www.iFourWinns.com

Hi I just purchased a new to me 2004 Vista 268 and have not owned a boat in over 25 years. I will have the boat delivered to a slip next Saturday and am ready to get out on the lake.
I am sure each of you have a list of basic items (must haves) that you either keep on the boat or carry each time. I wonder what suggestions some of you might give me to put on my list.

Thanks,
Chris

Basic safety equipment
-flares
-fire extinguishers
-PFD's
-orange day signal

Local waters chart (in date)
Extra beach towels
Boat cleaning equipment
Mats for dripping wet people to drip on instead of your cockpit carpet
Extra handheld VHF radio
Extra handheld GPS for backup
CREDIT CARD for gas (Discover card is giving 5% cashback for gas purchases until 6/30/06)
Boat toys for children, or grandchildren!
Extra lines, fenders
Binoculars
Plastic bags for stuff
Bedding
Pillows
Extra bottles of water

Basically you just keep adding stuff till your boat sinks! Or you go broke!

Have fun with your new boat. After growing up daydreaming about boats and sailing every free minute of the day until I graduated college and bought my first two boats (sailboats), I went boatless from 1983 to 2001, 18 years! So I know your question. With kids who wanted speed for tubing and kneeboarding and wife who wanted comfort and a boat that did not heel over when the wind blew, I moved into my second favorite boating dream, cruisers. We bought a cruiser to avoid the expense and hassle of owning a second house at the lake (nice but I did not want another yard!). So have fun with your new boat.

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1999 Four Winns Vista 298, 5.0 VP DP
Goosepond Marina
Lake Guntersville
Scottsboro, Alabama

I may have responded twice to your input, I appologize if that is the case.


I will add some items to my growing list.

We are going the same direction as we had been considering a lake house and decided to do the boat thing to see if we really want to live there as I don't plan to keep up two houses either.

What is a Sooner doing in Alabama?

Thanks for your response,

Chris

As a loyal graduate of the University of Oklahoma I see a need for other states to be able to experience our blessings!!!


Really, a great job offer got me here. When I interviewed I was living in Tulsa, OK after 22 years in Texas. The beauty of the mountains, the fall foilage, the Tennessee River and Lakes Guntersville / Lake Wheeler made me fall in love with the area. We are now just 25 miles from the marina as opposed to 90 minutes in Oklahoma, plus the lakes / river is much larger and more room to roam and play.

Just gotta watch out for those barges. The Tennessee is a working river.

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1999 Four Winns Vista 298, 5.0 VP DP
Goosepond Marina
Lake Guntersville
Scottsboro, Alabama

There are both federal and state laws regulating the minimum safety equipment you must have. Depending on where you boat, some safety equipment may or may not be required.

Since you have a good size boat, I would also encourage you to take a boating safety course.

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1999 Vista 268

Duct Tape, and a Big Hammer.

Congrats on your new boat. You will love it.

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

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

Cap'n Morgan's "Big Hammer" reminded me. A basic tool kit can be very handy. Just this weekend the mount of our Magma grill turned out to be a little too loose. Having a wrench was a lifesaver for those hamburgers to be!

Keep as many of your equipment and add on user manuals on board for reference as well.

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1999 Four Winns Vista 298, 5.0 VP DP
Goosepond Marina
Lake Guntersville
Scottsboro, Alabama

I would add a couple of things...from by brief experiences....maybe not in a lake though...

a sharp knife (to cut the lobster trap line off the prop)

a spare horn (as my electric one died in a heavy fog....I was very happy to have spares!)

I have a full "auto" tool set...you never know when you need pliers, wrench, etc...

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2000 268 Vista

I would also suggest you go here and schedule a free Vessel Safety Check.

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Jvalich
http://www.badcock.com

'04 FW 288 Vista "Mental Floss"

Spare prop. Block 2x4 to hold prop, use as lever and sometihng to use with the big hammer

M

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Always Chasing A Bigger Fish!

Thats hilarious because the same thing happened to us with our Magma! I had to tighten the bolt and nut for the pivot. Which brings me to this:

A fantastic thing to keep on board - it will make you many a friends and get you many a free beer- a MAGNET attached to a rope!
I was adjusting our magma grill with my basic auto set I bought at wal-mart that I keep on board and I dropped the $*@)!_ adjustable wrench into the drink!! Luckily, Im like the "McGyver" of the boating world and I whipped out my magnet attached to 20' of line. Its a great thing to have on board because you never know what you are gonna drop in the lake

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1997 Four Winns Vista 278
T - 4.3l EFI
Kohler 4esz Genset
379 hours as of 8/8/21

If you've got an old computer hard drive there's a pair of magnets in it that are *incredibly* powerful. Especially if it's, say, a 10 year Seagate 3.5" full-high drive. The neodyium magnet they use for moving the read/write head are hundreds of times stronger than the typical iron magnet ones. I keep one in my toolbox and it's perfect for retrieving anything magnetic. Just make sure you use sturdy enough string or rope!

As for tools, I've got a plastic ammo box-style box down in between the engines on our 348 Vista with a fair assortment of screwdrivers, crescent wrenches, pliers and cutters (dikes, utility knife, scissors). Just some cheap stuff from Harbor Freight as there's not a lot of sense in spending a ton of money for what'll eventually rust or get dropped overboard. But during our 20 hour service last week, which found the bolts on all six engine mounts had worked fairly loose, I'll now have to add some socket and box wrenches.

You basically want to make sure you've got enough to 'get through' the assorted simple repairs that might be necessary should you have trouble while out on the water. Things like being able to splice a loose or frayed wire, tighten screws that vibrated loose, replace a hose/clamp, clear screens or impellers.