www.iFourWinns.com

Looking very hard at the FW348. Would certainly appreciate any owner feed back. We boat(cruise) Bahamas every summer. Currently have Glacier Bay 2685 that has spoiled us as to ride but it is a fishing boat and just to darn small. Thank you for your kind help. JC

What is it you want to know? We put 130+ hours on our 348 this season in the Chesapeake and have had a wonderful time with it. Haven't compared the ride to a fishing boat so no help there. But we've had it out in less-than-ideal weather and it's handled itself quite well.

Wkearney99: I was hoping you would reply. I have read your post here and on boatus. Found a 348 06 (new). Asking $199,950.00. We have a trade so donot know how this is going to work out. After 130+ hours would you buy the boat again? How does it handle moderate chop(2-3ft every 4sec or so)? Any suggestions on the buying process? Thank you so much for your help! JC

In looking over the other boats (from FW and others) I'd still go with the 348 (now 358) again. I've really not seen anything from the other makers that'd make me switch. Price would not be my sole deciding factor.

Where are you located? Update your profile, it helps when answering questions to know where folks are located. Different areas have different conditions and that certainly affects the answers given.

What engines are you looking at for $199k? Our left-over 2005 with zero hours on 6.0L inboards has everything but the stainless windshield frame and flexiteek cabin floor options and we got it for $199k.

We've had it out in all sorts of conditions, some of which I'd rather not repeat! 2-3' of chop is nothing, it rides great; no creaks, rattles or other noises. Conditions with 4 seconds between waves hardly even rates being called chop. I've plowed through tight 2-3' chop on plane at cruise (usually 3500rpm @ around 22mph) with no trouble at all.

4-5' whitecaps and a crossing wind made for a wet but reasonably smooth, if uneven, ride in the near pitch black dark. When I ran into similar conditions during the day I found it was better to maintain a bit more speed than I'd done that night. But when you can't get a really clear look at the waves there's no sense in being in a hurry. A strong wind out of the southeast is a b*tch when you're trying to head southwest back to Annapolis... The next time I zig-zagged my way down the Bay instead of a straight course with slightly beamy seas and it was much more pleasant a ride.

7' seas and 56k gusts from a thunderstorm squall line was a REAL challenge but the boat took it quite well. The key being make sure you're taking the waves appropriately. I took 'em at about 45 degrees. But even when getting somewhat abeam it never felt like we were in any "big" trouble. The hassle was getting pushed 180 by the fierce gusts as we crested a wave. It often seemed like we ended up riding right back down the wave we'd just gone up. The track looked like a loop-dee-loop on the chartplotter as we spent 20 minutes getting pushed across the Bay from Thomas Point to nearly Kent Island. It was unpleasant but the boat really handled it well. Suffice to say I had no trouble getting approval from the admiral to add Sirius weather to the E-80 setup after that episode.

If you get a chance to test some boats try them on chop. Cut up some water and criss-cross your own wake if necessary. You really do want to get a feel for how much noise the boat's going to make when it's smacking through waves. There's always going to be some noise but what you're looking to avoid is clear sounds of materials banging around. Like the cabin door, seating, bulkheads and the like. Some boats really sound like crap when you're pounding some chop.

But of course even with a well-made boat you do still want to mind how you negotiate the conditions.

Wkearney99: Thanks again for your thoughts & reply. We live in SE KENUCKY but boat will be used for cruising the Bahamas. This will be our third summer going thru the Bahamas. 1ST year 2wks, then 5wks and this summer leaving May 8 & coming back last wk of August. The longest run on the banks is about 90nm and it can get choppy. Our Glacier Bay catamaran is awsome riding boat!!! Just too small. Ride is very important to us. Iam calling on 2 FW today. Would like to spend Christmas in Miami KW99, thank you again and anymore thoughts on boat or purchase would be appreciated. By the way, how did you end up mounting the dinghy? JC

Haven't mounted the dinghy yet. I'm probably going with a horizontal mount, nautley, hurley, etc. I really don't like the way the vertical style blocks the view; both from the cockpit and when looking at the boat from a distance. If this were an aft-cabin sedan bridge I wouldn't care.

90nm ought to be no problem as it's range is over 200 at cruise. But I'd try to find someone that's actually boating in that area and see what they'd have to say. I'm sure the boat would make it just fine but local experience might have better tips to offer.

I saw that you said you are looking for a left over '06 around 199k. I would think you should be able to squeeze a little more out of the dealer. Given the pricing I've seen elsewhere I guess I got a pretty good deal but I just bought a custom ordered '07 for around 190k. That's with the VP 5.7 oxi 320hp sterndrive power config. I'm in Chicago so we have a little bit of a shorter season which may help pricing some, but I can't imagine it's helping that much.

Also, I'm curious how you plan to get the boat from Kentucky to the Bahamas? Will you containerize it and ship it?

Good luck
Ben

Love our 348V. Sterndrives, 320HP. 160 hours. Never missed a lick.

My lake is full of Sea Rays. They're a little more solid, but much more spartan. Missing most of the niceties that we take for granted....

If I had it to do over again, the only others I might consider would be Doral or Tiara. When we bought this, we looked at: Sea Ray, Chaparral, Cruisers Yachts, Regal, Rinker.

Our order of finish was:
Four Winns (winner)
Cruisers (close second) mostly due to the availability of 8.1's
Sea Ray
Chaparral
Rinker
Regal (didn't like these - at all)

As for the boat, all options except overboard discharge, grey water, bulkhead, radar.

We added a GPS plotter with XM weather (would NOT do without this now...).

I won't tell you what I paid. Let's say I got a deal.

Love the boat. Lots of great memories and darn few frustrating ones.

Good luck in your search!

_________________
2004 Sea Ray 420DB
Formerly: 2005 348 Vista

I appreciate all the reply's. We will be keeping the boat in SE FLA. I expect to hear from a couple of FW this week. Will be intresting to see how they will trade. Would like to find the floor plan that has stateroom door but thats not a deal breaker. Iam wondering how the 320hp boats run compared to the 375 twins. Boattest has specs for the 375's. Any 320hp owners out there that will give their thought would be a big help. Thanks JC

Not sure how the 320's would differ besides wide open throttle. Our's with 6.0 inboards cruises at 3500 rpm for around 25mph and 1mpg. WOT burns quite a lot more fuel for about 35mph in 'ideal' conditions. Ideal being light load, few passengers and really flat seas. More typically it's about 32mph with the usual 3/4 tanks (water/fuel) and four people. Unless you're in a big-ass hurry cranking WOT ain't worth the cost. So unless it's a matter of hole-shot speed and WOT it's tough to say if the 320's would be "slow" or not. I demo'd one with I/O Volvos and found it was quite peppy. Granted, that was just three people in the dead of winter for about a half-hour, not exactly "experience".

320 HP VP DP's

Cruise 3500 rpm's at 28.5 MPH and gets 1.1 MPG. WOT with half fuel and fairly light load of people = 40.8 MPH and terrible MPG.

Best cruise speed is 3700 RPM's at about 31 MPH. Still 1.1 MPG.

Not sure how the folks with inboards do, but my boat really doesn't like to cruise slower than 3500 RPM's. I can go down to 3300 and put in some trim tabs (outdrives all the way down). Boat will maintain 23 MPH. Any lower it wants to come off plane.

Hope this helps.

_________________
2004 Sea Ray 420DB
Formerly: 2005 348 Vista