www.iFourWinns.com

So I am pulling the boat out of the water on Monday for inside heated storage and I did this because 1. believe it or not I found a place cheaper than storing it at my marina and 2. I am going to replace the electronics on the boat over the winter. I currently have the Raymarine Radar that was with the boat with a Northstar 600i. It is pretty old and works about 50% of the time. I proceeded to remove all the Electronics off the arch (radar dome, antennae, sea watch tv, sirius antennae, and a garmin antennae that never was hooked up to anything. When I removed the equipment, I found that the arch was in bad shape underneath the electronics. Very moist in there and it looked like their were several "repair" jobs done over the years. When I bought the boat i did notice where the radar arch comes down to the actual boat, there were bubbles where it attaches on both sides and it was noted in the marine survey.
In order to put new electronics on the boat, I decided that I need to get those holes patched up and have the radar arch re-fiberglassed. The guy came out last week and the arch was so bad, he had to replace about 80% of the top of the arch because it was so wet. I made mention to him about the bubbles where the arch meets the boat and he asked me if he could drill a hole in there (he would fix afterwards) to see if there is water in that area. Of course I told him yes and low and behold he got about 6 gallons of water in the arch out. The water must have been sitting in there for some time. I had him just redo the arch over again (2300.00) and dry everything out. The arch looks almost brand new and I am able to install new electronics over the winter without having to worry about the arch not being able to support it. I am glad I did this (not glad I spent that money) and will make sure that the new equipment going on there is sealed up tight. He did mention to me that Four Winns had problems with their arch and it isn't the first time he has seen it, but I can tell you it was really bad.
If any of you think that you might have water in your arch or your electronics on the arch are not sealed very good, get it drained! It will do nothing but cause more damage over the years especially if he boat sits outside during the winter months and freezes and expands.
Of course most of you might have already knew this, but thought I would throw in my thoughts and experience in this.

In case you were wondering I am going with the following electronics.

1. Simrad #G Radar Dome
2. Simrad NSS12 chart plotter (this will be installed in the helm surface mounted where the plastic hinged cover is. I feel that area is a waste of space. Way too much space to waste.
3. Simrad NSS8 Chartplotter (mounted where my Northstar Unit was)
4. Simrad Autopilot
5. Simrad Sonic Hub with Sirius Sat Radio
6. KVH 3MDX Satellite TV Dome and receivers
7. Flir M series Thermo camera mounted on arch and connect to both Chartplotters and the cockpit tv for viewing
8. 32" HDTV cockpit tv. Mounted on a Pole behind the cockpit sink with a easy disconnect
9. Simrad AIS receiver and VHF
10. 1000W Transducer (existing one is junk)
11. Underwater LED lights with new led lights in the cockpit area.

I am going to have some fun this winter!

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2002 348 Vista

WOW Now thats an impressive list! I think lots of pictures and updates thru the winter just might help some of us who don't get access to our boats get thu this tuff time in our lives

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Our Boating Blog: http://ben-dana.blogspot.com/

2005 268 Vista "Sea Pickle II"
1979 AMF Alcort Puffer
Previous:
2003 FW190 Horizon
1973 Startcraft 18ft "Sea Pickle"

Bliss- I plan on taking before and after pics and will give you all updates on how things are going. Looking forward to doing this and I think it is going to be a lot of fun. Will keep you updated!

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2002 348 Vista

I put a AIS receiver in my boat. I have a love hate relationship with it. I just want to keep track of the high speed ferries in Boston Harbor. To find out, not all of tham have AIS, but at least I know were the bigger boats are.

Simrad is all HIGH end stuff!!! Big bucks!!! I wish I could afford it!! This winter I am going to try to add radar, but its been a big debate for me. Do I really need it?? Were I have seen it come in real handy is, you can see the rain and will gave you range & distance.

Simrad is cheaper than the Raymarine that I was originally going to go with. I was looking at the Raymarine 140E series and i originally liked it, but the Simrad is a little less expensive and it is more user friendly. They have a new radar Dome out that is 3g. I got it for about 1300.00. Not a bad price for the clarity it gives you. The AIS is something I want for the same reason. Crazy in the harbor.

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2002 348 Vista

Paul, sent you a PM

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2002 348 Vista

WOW...sorry to hear, but will be worth the efforts in the long run. Some people shouldn't own boats!

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-Tony
2016 Robalo R200 w/Yahama 200!

Previous boats:
2003 Four Winns 248 Vista - sold
1994 Sunbird Corsair 200 - sold
1980 Checkmate Predictor - sold

As promised, here is some of the work finished that I did. Almost done with everything.

[IMG]


More to come...............

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2002 348 Vista

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2002 348 Vista

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2002 348 Vista

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2002 348 Vista

Wow you didn't say anything about adding a flybridge Looks great

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Our Boating Blog: http://ben-dana.blogspot.com/

2005 268 Vista "Sea Pickle II"
1979 AMF Alcort Puffer
Previous:
2003 FW190 Horizon
1973 Startcraft 18ft "Sea Pickle"

I was like holy crap you put a flybridge on......then I looked a little harder. That pic is good photo shop wouldn't even be that good

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


Mike

Did you change the kitchen sink drain so it goes overboard instead of sump pump? That change has worked awesome for us.

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2006 348 Vista
"Cruisin Home"
Hampton NH

That looks great!! I try not to get to crazy, but I pulled out the my Lowrence fish finder and installed a Gramin 541S with NMEA 2k. I have a Garmin 740, so I am going to display on the 541s fuel data also. Rather than installing Garmin's gauges (GMI-10), the new GPSs will display, fuel, heading, speed type info. I just don't have the room on the helm to have your setup!!

But the radar is going in next week. The 740 will handle the radar, ais, & gps info. The 541 will do sonar & fuel. I just wish I had the display sizes that you have!! On a 26' boat, my wife says it won't look right.