www.iFourWinns.com

HI everyone, as some of you know i got the boat this morning and brought it back form the original location to my marina (about 70 miles) and it ran great! Doing about 20-24 mph cruising speed and the RPM was running about 3K, ran really well.

1. When I got it back to the dock, i hooked up the shore power as well as the water. I ran the water through the system for some time with the galley, head and cockpit faucets open to clean out the system. It has been sitting for about a year now and it smelled really bad running the water. After about 5 minutes i shut off all the faucets and kept the water going into the boat with the fresh water pump off. Once I unhooked the hose I wanted to test the fresh water pump to see how it is working and I can hear it, but I get no water through the faucets. I get some hot water, but no cold water at all. Once I hook the hose back up, it starts to work fine. Any suggestions? I cant seem to locate if I filed my freshwater tank right?

2. The head really smells bad. I put in the required chemicals, but it really smells bad. I am wondering if i need to get it drained? It also seems to flush, but I dont get that vacuum flush sound, it just goes down with no suction and I do have the breaker turned on. Am i doing something wrong? Do I hit the vacu flush switch in the head and not use the foot pedestal?

3. Since the boat has been sitting for a year, we did a sea trial a couple weeks ago, started right up, genset started right up and no problems. I wanted to test the genset before tomorrow when i take the family out and I cant get it to start. It cranks, but it seems like perhaps I have bad fuel filter? Fuel lines clogged? The boat did have about 40 gallons of gas from last year and this morning I put in about 160 gallons of fresh gas, wondering if it is clogged? When i hit the start button in the panel, you can see water come out the side briefly, but it doesnt crank over. Any suggestions?

Ok, that is the only questions for now. Everything else is working great, had a great trip this morning, the wind and the current were a little rough today, but I managed to get in the slip with a little practice, but for the most part, I think I will be fine docking it. The other 3 issues are bothering me, need some suggestions.

Thanks!
Chris

_________________
2002 348 Vista

Ok, after reading the manual once again, I think I figured the water supply problem. I was thinking this whole time when I have the water hooked up the the back of the boat, it is automatically filling the fresh water tank up. I guess there is a freshwater fill on the starboard deck area that has to be filled. Maybe I used all my fresh water and when i turn off the hose, it doesnt work. I need to fill the fresh water through the deck fill, thought it filled through the supply when i hooked the hose to the boat for water. Maybe this is the problem I am having with the toilet? No fresh water, so it isnt vacuum flushing?

_________________
2002 348 Vista

Yes, the shore water fitting only supplies water as a source, not as a fill mechanism. I actually modified my plumbing system to allow filling through it, but that's a bit complicated. For you, yes, you fill the water tank from the fitting up on the bow. When you have the shore water hooked up you should turn off the fresh water pump at the breaker panel.

BE CAREFUL WITH THE HOT WATER HEATER! DO NOT RUN IT EMPTY! It will almost immediately burn out the heating element. Which can be replaced, but it's a hassle to get to it.

Obviously the toilet won't work without water. Given how long yours was sitting I wouldn't make any bets on what shape the parts are in. There are a number of rubber seals. And like anything rubber they eventually have to be replaced.

A common technique for dealing with the waste tank is to dump a bag of ice into it, along with some Dawn dishwashing soap (half-cup?). Then take it out for a run to allow the ice to agitate inside the waste tank and break loose anything that's clumped up in there. The ice will eventually melt to water and can be pumped out as usual. Expect to have to flush the tank several times (but only do the soap once). Have fun tying up the pump out dock for the afternoon!

Update: it has been suggested to me that ice cubes going through the duckbill valves of the toilet might not be a good idea. So it might be better to try just detergent alone.

Once you have the tank flushed to relatively clean water you should use a tank treatment that uses bacteria. And USE the toilet. The bacteria depend on waste solids to do their work. If you're just using it for '#1' then the bacteria won't have anything to feed upon. Do not use any treatments with formaldehyde. If you do you'll have to flush the tank several times again as formaldehyde kills the bacteria (not to mention it's heinously bad for the environment).

In another thread there's been some advice about putting vegetable oil into the toilet to help 'lubricate' the various rubber bits. Seems like a decent idea and worth being part of regular maintenance. But you'll need to get your system cleaned out first.

There's a lot to a vacuflush system but it's relatively simple to troubleshoot. Once you have running water AND you've pumped out the tank let us know what is or isn't working.

_________________
-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

As for the generator, when you say it won't crank, do you mean it won't turn over? Crank means spin itself with the starter. Turn over means it actually fires up and starts running. It's one thing to have an engine that won't crank (that's usually electrical or a bad starter). But if it cranks and doesn't turn over then the first thing to check is the fuel supply. If you haven't already then replace the filters. How about the oil? Is it fresh (and filled)? If not then change it, along with it's filter. And the spark plugs. You want to be starting with a blank slate of known materials.

Same thing can be said for the engine oil and filters, and the transmissions. If you're not POSITIVE they were changed recently then get them changed. Likewise the engine fuel filters.

