 15 HD channels. On the water, not sure yet.. In general TV reception on the water is spotty at best, unless you have TRACvision or similar Satelite.

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Brett DiMichele

For the power issue. I bought a Marinco 157AY "y" cable from defender for $157. Otherwise you have to make a choice.

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

Hey Brad - you're right, it's not the smartest design. A couple of thoughts on this. Consider using a high quality quick connect which will enable you to use pliers to strongly tighten the connection in the transom without having to worry about taking it on and off.
I bought the standard white 'never-kink' marine hose and it had a constant drip. Another hose worked fine (without over-tightening), so it must have been defective threading on the hose (its replacement worked fine). Consider trying another hose if you haven't.

I am currently using one of those very expensive single 50A to twin 30A Y splitter to run my services. I can't speak to splitting a single 30A into two legs, but if it's working for jrcinnh, it sounds viable. I would have to believe that if you're overloading the circuit the breaker on the shore pedestal would trip. jr - are you successfully running lots of on-board circuits and your HVAC system simultaneously?

I assume this is your setup behind the galley TV:

If you're using the antenna and not cable, the bottom 'B' button should be depressed on the selector box on the right. The AC/DC switch should be appropriately selected on the center Shakespeare box (although if your on shore power and 12V is selected it should work). There is a chance that the Shakespeare box, which amplifies the signal from the antenna, is not getting power. Try to troubleshoot that. I am not near any strong broadcast signals and manage to pull down some signals, albeit not perfectly. I use cable at the dock.

I know a lot of the info's pretty basic but I hope it helps.

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Previously:
2008 V358/Volvo 5.7 GXi Inboards

Sierra and Brad,

I have the cockpit tv which is HD and get lots of channels. The cabin tv is non-hd and gets lots of snow. The beauty of HD is if there is a signal, you will get it. If not then you get black screen.

Have you figured out how to get the dvd player to work on the cabin tv? What is the configuration for that to work? Got it working up in the cockpit but not below.

Those electrical hook up thingies are pretty darned expensive. You may look on ebay to see if someone has it a little cheaper but they generally are $$.

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2008 Four Winns V358 (T 6.2L Merc Bravo III's with DTS and SeaCore)
2006 Sea Ray 340DA
2006 Sea Ray 320DA
2005 Maxum 3100 SE

Hey Steven - I don't have the cockpit TV, but the DVD player works in the salon as long as 'Video' is selected on the TV. I haven't had any issues with it.
Anything new on your other issues? Are you enjoying the boat?

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Previously:
2008 V358/Volvo 5.7 GXi Inboards

The livability of the boat is great. The power plants are spot-on. Cruises beautifully, cuts waves like a champ. Fuel economy prior to full break-in is encouraging. Cruised over 4 hours on less than a half a tank. The mysterious cockpit light glow has corrected itself so far. Stereo is pretty great. Lots of bass response. Don't see the Sirius weather on the c80 yet. They need to check the antenna connection still. Love the carpet in the cabin as opposed to the Teak and Holly flooring. The dog no longer slides down the cabin floor and can now get to the V-berth without assistance. He likes laying there when we are not aboard. The screen door is great to have, the natural light from the three roof top portholes is awesome. Cabin is pretty dark in the morning even with the cheap amount of curtains.

Still have several open items on the punch list including the galvonic isolators. We leaked more gear lube in both reservoirs this past weekend as well. I have tried the tv in every configuration to no avail. Waiting for FW to send parts for shower door and mattress. Will keep you posted on these issues and more. I think I have a short in the wonderful sounding horn. Breaker has popped 2x so far.

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2008 Four Winns V358 (T 6.2L Merc Bravo III's with DTS and SeaCore)
2006 Sea Ray 340DA
2006 Sea Ray 320DA
2005 Maxum 3100 SE

I think I have finally figured out the sony configurations and how to connect them all together. Components are Sony 1, Sony 2, CD Changer and DVD.
Connect output of Sony 1 to Aux input of Sony 2. Sony 1 is the unit connected to the CD Changer. Connect output of DVD to Aux input of Sony 1. this will allow for only 1 sirius subscription to be needed to play Sirius both in cabin and cockpit. Same with CD changer. the connection of the DVD to the Sony 1 will allow movie sound to play through soundsystem and not just out of TV.
Now the question is should I take out each component individually to plug in the jumpers or unscrew the entire panel? Any thoughts.
Note the upper panel is hinged. the lower panel with the Sony's in it is NOT hinged.

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2008.Fourwinns V358
1999 SeaRay340 Sundancer
1989 SeaRay 260 Cuddy

You have a boat. "Costs so much" goes right out the window. Or is that port hole?

Shore power cords are apparently a prime example of market forces. As in, few total numbers of boaters and a durable item means low production numbers. As in, gouge the heck out of us just because they can and we'll only ever need to buy one or two anyway. fleabay is your friend for shore power cords. I believe my splitter ran me around $75. Set up a search reminder.

