www.iFourWinns.com

Hello All:

My wife and I just recently bought a new 07 288 Vista trading up from our 268. This is our first brand new boat and would like a little advice on a couple of things.

1. Do we need to bottom paint? We live in Ontario where the season runs from the end of May to Mid October. The marina bottom cleans every boat upon fall haul out. Any thoughts on what I can expect to pay should I choose to have it bottom painted?

2. What's the best way to break in the engines? I had one dealer (not the one I bought the boat from) tell me to just go out and have fun, that the engines didn't really need break in.

Thanks for any help anyone can give me.

_________________
2007 - 288 Vista

1. Depends upon what type of water and growth. Look around, are most boats in your marina bottom painted? Ask some other owners. They have their $ invovlved in their bottom paint so they should give you good advice about the necessity and the best paint.

2. Unless Vovlo has changed their manual and removed their break in proceedure, the dealer who told you that should be avoided! Proper breaking is essential for a marine engine. It's clearly outlined in the Vovlo manual (at least it is on the 2004 engines and I don't believe there has been any significant changes in engine technology for then to now).

_________________
Jvalich
http://www.badcock.com

'04 FW 288 Vista "Mental Floss"

I would bottom paint if for nothing else to protect the hull when they do clean it.

_________________


"Where Da Go"
2002 248 Vista
Lafayette, IN
http://blueoceanlife.worldventures.biz

Scotsman, Nice Upgrade! Confrat's and Best of Luck! As far as your questions, ditto jvalich and woggy718! In addition I would add that it is important to bottom paint the boat even in fresh water if you intend to keep it in the water all season as opposed to keeping it on a trailer or dry stack. The Gel coat is porous, and over time will absorb water and cause blistering. You should have it prepped and a have good barrier coat applied and then you can choose what ever bottom paint works best in your area. At that point you should be able to get away with several seasons before touching it up! Best of Luck with the 288!!!!

_________________
'04 FW 268Vista "Andiamo"

I boat on the great lakes as well and would strongly suggest you have bottom painted. GOod luck with the new boat!!!

_________________
Lime Cutter
'06 378 Vista
Lake St Clair, MI
Mac Ray Harbor

Thanks all.

Bottom Paint is something a noob like me missed when I made the deal, otherwise I'm sure I could have gotton the dealer to include it. Since their delivering my boat directly to the marina, I guess I'll have to get them to do it.

_________________
2007 - 288 Vista

I looked at upgrading to the 288 as well.Its was a 07 as well. I really like the new cabin layout. Unfortunatley we missed the train on the dealer stock unit which was loaded with everything. Gen,, Twin dps Stainless windshield header, Raymarine plotter, blue hull, absolutley everything and only 108k. Plus there was a 6k rebate from FW. God I wish I got to that boat first. Oh well another season with 248.

248 - I think you are subconsciously just holding our for that Nordic Tug!
Maybe, me too! Hope to see you this year on our trip to Essex!
Scotsman, sorry for the digression! Back to the topic at hand:

Scotsman, don't feel too bad. I will tell you the truth. It is not that hard to do the bottom paint your self, and I personally feel a lot better knowing that I did a thorough job with the exact paint I wanted to use, which I can not say for sure if the Dealer or Marina does it. Most of the time, you will find it is the most JUNIOR employee of the dealer that get's stuck with the Bottom Pint assignments, and they almost always use whatever paint they are using for all the others. For the brackish waters of the Hudson River, I have had good luck with the Interlux ACT with Irgarol and I feel good knowing that I did the job the way I want it done with the paint I wanted to use. For the best paint for your area, talk to the locals! They know!

_________________
'04 FW 268Vista "Andiamo"

I really want the Nordic, but 280k is alot of k's. I will have to wait for that till retirment probably. So in the meantime I have been checking my options out. I love the 248 for many reasons, but would like alittle more room. We spend much more time onboard than we thought we would. If we do stay with a cruiser I cant see going with any other brand.

I hear you Brian! I agree!

_________________
'04 FW 268Vista "Andiamo"

Hi Scotsman:
Where in Ontario do you boat? I have a 288 as well and boat in Lake
Ontario. I agree with all the comments re: break in procedure.
The bottom paint--not sure about it. I was at one location with
many FW's and I didn't see much bottom paint. I was also looking
at some of the hulls that were 4-5 years old or older and didn't see
any obvious blistering.
A guy in our club has had his boat in the water all summer for 13 years and no issues--he swears by a mix of wax and Penaten baby bottom cream of all things.
I bottom waxed ours last year and plan to do the same this year.
I am still kind of undecided about pursuing bottom painting and interested
in any further posts on the subject.
If you want to e-mail me off-line, feel free to do so at mike2071@rogers.com
Regards,

Hi Mike:
The dealer has referred me to boat bottom wax vs sanding and bottom painting the hull of a brand new boat, so I'm going to look in to that.

We boat up on the trent around Bobcaygeon. We're planning a 2week trip up to Georgian bay this summer with the new boat.

Thanks all again for your help.

_________________
2007 - 288 Vista

Hey Guys, after reading Mike288's reply it got me thinking that I had read somewhere that they now apply some kind of a barrier coat at the factory so I emailed Four Winns and have copied their repsonse below. In short they do apply a barrier coat to prevent blistering, but interesting enough it is applied between the fibergalss and the gel coat! Four Winns does recommend bottom paint if it will be in the water for an extended period of time, but it sounds like you may be O/K if you keep after it with a good wax like Mike recommends. Here's Four Winns response. Good Luck!

From: Boating@fourwinns.com
To: jimbuscemi@aol.com
Subject: Re: General Contact from Four Winns Website
Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2007 8:55 AM

Four Winns does apply a vinyl ester barrier coat between the fiberglass
and the gel coat to prevent moisture from penetrating the gel and
causing osmotic blistering but it is a good idea to bottom paint the
hull if the boat is going to be in the water for an extended period of
time.
Bottom paint does help prevent you boat from build up on the hull and
also protect it from other environmental issues in your specific area of
boating.
There is a section in your owners manual that will give you more
information regarding bottom paint.


Thank you
Four Winns

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_________________
'04 FW 268Vista "Andiamo"

Congratulations on your new boat.

You might also want to consider antifouling the drives; It always seems a shame to do it when they're nice and new and shiney, but things like barnacles, tubeworms and weed seem to love growing on them if unprotected and cause a lot of drag. If you've got DPS drives, you'll need to use an antifouling suitable for aluminium and leave a 1" gap between the antifouling on the hull and the outdrive. The VP spray stuff seems to work pretty well and is about the right shade of grey if you've got DPS drives. If you have the ocean drives, then it's not so important to use alminium compatible antifouling.

Barnacles and tubeworms also like to live inside the exhaust outlets on the props and tube worms love it underneath the shift cover on DPS drives ( older type); I paint the hub and inside the cover of mine with aluminium compatible antifouling ( hub is aluminium, with a plastic sleeve between it and the stainless props).

regrds,

Graham

From what I've heard, so far, from last year to this year in reading the postings on bottom paint, I've come to these thoughts:

1) If a boat is in the water for the season, whether it is up north and or definitely down south, it should be bottom painted.

2) If the boat has the out of water storage for the season and placed in the water when needed, it really doesn't need to be bottom painted.

3) Older boats will probably need bottom paint ( 7yrs or more ) regardless of in season use (slip or out of water storage).

Is this what I'm hearing? I have three weeks to launch so I need to paint soon. I slip in the water through the season (May through September/October).

_________________
Alexj



1995 Four Winns Horizon 190
OMC 5.0 RL