www.iFourWinns.com

I recently moved to Florida and have started to enjoy the prospect of all year boating with my 2007 338 Vista. Last weekend we took a short cruise to Boca Lake on the intercostal. It is a great spot to party and not use alot of gas. The "lake" is on the shallow side and we entered the 4ft-5ft deep water with the outdrives trimmed up a little just in case. We anchored and went swimming. I noticed that port drive was totally down and the starboard drive was tilted in the position that it was suppose to be. We raised and lowered the trim to see that both drives would go up, but the port side would fall down when the trim button was let go. There was also a slight fluid leak coming from that outdrive. We drove slowly back to our marina and arranged for service at a near by Volvo service center. (nice that it is only a short cruise away) They hauled the boat and found a crack in the bellows that led to sea water corroding the sending unit along with a trim hydraulic line. The mechanic said that Volvo has had a problem like this with the Ocean Series drives and will cover all work including the haul out. I was happy that we caught the problem before it became real serious until they went to re-install the lower unit.

I found a really good mechanic that thoroughly inspected the drive before he re-installed it. He found a crack in the transom shield manifold right at the point where the bellows attaches. The crack is under where the stainless clamp holds the bellows to the shield. The crack goes right through the composite to the underside where the shaft is installed. At 1st he thought it was a defective part and was going to replace it under the warrantee. Upon closer inspection it plainly appears that the crack had already been glued. The marina called me and asked what kind of mechanical history was on this outdrive. This is the only problem I had with the drives and the outdrives had not been removed since factory deliver last year. The mechanic forwarded a picture of the crack/glue to Volvo and they refused to pay for it. It was damaged and "repaired". This is a major problem. The glue repair is a short term fix at best. It ruins the integrity of the part. The transom shield manifold costs about $4000 and requires the engine be pulled to replace it. ($5-6K bill)

After discussing the probable cause of the crack with the mechanic, we determined that it could have been shipped that way from Volvo, cracked by Four Winns by tightening the clamp holding the bellows to tight, or by Four Winns when they installed the drive shaft. This part has not seen the light of day since the factory. I called Four Winns and asked them to look at the pictures from the Volvo service center(not a FW dealer) and arrange to get this fixed by them or Volvo. Four Winns called me and the service center a day later and after review of the pictures refused to fix the already glued part. My really good mechanic ( my new best friend) then went to Volvo on my behalf and got them to agree to pay for the repair to get me back on the water and to deal with Four Winns directly concerning the crack. I really appreciate Volvo for stepping up and taking care of me.

The boat should be in the water for next weekend.

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07 Tiara Sovran 4300
07 338 Vista - SOLD

Good grief. I'd say your mechanic deserves a gift card for a nice dinner out with his wife. Good thing you caught it when you did, and it's amazing how well it sounds like it will turn out!

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

Glad everything worked out for you. The response from Volvo is why I didn't want a Merc in my boat. Not that Merc is bad, I just have friends that have had real difficulty with warranty stuff from Merc. Volvo is very reasonable and with support from a local mechanic they will step up to the plate. We had a defective oil line on or port engine. Lost the line and all the oil. They checked and replaced the line. It happened again 13 hrs later. I emailed the fellow at Volvo on the Saturday evening after we got home about the line failing again. Monday before 10AM I had a call from him. He had already made an appointment at the dealer for me and had a new crated motor on it's way down. He said he didn't care if the motor was still okay, he was replacing it.

I'll second Mikes idea. The Four Winns dealer I have my boat serviced at has had the service department treated to a pizza lunch on me a couple times. I find the service guys ( like us I/T guys) get little recognition. A bit of gratitude goes a long way.

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Jvalich
http://www.badcock.com

'04 FW 288 Vista "Mental Floss"