www.iFourWinns.com

Well.. after a great first summer with the boat it has been a tough winter. At the end of September, while on the water the lower unit blew. We believed it to be a shift cable at first but it wasnt. There was a leaking issue at the back, so we pulled the engine and realized we had a rotten transom. While pulling the engine, there was a slip up and the oil pan got knicked and oil poured all on our carpet. So $3000 later, there is a new transom, new lower unit, and now I am in the process of replacing the floor carpet. We thought about ditching the boat and getting something different but we bought the boat for $4200, so there is now a total of $7200 invested. So figured for that price on a different boat we may run into the same issues we are having now, and the engine runs so well it didnt seem worth it. So now hopefully we have that stuff taken care of, and it can be a decently worry free summer (Yeah Right).

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1990 Horizon 200
5.7L OMC Cobra 260HP

Actually, if that $3K is for a whole new drive and if they did a good job on the transom, that isn't bad. Easy for me to say. Hope this is the end of your trouble, and if so, you should have a nice boat for a good long time.

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

Sorry about your troubles but at least not you should be in great shape with no problems for a 7k investment - that is pretty good in my book.

I had to do something similar with our 88, the deck rotted and about 5 years ago I cut out the old one and installed a new one. Big job, did about half of it myself, and had the glass shop gelcoat it for me. Still was better than buying another old boat that could have the same problem. My next one will be no more than a few years old....don't want to do any more glass work in this lifetime, and although it was a great learning experience, not one I'd want to repeat. It sure helped me learn how to inspect older boats though.
With this one it still has the original engine and drive, and not much trouble from either one, but when the time comes I might just put a new engine in it and keep running the Cobra system as long as it's working OK.

When you evaluate repairs, most people only think of how much it costs relative to how much they think the boat is worth or how much they could sell it for. But the other way you can look at it is what is the price of replacing what you have now, with something that has no problems. I've looked and it's tough to find a 20' in good shape, less than five years old, for less than 20K or so, unless the owner is desperate to sell...

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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

Well, a little update. Took the boat out last week for a test run. Everything checked out besides the engine overheating, turned out to be an impeller problem. Got a new one and everything was great. No leaks in the back, which was very exciting being the transom was rebuilt. The carpet is 90% completed besides little places around here and there.

Really looking forward to summer. Ill get some pictures when the carpet is all finished.. Havent had a chance to take any during the project... Maybe 20 hours invested between two people. Not bad considering I have no idea what Im doing.

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1990 Horizon 200
5.7L OMC Cobra 260HP

Glad the work is going to pay off. I really like to see people doing as much of their own work as they can.

Where do you mainly boat there?
When we lived there we loved Skiatook --- but went to a lot of other lakes also. Tulsa is a sort of "sleeper" area for boating, there are a lot of nearby lakes.

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DaleG -- West Palm Beach FL
2003 240Horizon -- 5.7Gi -Duoprop

Yes, good luck with the boat!

I love Skiatook as well.. its one of the cleanest lakes in the area besides Tenkiller.. But basically Skiatook and Keystone. The wakeboarding has been better at Keystone.. there is a bank that I have never seen rough.. even in 20 mph wind it is glass. Before this summer it was all Skiatook. But we are about 40 minutes from Skiatook, Keystone and Gibson so it works out.

And yes, great lakes around here. Definitely underrated with Grand Lake in NE OK but we love it.

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1990 Horizon 200
5.7L OMC Cobra 260HP