www.iFourWinns.com

Good job!

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

Good Luck!

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-Rob.


Current boat: 2011 Yamaha AR210
Previous boat: 1998 Horizon RX 4.3GL SX

I passed the Boating Safety test last night (95%) , so now it is just a matter of my boat getting fixed in time for the weekend. I haven't heard from the Marina today, so I will give them a call a little later to make sure that the part came in.

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- John

1998 Four Winns Horizon QX
OMC 4.3L GL, Cobra SX

Glad you passed the Exam. Don't you love how the State supplied handbook leaves out some material on the test? BTW, what lake are you on?

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- Denis

2007 Horizon 210 SS
320 HP 5.7 Liter / Volvo Penta



2004 Chevrolet 2500 HD Extended Cab / 6.0 liter
2005 Harley FLSTNI - Aped
2008 Harley FLTRI

Yeah, I wasn't too impressed with the test. I'm glad that they are making everyone take it, but it was mostly common sense questions.

I just put my boat in the water for the first time today, in Great Pond (Kingston lake). Everything went fine, and I had a blast!! I will be going back in tomorrow.

Oh yeah, the shop wasn't ordering me a new prop shaft (I misunderstood). That price was for them to straighten my existing shaft, and replace the o-rings, seals, and change the gear oil. So the total came to $536.45, which included the following:

Engine oil, oil filter, water separator filter, gear oil, prop shaft straightening, drain and refill the trim pump fluid, grease and lube everything (boat & trailer), and going through the boat and trailer making sure everything was ok.

Overall, I feel good about the service and think that the pricing was fair.

_________________
- John

1998 Four Winns Horizon QX
OMC 4.3L GL, Cobra SX

Hi Guys,

Since I had all of my fluids changed back in August, and only took my boat out on the water 4-5 times, do I really need to change the engine oil or gear oil as part of my winterization process? I was just going to add stabilizer to the gas, fog the motor, and drain the cooling lines, and back-fill with RV anti-freeze. Am I asking for trouble? My shop wants $240 for the winterization.

Obviously if I check the oil and it appears milky I will get it changed, but what if it looks clean on the stick?

Thanks!

_________________
- John

1998 Four Winns Horizon QX
OMC 4.3L GL, Cobra SX

If there's no major sign of wear and the oil still looks good, you are probably fine. I know people that change the oil once every 3 years or 100 hours - whichever is first. They've never had a breakdown.

That being said, once a year is really good -- whenever you choose to do it. Seems for most of us, the winterization process is the time to do it since we can store it with fresh oil for the year and we're already mucking around in the engine compartment.

Save the $$ and just enjoy the boat.

As for winterizing -- Draining the block, fogging the motor, backfilling with antifreeze are all awesome and the best things you can do. Some people will pull the battery, others will just make sure it gets a good charge before putting away for the winter. I didn't know this - but Sta-bil has a marine rated stabilizer other than their normal one -- you might just put that in the tank. They say to top off the tank with gas to reduce condensation/evaporation -- but remember that stab-il is really only good for 6 months... plan on running through that *old* gas asap.

Most of us also give our boats a heavy cleaning/wax/repair stuff type of thing. That way you don't get stuck with a huge punch list come spring.

If you haven't done already, think about lubing the steering cables, check bellows and other drive components... store with the engine down rather than up.

$240 for a winterization package seems very affordable. also note that you could probably DIY for 50-60 bucks including the Camco RV backfill kit (around 35 bucks)... Maybe ask the service shop to watch what they do this year - so you can tackle it yourself next year? It's not brain surgery by any means.

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

That is actually another question that I had...

I will be storing my boat in my yard off to the side. I was planning on getting it wrapped, but to get it home the outdrive will need to be in the up position, and with it wrapped I won't be able to lower it. How do people get around this? What is the reasoning behind leaving the drive down while storing?

Thanks for all the info!!

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- John

1998 Four Winns Horizon QX
OMC 4.3L GL, Cobra SX

To reduce stress on the drive shaft bellows. Some would also say to reduce stress on the hydraulics, although I don't buy that argument.

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

Here is what I did to winterize my boat this weekend:

Added Stabil-izer to the gas tank (which was between 3/4 and full).
Ran the engine for about ten minutes on the muffs to get the treated gas into the system.
Fogged the engine using Deep Creep engine fogger from Autozone.
Drained all the water hoses, 2 @ mainifolds, 2 @ intake pump, 1 big one on block pump.
Drained block by pulling both block drains, 1 each side on bottom of engine.
Put all hoses back on, and removed them from the top of the engine.
Added AF to the big hose until some cam out of the block drains.
Replaced the block drains, continued adding AF to the big hose until AF came out of the top of the block.
Replaced the big hose.
Added AF to each of the manifold hoses until AF came out the exhaust ports under drive, then replaced manifold hoses.
Added AF to the hose coming from the intake pump until AF came out of the lower drive where the muffs go, then replaced hose.
Made sure all hoses and drain plugs were tight.
Cranked engine a few times to get some AF into the pumps.
Pulled the battery to store inside with a battery tender.

The oil looked fine, so I left it alone, but I might decide to change it in the spring when the weather is a little better.
I only had to use 3 gallons of AF, does that seem like enough?

Thanks!!

_________________
- John

1998 Four Winns Horizon QX
OMC 4.3L GL, Cobra SX