www.iFourWinns.com

Jafo4U- I was in the Keys all week of mini season. The winds were up every day. We stuck to the Gulf side for lobstering. It was packed, but we did pretty good.

The winds laid down Tuesday afternoon ( day before mini) and we ran about 7 miles offshore to Looe Key to check out the reef in the Atlantic. We checked it out for about 30 minutes. We saw a storm coming and ran back, but I know how rough it was getting.

I increased my bilge pump to the max size my outlet hose could handle (went from 500 to 800) and I added a float. I cannot believe the factory did not install a float. At some point, I am going to increase the hose so I can increase the bilge pump output.

Going to a higher capacity bilge might require a larger exit hose. Also, adding extra pumps in the ski locker are going to require cutting a hole in your hull. I like the idea, but I see it getting broken with the movement of the gear in the locker.

Check your starter. Salt water damages them quickly, but will sometimes start a few times after getting wet and then fail. And as others said, get Seatow or TowUS with unlimited distance, not the $50 off with a membership.

Glad you are ok.

FWC was out, but when scouting on Monday and Tuesday I found tons of poached bugs. Sucks that they didn't patrol those days as much.

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2010 Sea Hunt Triton 220 "Big Whiskey"
2003 FW Freedom 180 Volvo Penta 4.3GL/SX-M "It'll Do Four Now" (Sold)
2012 Avalanche LTZ 4X4

Advice from a friend is no substitute for courses designed to cover a full range of topics. Take the class.

No amount of bilge pumps will overcome waves coming over the bow and swamping a boat not intended for much more than calm lake waters. It's not an ocean-going vessel. Pumps will not save you. Taking it out in conditions it's not designed to handle is just a bad idea all around.

You got away with it once, pushing your luck does not seem like a terribly good idea.....

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

right on there, more than 1-2 and I stay home....and I don't trust the forecast to always be right...I go on a website maintained by the Univ of Conn and they have 5 weather buoys monitoring the wind and waves across LI Sound, that tells me more than the forecast....
it wouldn't take much to fill up that bilge and there you go...
When people want to know, what's the big deal about a boat like a Boston Whaler, well that's the big deal....made for rough conditions....

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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

Once you have done the safety course there not harm in reading through the book periodically, just to keep your knowledge up with what you learnt on the day. I read mine quite often especially if I think of something or see something I have forgotten. I only have the H200 but have been in some rollers on Lake Erie heading back to Niagara River but only about 4 footers the most and only for a short while, but it's still hair raising. it only takes a minute if you hit a wave wrong.

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Definitely true I am definitely staying on the bay side and only when the conditions are nice, I really just wanted the boat to go to Elliott Key or Bocachita if it turns out I purchased the wrong boat for the job I will have to sell her and get something more acclimated to the job at hand. And considering weather in South Florida you can have nice conditions one minute and a water spout and thunderboomer the next. I was thinking the same with the bilge in the ski locker but I am talking to a marine mechanic and he told me it has been done before. The waves that hit my boat while in the no wake area were way less than 4 footers it was my fault for not giving it throttle and getting some bow rise which would have probably prevented the whole situation but I was respecting the no wake rule. I just found out about self bailing decks and I suppose for ocean going vessels that should be a must. I wanted a fast bowrider and I think I made the right choice to take trips out to the sandbar. I have signed up for the course and I am getting the OUPV Six pack license since it doesn't cost too much and it's a great course given close to my home. Lou and Cab thanks for the advice and you both are correct it takes less than a minute for things to go really bad, been there done that and I hope to never be in such a situation ever again.

I am definitely worried about the starter actually since I went to the marina yesterday and when I tried to fire her up all I heard was a click but I haven't checked the batteries yet that will be this weekend. Wish me luck

Even without taking water over the bow, starters don't last that long in salt water I/Os...I had a small drip of water from the starboard side exhaust manifold drain, right onto the starter solenoid, that rusted up the terminals on the solenoid into one big rusted mess. Replaced the solenoid and it works fine. I have 2 starters, I keep a spare in the garage. If I take out the rear seat and battery on that side I can swap one out in about 15 min....Keep in mind they must be marine starters, not auto starters. You can also have your old one rebuilt, if need be. It is probably cheaper than a new one, but a new Sierra starter was only about $170 locally.

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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 had my starter solenoid mess up once. The start it with a screwdriver technique is a life saver

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1981 Columbia 8.7
2015 Yamaha FZR - 87mph - sold
2006 Yamaha GP1300R - sold
2003 Chaparral 215 SSI - sold
2009 Stingray 195CS - sold
2000 Four Winns H180 - sold
1976 O'day Daysailer II - sold
Rick's Four Winns H180 Mods/Upgrade Thread

Any time my starter has gotten wet with salt water, it has eventually failed. You get the ole click when you try to start. If you replace it, get the old one rebuilt. Someone posted on here that they can be rebuilt and at $250 a starter, worth doing and having a backup.

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2010 Sea Hunt Triton 220 "Big Whiskey"
2003 FW Freedom 180 Volvo Penta 4.3GL/SX-M "It'll Do Four Now" (Sold)
2012 Avalanche LTZ 4X4

Jafo4u

You are very lucky. I boat out of Blackpoint and occasionally go to Key Largo. You can almost never trust the wave height predictions in this area. I have been traveling along in relatively light winds in 1-2 footers and all of a sudden out of nowhere facing 2-4 footers for a few miles and then it suddenly lays down.

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07 Tiara Sovran 4300
07 338 Vista - SOLD

[quote="BarryBoats"]Jafo4u

You are very lucky. I boat out of Blackpoint and occasionally go to Key Largo. You can almost never trust the wave height predictions in this area. I have been traveling along in relatively light winds in 1-2 footers and all of a sudden out of nowhere facing 2-4 footers for a few miles and then it suddenly lays down.[/quote

Sure we can boat 12 months out of the year but the conditions are unpredictable in South Florida. I have only gone as far as the rusty pelican and elliott key and passing the rickenbacker bridge this idiot in a 30 plus footer was not caring about his wake going through the bridge so I had to hammer the throttle to avoid getting swamped. I made it to the rusty pelican just fine but when I was going to get off to have a mojito I heard a crackle of thunder since it was 2 in the afternoon prime thunderboomer time. So I opted to stay on the boat and have a dr pepper and get my boat back to black point which I did with no problem other than almost running up on a sandbar that came out of nowhere. My speedo is not working now so I will have to figure out how to get that working again.

Thanks for all the advice from all the experienced boaters. I really appreciate it.