www.iFourWinns.com

After a long 8 months of wait she finally came home yesterday. She still sits on the trailer but should be in water today if the weAther stays as is. Will post more pics and impressions after i try her out, if ever that happens. Crazy weather here .

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2009 FourWinns SL 222
-5.7GI/DP

Very Nice Setup!

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Tanker Toad
NKAWTG..N!!
2008 H220 SS
2008 Chevy Silverado 4x4
2010 Tahoe LT 4x4

sweet!!! where are you located?

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2011 H210 SS
MerCruiser 350 MPIC/Bravo I 300hp
"Crooked Wake"


Prior Boat
1999 Bayliner 1950 CL

Shes in water now. I spent an hour or so boating around and so far its good. I bad some funny depth finder reading which scared the shit out of me. The reading went as low as 1.9 ft for a good 20 seconds which didnt seem right at all so i dont know what's up with that. Mind you this was in the river where the water level is pretty high right now.

Also the gas gauge was full all the time but would go to 3/4 when i come to stop. It fluctuates a lot so will have to check that out when i add gas next time. Consumption seemed pretty high for an hour of 20-30mph run according to the gauge.

Other thing, first time boater here, is it normal that the gear engages hard, it makes a loud clunk each time?

Anyway it wasn the best weather out there but at least shes in water.
i'm located in Ottawa, Canada.

P.s backing up in a spot was a pain in the butt with the strong river curent. I have a feeling that will be a long time learning process.

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2009 FourWinns SL 222
-5.7GI/DP

Looks like a VP drive from the pic - post the details of your setup....if VP the shift should be smooth....the Mercs will slam into gear as part of the dog clutch design....the fuel sensor varying reading is nomral cuz of the sloshing fuel in tank and boat profile in water.

Nice looking ride for sure

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http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o71 ... wqm355.jpg


08' H210SS
VP 5.7Gi

Nice boat.... We love to see you at 1000 Islands this summer... It is not too far from Ottawa

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08 H260 VP 8.1Gi DP.....Previous
2013 Crownline E6 Merc 8.2MAG BIIIX, DTS/SC

Looks great! Keep us posted on your first adventure.

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Norris Lake, Stardust Marina, Andersonville, TN
2005 Four Winns 230 Horizon 5.7L Volvo Gi/DP
2001 Maxum 1900SR 5.0L V8 (Sold)
2011 Nissan Armada Platnum

Nice! Great looking setup!


You may want to try cleaning your transducer. Do a search on this forum as I think other people have experienced something similar.



That's normal on any boat. I typically track fuel consumption via the hour meter by recording gallons per hour. You first have to get a good baseline, then I keep track of how many hours between fills. Neither this method or the gas guage are a perfect science, but I don't like to to be towed in (especially for being out of fuel) so I watch both.



Neither modern Volvos or Mercs should clunk too hard when going into gear. Being a first time boater, you may be easing it into gear. Once you get some time at the helm, you can feel the point where the drive engages in both forward and reverse. Find that point and go right to it. If you ease it in to gear too softly, you can often hear the teeth grind followed by a clunk when they fully engage. That being said, you may want to ask your dealer to take a quick ride with you to 1) give you some confidence and 2) make sure everything does sound normal.



Yeah, dealing with strong currents and/or winds can trip up the most experienced boaters from time to time. Take your time, don't panic and don't overreact. I find it always easier to approach a dock or landing from downstream where you can be under power the entire time and manipulate your approach with the throttle. I see too many people that try to line their boats up and let the currents bring them in. The problem with that is you can't control the current. Like anything else, practice makes perfect.

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2005 FW Horizon 250
8.1L VP DP

+1 for dealer going for a ride with you. Brand new boat you may have some break-in issues/creaks/bangs, and such. The clunk during the shift may be a high idle. See what you can learn from your dealer or another FW owner with a similar boat.

Good looking rig by the way!

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2001 Horizon 260 - 7.4 Volvo GSI DP

Nice looking Rig. Looks like you had time to get some towing under your belt. Should have dropped her in the river with the sales guy from Don Hyde. It's only a 15 min drive from there

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2001 328 Vista "Nauta Dream 2"
AB Inflatable 10AL "Little Dreamer"
2000 248 Vista
1997 225 Sundowner


Mike

How is it that all of you "northerners" have so much to write about? I am down here in Colorado where we are supposed to have 300+ days of sunshine per year. So far, I put the boat in the water once this year during Mother's Day weekend. Been cold and rainy ever since.

I am hoping that the water is warm enough to ski in by July 4th !?!?!?!?!?

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Scott
2008 Horizon 210 Frenzy Edition
Volvo 5.7L Gi

Thanks to all that responded.

Was on the boat today but wasnt brave enough to take her out for a ride, crazy wind and storm on the way didnt feel right to adventure myself in.

I activated the sirius 6months trial today but couldnt get the damn thing to work. The radio would play games on me. It was stuck on channel 255 and it wouldnt change the channels. Been fighting with it for an hour, reseted the radio 10 times and it wouldnt work.

Ill give the salesman a call tomorow and ask him about all this.
And yes, i was slowly easing it into gear so thats maybe why it clunks, I'll for sure do it quicker next ime and look for any changes.

Also, there was some watter in the bow storage area underneath the seats and the flor wss soaked due to heavy reain. Will this water drain out by itself while running or I have to scoop it out?

Gosh i feel like such a retard for asking all these questions but I guess that comes with the first boat ever, coming from a person who is really perfectonist/picky with his toys.

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2009 FourWinns SL 222
-5.7GI/DP

A Volvo with a cone clutch should not clunk, even my 23 year old OMC Cobra with the dog clutch does not clunk, it would though if the idle was too high. I'd ask them to check that first. I had to get the idle down to 550-600 in the water in gear to get it to shift smoothly but it really shifts great, much better than newer boats I have been on. Shift cable adjustments are very important for any outdrive....so if setting the idle correct does not fix it, then get them to check the cable adjustment.

And about shifting, with a cone clutch it should not matter if you shift it slow, with a dog clutch it def does...

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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 should also mention that the pdi and test ride were done by the dealer earlier last week so I guess they found it normal?

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2009 FourWinns SL 222
-5.7GI/DP

BS not normal.
Either the idle is too high, cable is sticky, not adjusted right, or the control is stiff/defective. Tell em my 23 year old Cobra shifts with 2 fingers and no clunk, the whole technological advantage of Volvo's patented cone clutch is smooth shifting, and no ignition interrupt like Cobras and Alphas to shift to neutral. For what new boats cost, it should be perfect. Nothing less.

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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