www.iFourWinns.com

Talked me into it. I am getting some for my cover now.

Spent the day with family on it.

Priceless memories that make owning a boat worth every penny.

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2006 Four Winns Horizon 200
Volvo Penta 5.0 GXi/SX

That’s what it’s all about. I’m lucky to live right on the water basically and there’s nothing like it. I do keep the boat in the water so you can’t keep it pristine like a trailer boat but I can accept that because of the beauty it allows me to see...

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

Just sold it, sadly.

My company laid me off after five years with no severance. Going to have to relocate and I won't really have time to trailer an hour plus to get to water every time I want to go boating.

It sucks, but I got an OK price for it so I am not too bummed. It went to a good owner who knows boats so hopefully I'll see it around every now and then.

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2006 Four Winns Horizon 200
Volvo Penta 5.0 GXi/SX

Ah sorry to hear that! But moving on can bring new opportunities....

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

Yeah, I hated to see it go but it was something that needed to be done.

Although there is a nice 2012 S215 for sale on CL right now lol.

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2006 Four Winns Horizon 200
Volvo Penta 5.0 GXi/SX

If relocating will you be close enough to water or not really? If I get out of boating I got some fun ideas for my next hobby...

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

There’s the Hudson and Mohawk but that’s not really where I’d want to use my boat. Tons of debris in there too.

Other than that, there’s Saratoga Lake which is only four miles long. That will get boring fast.

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2006 Four Winns Horizon 200
Volvo Penta 5.0 GXi/SX

If it worked out here you'd have one of the Northeast's most varied boating environments. Long Island Sound with deep water everywhere and access to Connecticut right across (as short as a ten mile ride), and the South Shore with the Great South Bay. Fire Island, etc. Yes you'd do better with an outboard, but if you wanted the same style boat there are lots of dual console salt water boats that have the same seating set ups but are made for salt water. The main draw back is the cost of living, lack of space, etc. But as far as boating you can't beat Long Island...
views from my back deck....
Summer:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/s3w3k55gg96cf ... d.JPG?dl=0
Winter:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2al23xusfzgh7 ... r.JPG?dl=0

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

Wow, nice spot!

I'll definitely get another boat someday. I really don't mind working on the I/O at all. And if I were down your way and had a nice place with water access like that, then I would have kept the boat no questions asked. It just didn't make sense to hang onto it when moving so far away from good water.

The new owner had it out on the Mohawk River on Labor Day lol. I guess he has more balls than I do to boat in there. Although the river looked pretty clean now that they fixed the broken lock. He said it ran great - as it should, since I maintained that boat to a T and kept it as clean as possible.

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2006 Four Winns Horizon 200
Volvo Penta 5.0 GXi/SX

Well, it wasn't today, but yesterday's end-result stems from this past weekend.

We had the boat out at Canyon Lake this past weekend for some late summer camping and some water time. Boat ran well on Saturday morning, but my wife said it sounded "different." We couldn't place it. While under power getting on plane, it did have a spot in the rev's that sounded slightly different but the rest of the time (idle or full throttle) it sounded the same and the power was there.

By Saturday evening though, things were much different! The exhaust sounded noticeably louder and the engine was running rough. Almost like it had a miss to it, but you could still tell all 4 cyl's were running, and it was down on power.

My first thought was the power head was going out. We put it on the trailer and came home early on Sunday. I ran compression tests on all 4 cyl's Sunday afternoon. Starboard 2 cyl's were at 109 psi cold, and the port 2 cyl's were at 110 psi cold. Piston tops looked in good shape. I was afraid there might be a timing/pinging issue and burning a hole in a piston. They looked fine. There also didn't seem to be any play on the crank or rods when rotating the flywheel back and forth. I can't dig into the motor any further without first taking stuff apart, but based on these visuals it appears ok.

Last night (Monday) I went to drain the oil from the lower unit and I think this is where the majority of the problem lies...

This was originally Quicksilver synthetic lower gear oil that was previously blue in color:



The lower drain/fill plug on the left, the upper vent plug on the right:



Wiped off the plugs onto this rag, I think I've got problems...



I resealed this lower unit last year in May 2019. So I must have put something back in wrong. Last summer it ran great with no issues, or at least it seemed.
Only two positive things out of this:
1) We've been able to keep costs down over the last 9 yrs of ownership due to my ability to work on things. Haven't spent more than $1,500 in 9 years, so maybe it's time.
2) there was no water in the lower unit when I drained it. So, my seal job was good!

Well, time to start studying up on lower units again...

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1999 180 Horizon OB Fisherman Pkg
2013 Grand Cherokee 4x4 w/ 5.7 Hemi
San Antonio, TX

Might want to line up a shop that can rebuilt this unit for you over the winter, setting up the gears is a pretty precise task might need special tools to do it, and if its not done exactly right you are back to square one. SEI also sells new knock off aftermarket units for these I think but the quality is variable. They made many of these outboards both Evinrude and Johnson and I bet you can find a local shop that will rebuild it for you...lucky the power head is OK!

It might not be anything you did, possibly the hardening on one of the gears or bearings failed and started flaking off which greatly increased the friction in the unit, which is why it seemed to be not running right and the gear oil looks like it got overheated not being the Mercruiser blue/green color, or maybe overheated with very fine wear particles mixed in...

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

I've got some time to deal with it. Still sucks, though.
Yeah, the fluid looked like a silver metallic paint! Not good at all.

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1999 180 Horizon OB Fisherman Pkg
2013 Grand Cherokee 4x4 w/ 5.7 Hemi
San Antonio, TX

Took her out it was a cloudless 80 degree day. Perfect. The cold and such is coming in a week. Rain starts tomorrow. I a thinking it all over but the crying here. I will hang tough on the wiinterization till the last second.

I would post pics but I remember it takes a act of god to get them to work here.

I picked up a nice spare Cobra outdrive off of eBay and have been collecting Cobra parts over the past few years...trim rams....steering actuator...exhaust Y pipe..Cobra parts are surprisingly reasonably priced...

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II