www.iFourWinns.com

Greetings -- I have a survey and a sea trial on a beautiful 2004 268 Vista tomorrow. The boat only has 90 hours on the VP 5.0 engine. The only thing that I can think might be a negative on this boat is the engine size. Does any one have a similar boat? I will be boating on the Chesapeake (North East River) with my family. With only 90 hours on the engine I am wondering whether I need to worry about the changing out the impellor if the gas has any ethanol in it.

I can wait to join the FW family, hopefully all will go well tomorrow and I can be out boating this weekend.

Cheers,

Scott

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2004 268 Vista "Satisfy My Sol"

Scott,

I'm on the Bush River/Bay - I have the 248 with the 5.0 and ppl thought that it would be under-powered. It's got plenty of nuts to get up out of the hole. You should be fine. That said I usually only have a few people with me, but plenty of stuff, ie. generator, outboard/dinghy etc.

I bet you'll be fine; i'm sure it's a duoprop outdrive. Inspect the bellows if/when you get it out of the water. I'd do an oil change/ fuel filter and impeller for peace of mind. Cheap insurance. Ethanol won't be an issue, just change the fuel filter.

Thanks for the reply... I agree, I would feel better, changing the impellor, filters and oil.

The water temperature in the upper bay has been around 61, so it doesn't look like I missed a lot of the boating season yet.

Cheers,

Scott

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2004 268 Vista "Satisfy My Sol"

No worries about the 5.0L. FW did not put a 5.0L in the 2004 268 Vista. You must mean the 5.7L.

Engines for 2004 were.

5.7LGi
5.7LSi
350Mag
MX6.2L
5.7LGxi
5.7Sxi
496Mag
8.1Gi

Mine has a 5.7L with DP and is just right mix of economy and adequate performance.

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

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

Ah! You just made me feel better about my boat sitting on the trailer!

2004 268 Fast Facts.

http://www.fourwinns.net/fastfacts/fast ... 4/268V.pdf

Have you even looked at the engine yourself yet? IF it does have a 5.0L
in there, something is wrong......very wrong.

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

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

I am going down the boat tomorrow so I will get a good look at the motor.

Thanks with the fastfact on the engine.

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2004 268 Vista "Satisfy My Sol"

Scott...

We just purchased our 2003 268V and it also has the 280hp 5.7Gi-DP. I was afraid of the power being inadequate since we can really load up the boat with passengers , but after a couple of test drives with full fuel and 6 people, I was all set.

The prop set is an F4 and the RPM is kind of high for any given speed (25mph is about 3200 to 3500 RPM), although it does plane quickly (we had F6 props on the 245 Sundowner, with the same engine and ran about 30mph at 3000 rpm). I'm contemplating trying an F5 set to try to get better fuel economy ..... if it doesn't kill the planing.

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Gordon Arnold
New Hampshire

2003 268 Vista ..................................................................Prior: 97 245 Sundowner

Greetings -- I had my survey and sea trial today. Everything went great. The surveyor said everything was good, except for a couple little things. The high water alarm/float did not work in the engine room, but most things were minor. With 90 hours on the engine, she said it was just getting broken in. We had the boat out on the water doing 3500 rpm at 27 mph, that was with three people on board and a half a tank of gas. Man, it was a sweet ride.

Cap'n Morgan it is powered by a 5.7 Gi engine. My first stop is at the gas dock to fill her up at $5.00 a gal... Yikes....

I am looking forward to posting some pics and participating in the forum.

Cheers,

Scott

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2004 268 Vista "Satisfy My Sol"

Good luck with the purchase!

Ours came with 85 gallons of fuel! Now, there's a perk .... in today's economy.

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Gordon Arnold
New Hampshire

2003 268 Vista ..................................................................Prior: 97 245 Sundowner

Glad all went well and that you now know what engine is in the boat.

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

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

We purchased our first Four Winns today. My wife and I took a nice little hour run to our slip. Up the Sassafras River and down the North East River (Upper Chesapeake). She ran a little high on the rpm's, at least I thought. 4000 rpm and only 20 mph. We were running against a incoming tide, but I don't think I had it trimmed right. I guess I need to figure it out.

I be posted some pics, later this week.

Cheers,

Scott

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2004 268 Vista "Satisfy My Sol"

Scott,

If you have F4 props, as ours does (and yours should), the RPM is a bit high compared to lighter boats with higher pitch props or to this boat with a big-block with F5 props. You'll have to get used to this. However, 4000rpm and 20mph ain't right. Was that 20mph on the speedo (current does not matter, the speedo will register speed in relation to the hull moving through the water) or on a GPS, and running against the current? (so that your actual GPS speed is lower than the water speed).

We run about 25 to 30 mph at 3500 to 3800 rpm (as I recall). In this case, your speed vs RPM seems low.

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Gordon Arnold
New Hampshire

2003 268 Vista ..................................................................Prior: 97 245 Sundowner

I am almost positive it was the trim tabs. I am going out this evening to try it out.

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2004 268 Vista "Satisfy My Sol"

Updates ? Pic's ?

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

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy