www.iFourWinns.com

Eh... believe me, I'm on board. There's much more involved than just bad habits.

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

I do have one regret with the 224 not putting the opyional sky pylon on. I may add it later the towing eye is to low in my opinion when pulling a tube it seems like the rope drags in the water sometimes. I looked on Fourwinns website and they wanted $700 for the optional sky pylon seems kind of steep.

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Tony

2008 FS 5.7ltr 300HP DP
2007 Yukon Denali
2008 Chevrolet Avalanche LTZ
1995 Polaris 650

I upped from a 16' jet to 21' prop. The jet was a total thrill ride but a bashing ride as well as wet and cold ; and only room for 4. The 210 is much more work in caring for but I had as many as 10 aboard so far and we did not feel overly cramped.
I have not found a regret yet with this boat and yes the walk-throughs are a nice feature - especially for high speed runs in the evening.
The only regret is the amount of time I get to spend with her and we have partially resolved that with some kayaks for evenings when we get home too late to splash the 210.
Beyond that everything is right in the universe with my FW. Oh, except I should have been happy with 1 pass skiing this weekend past - I regret not being able to move from the waist up the past 2 days.

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2008 Four Winns 210 5.7 GI/SX
2007 GMC Sierra 2500 Crew
1966 Fed-Up Wife

No regrets, if you never upgraded you'd have that feeling every time you saw a nice 24 footer go by!
Anyway I re-built a 20 year old boat, seems like an even less well advised move, but I have no regrets either. The old style 200s are longer than the newer ones and there is more room inside because there is less wasted space. The hull is 20'9" but narrower in beam 7'8". It does not have all that molded in fiberglass around the engine so it is very easy to work on. The lighter, narrower hull is adequately powered with a 4.3 4bbl V-6, so good fuel economy. I should have bought newer, so I wouldn't have had to do the big rebuild I did, but this boat feels more solid than the new ones I walked around on at the boat show. Yes newer would have gotten me a Volvo instead of an OMC Cobra, but I have not had much trouble with the Cobra at all. So even though I think I have the oldest boat here, I have NO regrets!!

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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 regret that my wife wants a Pontoon Boat now and would rather put put around the lake with a drink than jump wakes and pull tubers... I regret that we can't have both.....

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Guns kill people like spoons make people fat.
2007 Horizon 190 Gxi
97 Pathfinder SE 4x4
73 International Scout II

Hmm .. well, we made a very conscious decision in selling the easier to launch & retrieve, better fuel mileage, easier to tow.... 245 Sundowner. Then to make a move into a large trailerable cruiser ... and use more fuel, work harder at launch & retrieve, back to a monthly payment .... etc.

Why?

We want to start actually cruising a bit ... be it a single over-nighter or a long weekend ... or more (yes!). We can still use the boat as the daily fun-ship. tubing, skiing, sight-seeing, etc.. However, if the wife & I get out a couple / few times a year for over-nighters .... this is the place for the upgraded boat.

Some of our acquaintances, and my co-workers, will make points about paying all year long and only being able to use it a few times ... and all that nonsense. These are the same people that take one, two or three "vacations" during the year, spending thousands.

The boat expense .... and what you get for it ..... is our vacation fund!

Falling asleep (for a midnight nap) to some nice tunes, docked out in front of Church Landing in Meredith (after checking out the art show and grilling up a nice dinner) ... and then heading back across the lake at 0'dark-thirty ..... nothing but us, the water and the moon.......

Priceless

Regrets? Not yet!

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Gordon Arnold
New Hampshire

2003 268 Vista ..................................................................Prior: 97 245 Sundowner

I'd have to agree with Peterman. We upgraded this summer from a H180 to a 224 Funship and I'm sitting here at my desk counting hours unitl the weekend. We have had the time of our lives and it has given my wife, son and I some great bonding time together.

Now, figure in the fact I live 20 minutes from the lake, work for myself, and have planned the entire summer around boating. We've been out 80% of the weekends and just this week purchased a slip to keep her in. So for me........no regrets...........and now I'm scared cause we just ordered the name plate for the boat with the same name.

Oh and Mike, in regards to the anti boater............just lock her in the head and see you this weekend.

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2008 Four Winns 224 Funship 5.0 GXI/DP Black w/ Tower
2007 GMC Crew Cab Short Bed / Bose Ed.
2007 Fourwinns H180 (SOLD)

"There are no stupid questions, only stupid people"

Hey TACKLE, do you have the sky pylon for your FS? I have talked about it before not sure if thats something I want to add its kinda pricey.

