www.iFourWinns.com

I'm hoping that someone here has attempted this at some point.
I need to remove the bow railing and my question is are the nuts on the underside of the deck glassed in or are they going to drop into the bowels of the bilge when I remove the railing bolts?
Secondly, when removing the upper cabinets in the galley and v-berth, does the headliner need to be removed first?
Any help is much appreciated.

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"ROCKHOUND"
2005 Vista 298
Georgian Bay, Ontario.

PA,

No nuts that I can see on the bow railing. Looks to me like Four Winns used stainless machine thread screws into wooden backers.

And what exactly are you up to????

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Brett DiMichele

No nuts.... are you serious! That just doesn't seem right somehow.
Although... I guess thats good for me as there will be no parts to fish out of the bilge.

I'm installing single LED downlights in the railing every 2 feet or so.
I need to remove the starboard end of the railing to drill out a hole in the mount plate and run the wires to the helm. After that... some underwater LED's on the stern.
As far as removing cabinets, I want to build cherry ones to replace the white vinyl ones that FW used in 05 and prior Vista's.

Just trying to keep up with you guys.

Thanks for the info Brett.
Cheers.

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"ROCKHOUND"
2005 Vista 298
Georgian Bay, Ontario.

I take it back, there are stainless nyloc nuts! It's been so long since I looked at the bow photos I took...

Here ya go!

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Brett DiMichele

NOW THATS A REAL BUMMER!

Sooooo.... now my second question, do I have to remove the headliner before removing upper cabinets.
Seems I'll have to do this to get at the nuts anyway.

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"ROCKHOUND"
2005 Vista 298
Georgian Bay, Ontario.

I wish I had some sage advice for the project (which, by the way will ROCK when it's done) it's going to be "fun" for sure!

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Brett DiMichele

DAMN YOU!!!! You just had to go and give me another idea didn't you!!!1

That will look sweet when it's done.

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

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"ROCKHOUND"
2005 Vista 298
Georgian Bay, Ontario.

planealternative

Im curious as to what type or brand of LED you are goint to use.... I like the idea and may follow your lead.... My railing already has a hole in for the spotlight wiring, which is mounted in the vee of the bow rail.

question..... whats your plan on stringing the wire to the port without having a hole on the port side??

Thanks

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Jeff

'14 Cruisers 380 Express "Simon Sez"
Merc 8.2 Mag MPI 380
DTS B3X, (x2) Axius Premier


(SOLD)
'08 V318
Merc 350 Mag MPI 300
DTS Seacore, B3 (x2)

jsimon,
These are the LED's I bought:

http://www.bosunsupplies.com/ProductMicroStar.cfm

My spotlight is mounted on the deck so I don't have any holes currently in the railing. The plan is to drill holes where needed with cobalt bits and bring the wires up from starboard midships where the toprail meets the deck and string it through the railing all the way around to the port side. You can use wire as small as 24GA with these and string up to 250 of them on one 12 volt line. The tricky part will be feeding the wire around the sharp 'V' in the rail at the bow to continue down the port side. That might take a bit of patience.
I have a total of 14 LED's which will be spaced evenly around the railing all facing down.
The problem I face now is trying to accomplish this without removing the railing as getting access to the nuts underneath will prove to be a pain in the butt.
The boat is still under 3 feet of snow so I won't be attempting this for another month or two.

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"ROCKHOUND"
2005 Vista 298
Georgian Bay, Ontario.

I thought about doing this last year, but was having a hard time finding the right leds and how to run the wire. Please post some pics of your install if you dont mind

Will do.

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"ROCKHOUND"
2005 Vista 298
Georgian Bay, Ontario.

While poking around the boat today and installing the tv, I noticed when I had the access plate off behind the forward bulkhead, I could see where the wires for the nav lights go through the deck and up through the railing. I am not sure how the set up is on a 298, but now I see that the install on the 248 would be very easy.

Are the bulbs in these little lights replaceable? If one fails, how will it be replaced?

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One of 4 Previous (Sold) Boats:
2000 Four Winns 268 Vista

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

The "Microstars" are single LED's so they have a life span of (+-)50,000 hours and they're sealed in a stainless housing.
Even if something should happen to one of them, they are friction fit into a rubber grommet in the hole.
It would be easy enough to pull the bad one out and splice in a new one.
The other cool thing is that they are available in colors.

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"ROCKHOUND"
2005 Vista 298
Georgian Bay, Ontario.