ADVICE WANTED: USED FOUR WINNS
Stephan Baker
I am looking at a 1989 Four Winns 235 Sundowner with a 5.7 engine
and and OMC (Cobra?) outdrive. Does anyone have an opinion on the
quality of this line of boats at the time of manufacture? How do the
engine/outdrive rate?
David James Miller
It has seen a lot of use. It's an OB, so I can't comment on the engine
and outdrive.
Dave
--
David James Miller Search Engine Development
LEXIS-NEXIS, B5F4 (513) 865-7441
PO Box 933 dav...@lexis-nexis.com
Dayton Ohio 45401 I speak for me, not LEXIS-NEXIS
g. mellen
>
> I am looking at a 1989 Four Winns 235 Sundowner with a 5.7 engine
>and and OMC (Cobra?) outdrive. Does anyone have an opinion on the
>quality of this line of boats at the time of manufacture? How do the
>engine/outdrive rate?
Nice boat. Four Winns are very well built, nicely fitted out, and sturdy
boats. I believe 89 is the 1st year under the new ownership, but have
never heard of any major complaints, even under Brunswick ownership. It
is of better quality than many boats of it's price range.
I have a '87 Four Winns Liberator with the Mercruiser outdrive, and I've
had very little problems related to building materials, fittings, etc.
The only replacements since Sept '86 has been the sun platform and back
seat bottom due to wood rot. You might want to probe the wood in these
two areas, and also under the front seats to check for rot. The boat is
about due for some wood rot in outside areas, and it gets expensive. But
this problem will apply to all other boat brands as well.
One item to check out: My 21' Liberator has always had a problem with
leakage under the windshield. The dealer "fixed" it twice, and it still
leaks. If you plan on overnighting, this may or may not be a concern. I
keep mine sealed with silicon to minimize leaks.
Another item that you might want to know: The Four Winns hull is very
stable, and handles rough water and waves better than most. It also has
one of the smoothest rides in a chop. But there is a small price to pay.
The boat's top speed will be slightly lower than other similarly
sized/powered competitors. ( Don't buy it for racing :-> )
I prefer Mercruiser drives over OMC /the 5.7 engine is a good one
(especially if has the magnum with 4 bolt main).
If the price is right, you should be satisfied with the general product.
Glenn Mellen
Southlake, Texas
Richard E. Aubin
: Another item that you might want to know: The Four Winns hull is very
: one of the smoothest rides in a chop. But there is a small price to pay.
: The boat's top speed will be slightly lower than other similarly
: sized/powered competitors. ( Don't buy it for racing :-> )
Well, I can add a little bit of experience from this past weekend to the
hull sturdiness. I have a '96 Four Winns 238 Vista that grounded _very
hard_ this weekend. (An extremely unpleasant experience, I'll save the
details for a later post on where to get my boat repaired) People who
looked at the boat (after the crane lifted it out) were quite surprised
at how well the hull stood up to the hits that it took (it kinda skipped
along some large rocks/concrete) and that the damage wasn't much worse.
Fortunately no one was injured. I was extremely impressed with the hull
- may well have saved our lives.
Rich
--
---
Richard E. Aubin - rau...@netcom.com
Dallas, Texas
Help Name My Boat - www.scoopman.com/boat.html
"I often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon
constitutions, upon laws and upon courts. These are false hopes; believe
me, these are false hopes. Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women;
when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it . . ."
- Learned Hand
g. mellen
>g. mellen (anch...@gte.net) wrote:
>: Another item that you might want to know: The Four Winns hull is very
>: stable, and handles rough water and waves better than most. It also has
>: one of the smoothest rides in a chop. But there is a small price to pay.
>: The boat's top speed will be slightly lower than other similarly
>: sized/powered competitors. ( Don't buy it for racing :-> )
>
>Well, I can add a little bit of experience from this past weekend to the
>hull sturdiness. I have a '96 Four Winns 238 Vista that grounded _very
>hard_ this weekend. (An extremely unpleasant experience, I'll save the
>details for a later post on where to get my boat repaired) People who
>looked at the boat (after the crane lifted it out) were quite surprised
>at how well the hull stood up to the hits that it took (it kinda skipped
>along some large rocks/concrete) and that the damage wasn't much worse.
>Fortunately no one was injured. I was extremely impressed with the hull
>- may well have saved our lives.
>
>Rich
Sounds like the sunken bridge in Lake Ray Hubbard.
My Four Winns Liberator went over a semi-floating log in Texoma a few
years ago (after one of the floods) doing 50 mph. Gave us quite a jolt,
ruined a prop, and put a slight crease on the hull bottom, but no major
damage. Had this happened in my previous boat (a Winner), she surely
would've sunk.
Good luck on the repairs.
Glenn
Southlake, Texas
L Slayter
were shopping Jan-Feb for first boat. After much looking, reading
(especially this newsgroup), and talking to folks in and out of the
business, we bought a Horizon 200 a couple of months ago.
Lake Tyler is a little low and the weather a little cool, so we've only
had it out a few times. We absolutely love it! You're right about the
smooth ride in chop and it handles like a dream. You're also right about
its speed (had it to about 58 max), but we bought it to pull skiers, not
race. So far so good, but time will tell all. We think we spent our
$20k wisely. Thanks for your previous posts. It helped us make our
decision!
-
L SLAYTER JLZ...@prodigy.com
acss...@acs.eku.edu
and his wife just after it hapened.
A couple for some reason ran a fairly new Four Winns (don't know the
model or size) completely up on the bank at apparently at a pretty good
rate of speed. It was completely out of the water a considerable
distance up on the bank. The State Water Patrol pulled them off the bank
(it wasn't easy) and towed them home.
They left a lot of gelcoat and fibergalls on that rocky (baseball sized)
beach, but apparetnly didn't "hole it".
Dudley Cornman
Systems Programmer
Academic Computing Services - EKU
ACSS...@ACS.EKU.EDU
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*** When it comes to boats... ***
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