_________________
-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Bill- Thanks and I will do that this morning. I will be on the boat today and check some other things that I read about in the manual. Regarding the generator, the oil has been changed along with the fuel filters before I picked up the boat. It doesnt crank over (you can hear it trying but it doesnt turn over). I am thinking the fuel filter or fuel line clogged. The gas in there his over a year old and even though i put new gas in there, it might be clogged from the old gas. Like I said it cranked over when we did the survey, but when we did the survey, it was old gas and then the filter was changed and perhaps there is still some gunk in there that got into the new filter. I will just pick up a new filter and see if that works.

Thanks for the help!

_________________
2002 348 Vista

Are you trying to start the generator from the switch inside the cabin or from the switch that is on the generator itself? If the latter, try from the switch inside the cabin because sometimes my gen won't start from the outside switch for some reason.

_________________

Current Boat: 2000 Four Winns 298 Vista
Previous Boat: 2000 Carver 406MY

I was trying from the switch on the electrical panel inside the cabin. I didn't know there was a switch at the generator. I would have to pull the floor up to start it. Not a big deal, but would that make a big difference and where would it be?

_________________
2002 348 Vista

It is the white button (not the switch) on the right that says stop/start.

_________________

Current Boat: 2000 Four Winns 298 Vista
Previous Boat: 2000 Carver 406MY

Regarding the flush switch - depress it, wait for pump to cycle, use the head and flush using handle. Pump will recycle and if you're lucky, will stop. If it cycles again and again, then you have a leak somewhere in the system. Several of us have leaks so we shut off the flush switch after using the head.

_________________
2006 348 Vista
"some days you're the bug and some days you're the windshield"

I tried the vegeatable oil trick and so far it has stopped my leaks and system has cycled off every time.

_________________

Current Boat: 2000 Four Winns 298 Vista
Previous Boat: 2000 Carver 406MY

Hi guys,
I was out in the boat for the day and things were much better. I didnt get the generator started, but I will look at it when i have more time and when the family is not around. The fresh water pumped seemed to work better today after i filled the fresh water tank, i think yesterday it just didnt have any water in it. When I did fill it, i ran the weater in the galley, the bathroom and the cockpit sink and it seemed to work fine as well as the toilet. On thing is that I dont have that much pressure after about 20 seconds. When i turn any water on, it goes well for a 20 seconds and then it seems to trickle. I can hear the pump turn on and when it does and goes back off the same thing happens, good pressure and then it seems to fade.

Docking the boat was another issue. Bad current and had one hell of a time getting that in my slip. I am trying to not let it get to me and even after tryng for about what seemed 30 minutes and after bumping about 5 boats, but everyone seemed to be ok with me as they say aot of boats have problems with the current. It will just take some practice.

_________________
2002 348 Vista

Had a tough departure this afternoon, but at least avoided hitting anything. Winds picked up hard out of the south and had us pushed hard against a seawall at a local restaurant (Kentmorr). Used my bow line trick. Kept it tied firm while I pivoted the stern out hard enough to push free of the wall. Then managed to use some *deep* bursts of throttle to pivot around in the channel between two rock jetties. It was a bit tense for a minute or two, but thankfully I got out unscathed.

When we got back to the marina it started getting squirrelly on me coming down the fairway, crabbing over a bit too close to boats on the port side. I had to get some reverse going while swinging the bow back out to starboard. Which meant a lot of starboard reverse with just a bit of port reverse. This pulled me back into a position where I had enough room to maneuver better. The first temptation by some folks might be to try and power forward and turn out of the problem. But by the time you notice it going wrong it's likely too late to be able to get the boat to swing out of the the way. Unlike a road vehicle where the wheels up front control the turn, a boat turns somewhere in the middle, which means when you turn, the stern kicks out quite a bit. So in my case it was better to just pull back and get the turn redone where I had more room to pivot.

So even when you've had plenty of time at the wheel you can still face challenges.

Remember what I said about learning to predict the boat's motion. Feel how it's moving and try to be a step or two ahead of it. Make your maneuvering changes BEFORE the boat gets past the point of control for it. Better to have it take longer to complete if it means avoiding hitting anything.

_________________
-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

I'd wonder how well the pump is going after being run empty for a while. Most pumps have the ability to have their 'wet end' rebuilt. Which is usually just a new impeller and maybe a gasket and/or o-rings. Lots cheaper than a whole new pump.

In the '05 and later 348 series the pump is up under the forward berth. Access is by removing the face panel of the drawer under the berth itself. I've posted on how to do this in other threads (with how to do just about anything else to a 348 too).

_________________
-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

"On thing is that I dont have that much pressure after about 20 seconds. When i turn any water on, it goes well for a 20 seconds and then it seems to trickle"


It sounds like the water filter needs to be cleaned!! It is just before the pump.

I have been out all weekend, just got in about 8pm Sunday. The weather at the Boston Islands has been great, except Saturday morning, a little windy.Were is your slip?

I would go over the boat with Jack and more so with John. I am not sure what the warranty is, but I would make any problems known to them ASAP.

Sage advice. I've been behind the wheel of our 258 for 3 seasons now and I'm just now catching on to what Bill has learned over a much longer stint at the helm. Patience, instinct, and practice go a looooong way.

_________________
2006 Vista 258
2007 Yukon Denali