My y-splitter works great powering the AC and limited appliance use via one 30A shore connection. I have the splitter on the boat-side so I only have to leave one shore power cord at the marina. I bring the splitter along. I would not attempt to run multiple appliances through this. Certainly not while the AC was also running. I'm fortunate the admiral has no desire to run a hair dryer on the boat, but were one needed it would certainly require all other appliances be turned off. So yes, you can get away with using just one shore power cord provided you put deliberate thought and care into not running everything at once.

I use a brass quick disconnect in the shore power water hookup. Better to deal with salt water corrosion on that instead of stripping the plastic threads. Oh, and be sure the gasket is actually present in the hose connections.

TV reception on boats sucks. You're too low to the water and generally the TV stations don't bother aiming their signals out over water. The switch for AIR/CABLE is either the arch antenna or the shore locker cable connection. Over the air will never be any good. Netflix and the DVD player are you friends. Some folks with the cabin cruiser type boats have gone so far as to get a DirecTV and DVR setup on the boat. Leave the antenna screwed into a piling and recording while it's in the marina all week. Sure, it'll screw up any scheduled recordings while you're out. But it'll still let you watch what's already on the DVR. You can spend a horrendous amount of money and get a motion stabilized satellite antenna that'd even let you watch while under way. If you think shore power cords are expensive, you'll have heart failure pricing KVH antenna setups.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

This was my plan as well. I have not pulled the units yet but from checking out the wiring diagram in the manual, there does not appear to be a dedicated line-level output on these head units. Please let us know if you figure this out. And I'm guessing you'll have to pop off the glass and wood door (or perhaps use a right-angle screwdriver) and unscrew the metal panel to access the Sonys.

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Previously:
2008 V358/Volvo 5.7 GXi Inboards

Sting Ray, as for the horn, does it pop the breaker when only on battery power or even when hooked to shore or Gen? Mine also pops but only on battery power once the ship battery voltage gets to about 11vdc. The dealer replaced the horn and checked the wiring but it still does it. I'm convinced it is a power issue as I can hear the solenoid clicking but no horn then the breaker pops. If I reset it and start the Gen it works fine

My other problem is the cockpit fridge thaws out on battery power after about 2 hours (11 vdc) but the cabin fridge works fine. I have changed the switch box and put in a new fridge and it still does it, anyone else having this problem.

As for the Y adapter, I use one made by Charles Marine (120.00) PN A3030Y30 works great. I too leave it attached to the boat so I have a spare power chord anywhere I go

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Bridgewater, PA
2008 Vista 318

A fridge is a horrendous drain on the battery. There's really no way around it. I added two 6v golf cart style batteries in series to add more battery life. The two 6v in series gives more stored power over a single 12v. The golf cart type are generally built for deep drain and recharging. Since adding them I never run out of battery power.

There is a way to avoid the high drain devices from causing problems. Blue Sea makes a cut off circuit. It will cut off power if it detects voltage going below an adjustable point. This is a good way to let the fridge run until the drain gets too severe (the voltage dropping too far). You could also put stuff like the radio amp(s) on one. That way you would still have enough power for important things like the carbon monoxide sensors and chart plotter (overnight anchor watch).

I considered adding the current limiter but decided to just jump ahead to adding more batteries. Even one 12v added to the existing circuit (in parallel of course) would be a big help. If/when you shop for the wiring here's a great website for wire: http://www.skycraftsurplus.com

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Been traveling and just now catching up on my own posts .. Sierra et.al. thanks for the good insight as always. I think I get the TV antenna thing now and I'll check a couple of the things you guys mentioned. The quick disconnect on the water connection makes good sense. We do have a cockpit TV and actually didn't know the DVD player in the salon works with it. I'll have to give that a try.

Do any of you know the waterline offset I should use for calibrating the depth finder?

Spent about an hour practicing docking tonight with my Dad. Definitely getting good control over the boat now. While the bow thruster isn't necessary I"m sure, it sure has been nice to have.

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"Foursome Fun" 2008 V358/Volvo 5.7 GXi Inboards
Lake Erie - Ohio

Previous Boat:
2003 Sea Ray 280 Sundancer

You have described my exact issue. Not sure when it happens but I can hear a clicking noise then look at the breaker and it is popped. Need more data to report it to my dealer.

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2008 Four Winns V358 (T 6.2L Merc Bravo III's with DTS and SeaCore)
2006 Sea Ray 340DA
2006 Sea Ray 320DA
2005 Maxum 3100 SE

OK how do you turn on the Sony radio? If I turn the exterior radio on all works fine until I turn it off. Then it will never come on again. I have to turn off the cabin main to reset it, then it will work again.

Second how do you turn off the big amplifier? I'm guessing that it's always on even when the radio is off, it must draw some serious current.

Finally anyone else have problems with the tach's? My port tach seems to read very high (+1000 RPM) at times, even when the engine sounds like its the same speed as the starboard engine.

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