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Tony

2008 FS 5.7ltr 300HP DP
2007 Yukon Denali
2008 Chevrolet Avalanche LTZ
1995 Polaris 650

No I sure don't. Might help a little with tubers but with the Wake Tower I don't see the point. We wakeboard from the tower and ski and tube from the ski eye.

We don't do a lot of that though, we are usually anchor down in party cove watching the scenery..........(man I miss that place during the week) If I was to add anything to my swim platform it would be the BBQ grill.

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2008 Four Winns 224 Funship 5.0 GXI/DP Black w/ Tower
2007 GMC Crew Cab Short Bed / Bose Ed.
2007 Fourwinns H180 (SOLD)

"There are no stupid questions, only stupid people"

Wasn't thinking I new from the pic of your boat that you have a tower. Are you talking about the party cove on the Lake of the Ozarks? If you are I was there one time, we rented a boat with a captain we gave him money and he lined up all the booze and beer it was a good time nice scenery. I think the name of the boat was The Pelican, I miss the days sometimes.

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Tony

2008 FS 5.7ltr 300HP DP
2007 Yukon Denali
2008 Chevrolet Avalanche LTZ
1995 Polaris 650

No, were in Topeka Kansas right by Lake Perry. It's definately not LOTO but has it's own little party cove you can find 40-100 boats lined up there most weekends and all the fun associated with it.

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2008 Four Winns 224 Funship 5.0 GXI/DP Black w/ Tower
2007 GMC Crew Cab Short Bed / Bose Ed.
2007 Fourwinns H180 (SOLD)

"There are no stupid questions, only stupid people"

I do have both, and my wife just about never wants to ride in the pontoon in favor of the 200H. With the 200H, she feels less exposed, and says the pontoon is less comfortable. THe 200H is much nicer for cruising in cooler weather too - just close up the walk thru window (and doors if you got 'em) and/or button on the bow cover. The pontoon has become little more than a covered and upholstered dock section. Hope this helps with your wife!

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2007 Horizon 200
4.3L GXi/ SX 225 HP

Most of us on this forum seem to be planners first... we've methodically thought out most of our purchases - and I think we see less of the 2-foot-itis than with other brands because of that.

We've really enjoyed our H240... My previous boat was 20 feet, so I figured 4 feet is a heck of a jump. It's my wife's first boat-ownership experience and it's been great for her to learn about boating with a boat of this size and quality. We wanted to stay trailerable as well as a bathroom - so the 240 has been a natural fit.

All things being said, we are reaching the end of summer in Seattle and there are definitely no regrets -- but we are seriously evaluating moving up to a cruiser. Who would have thought my wife would enjoy boating as much as she does. We've not been into the watersports as much as we thought we would have been - but we do want to have the ability for tubing.

So... anyone looking to upgrade to a pristine H240.. PM me. ha ha. I see a 278, 288, or 318 coming in the future.

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2008 318 Vista -SOLD, but I am still around!
All Night Long, Seattle WA

I hope to move up to a cruiser after next season. Right now i am set on a Bayliner 265 but that could change in the next year. I would love a nice Four Winns cruiser but not willing to spend the money. We love our 180. We can go everywhere we want to and it is efficient. However i do look forward to the dockside lifestyle that a cruiser will offer. Hopefully the Bayliner talk wont get me kicked off this forum

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2007 H210
2011 Chevrolet Tahoe LT

This is our first year in with the Four Winns Vista 268, and we do not have any regrets. The gas prices have actually come down from the beginning of the season when we first purchased the boat. We spent about six month looking for a large (25-27 foot) trailerable cruiser. We we first walked on the Four Winns we knew it was the boat we had been looking for. A bit out of our price range but we made it work. We spent a lot of weekends on the boat making short day trips and we managed one long weekend trip. We are looking forward to next season. I am gong to purchase a Honda Generator over the winter, to make sure I can get a quick cup of coffee in the morning when we are on the hook and re-charge the batteries. We love our boat and are willing to give up some "other" things to be on the water. The best way to start the weekend and unwind from the work week is to anchor up in the nearby cove and crack open an ice cold beer and turn on the Margaritaville channel. No regrets....

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2004 268 Vista "Satisfy My Sol"