www.iFourWinns.com

I am looking at a new F224. We love the layout, the wife especially likes having a head on board. I currently own a 1990 190 Freedom. It has lasted well and I have been very happy with it. We live in the Pensacola area but primarily stick to the bays and intercoastal. Primarily the boat will be used for tubing/skiing for the kids, cruising, and anchoring by the barrier islands. I am curious about the modified hull of the deckboat versus the standard v hull that I am used to. Will this perform well in our environment? My feeling is it will be better than my current boat due to increased size, but not as good as a similar length v hull. Does this sound resonable? The current boat has an outboard. Will the I/O on the new boat be more difficult to maintain? Thanks in advance for any comments and advice.

Funship is very stable and a great platform for many activities. My experience is that it doesn't cut through rough water as well as I would like (I boat on the Pacific Ocean a fair amount), but overall I like the space and layout. It is a pretty high-profile boat for an open bow, and it definitely gets pushed around by the wind.

Do you trailer your boat or keep it in the water? Might make a difference between outboard and I/O.

The Funship pulls a skier/tube well, good storage, a potty (as you pointed out) and bow and stern rinse-off shower heads.

I like mine a lot - it suits my needs. If I were to do it again, I might consider a H220 but only for the deep V.

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2002 Funship 214
VP 5.7 GX Si
2003 Tahoe

Evilz, thank you for your opinions. I guess that is the tradeoff, better layout of funship vs. better travel through rough water with the Horizon.

I will mostly keep it in a high dry storage facility, with some trailering also. It will not be stored in the water more than overnight. I notice from your signature that you have a 2003 Tahoe. I have a 2002 Tahoe. Have you found this to be a good vehicle for trailering this boat? My capacity is 6600 lbs. It looks like the boat and trailer weigh about 5500 lbs, so this leaves just eeough room for fuel, water, gear etc. but it will be close.

I have towed mine pretty extensively out to lake Mohave which is about a 6 hour pull. The Tahoe has done pretty well - the main thing I notice (besides the fuel consumption...) is the rear end sitting down pretty hard when I'm loaded up with gear. I added a weight-distributing hitch for the longer hauls which seems to help. There are other threads on this site where folks are discussing different methods of beefing up suspension.

Erik

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2002 Funship 214
VP 5.7 GX Si
2003 Tahoe

Erik,

Thank you for the information, I will do some research on that. Do you think for a short haul (less than one hour) the standard hitch will be OK?

Yeah - I dont use the WD hitch for short haul, and not always for long haul either. It really depends on how much gear I'm hauling....

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2002 Funship 214
VP 5.7 GX Si
2003 Tahoe

larry, have you looked at an SL242 ? Best of both worlds, part deckboat, part bowrider. The hull will be much smoother in rough conditions than a funship. But you pay dearly in price for the versatility.

Just a suggestion.

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

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

That is a great looking boat, but definitely more expensive. Do you (or anyone else) have a feel for what is the typically discount from list price you can get these days?

I would agree with EvilZ. We are very happy with ours. It does tow well, and is a good family friendly boat. Very roomy. There is a bit of tradeoff in the ride, but if you slow down a little, it's not bad. Also, for you it may not be as noticeable because you are coming from a smaller boat. I might consider selling mine to you if I can get a good deal on an SL! Just kidding... we are very happy with our boat. You will be too!

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2008 Four Winns F224
5.0 Volvo Penta
Towing with Audi Q7 4.2 V8

By the way, we got it last year, a left over 2008, and got about 40% off list. If you go for a 2010 boat now, you may not get such an aggressive discount. You could check with FW to see if there are any left over 08 or 09 boats still unsold. That's the way to get a deal!

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2008 Four Winns F224
5.0 Volvo Penta
Towing with Audi Q7 4.2 V8

Sounder - Thank you for your input. The more research I do, the more I think this may be the best boat for us. We were at a Marina last weekend that was having a barbecue. A dealer had several boats there to look at including this 2010 F224. He had a price on it that was about 33% off of list, which seemed like a good deal to me. I wonder if in this economy this level of discounting is common. Based on your experience, maybe it will be possible to talk him down a little more. I will probably visit his showroom this weekend.

Well, the way I approached it was that I was looking, considering, and undecided if I should buy. I suggested that if he wanted to sell a boat now, give me the price that would stop me from looking anywhere else (or just scrapping the idea). He ended up dropping another $5k, and said that was the real total bottom line. I'm not sure if it really was, but we took the boat home.

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2008 Four Winns F224
5.0 Volvo Penta
Towing with Audi Q7 4.2 V8

Thanks to all of you for the help. This weekend we pulled the trigger, and are now the proud owners of a Funship 224. I was a little hesitant because of the oil situation since we live near Pensacola, but so far the bays have been pretty much under control. We had a fun time this weekend on the boat, and are looking forward to many more weekends. Now I need to figure out what to do with the 190 Freedom.

Congratulations! Let the projects begin!

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2008 Four Winns F224
5.0 Volvo Penta
Towing with Audi Q7 4.2 V8