My 84 4winns horizon 195 project.

Pmt133

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 6, 2022
Messages
486
Yeah, so yesterday I didn't do anything. :ROFLMAO:

I did have to grind the engine mounts slightly to get them to land on the blocks but I knew that was coming. Otherwise everything seems good to go.
 

TripleJGraffis

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jan 18, 2024
Messages
397
Hey bud! Try downloading dropbox! I just started yesterday. Seems to be an excellent secondary tool that allows us to still be able to show off our pics as we work! You can create a file for your boat project and you can even create files within those files if you want to break the pics up unto separate chunks...For example, I have one main boat project folder. Inside that I will be creating a new folder for every day that I work on the boat and add my pics and videos to those individual folders. I then just easily create a link and add the link here. Everyone can see the contents of that individual folder, but not the entire main folder or any other folders for that matter. I know we're all dying to start seeing pics again!
 

Pmt133

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 6, 2022
Messages
486
Hey bud! Try downloading dropbox! I just started yesterday. Seems to be an excellent secondary tool that allows us to still be able to show off our pics as we work! You can create a file for your boat project and you can even create files within those files if you want to break the pics up unto separate chunks...For example, I have one main boat project folder. Inside that I will be creating a new folder for every day that I work on the boat and add my pics and videos to those individual folders. I then just easily create a link and add the link here. Everyone can see the contents of that individual folder, but not the entire main folder or any other folders for that matter. I know we're all dying to start seeing pics again!
I made a drive link!
 

Lou C

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Nov 10, 2002
Messages
12,429
Saw your pix great great job love to see an older F/W saved & restored! 4.3 V6 looks great too. Still running my old one original short block from 1988 which got reman heads & new exhaust 7 years ago…who knows how much longer she’ll go?!
 

Pmt133

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 6, 2022
Messages
486
Most of the carpet went in yesterday. I am hoping today that... well, it's done. The cabin interior is a winter project. That is storage most of the time anyway. I am swinging to nights this weekend so I have some extra time to work on it.
 

Pmt133

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 6, 2022
Messages
486
So I'm reaching the "I'm being to anal about things" stage. I built a removable bracket for the bilge pumps, cleaned up a lot of the original electrical system and wiring and installed the fuel system. My vent hose is about a foot short which sucks.

I got really anal on the tank bonding so correct me if I'm wrong here... but it seems per USCG reg, and per how I was taught bonding... my setup runs as so:
Fill neck chased with a green wire. Bonded to bonding point on tank. Fuel sender ground bonded to bonding point on tank. Ground that runs directly to main grounding bus bonded to same point on tank. Meaning all grounds have to return through one feed but not a loop where if one breaks it cuts everything (except the main bus run).

The bad, I broke a pin off my transducer end. I hope I can just get a new end as I'd rather not pull it but we all know how that goes...

I have some finish work to do before the upholstery goes in but right this minute, we look good. I'm honestly falling in love with this boat all over again as she never looked like this in the nearly 30 years we've had her.
 

Pmt133

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 6, 2022
Messages
486
So the boat is mostly rigged. I've been down at the fire academy so I haven't really done much today or tomorrow or Thursday. But I'm slated to take the maiden voyage Friday hopefully. I'm getting excited. I want to check the fuel tank for leaks once full but honestly... I don't think it's needed.
 

Pmt133

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 6, 2022
Messages
486
This post is to cover the last 2 weeks or re-rigging as well as the float test...
20240830_145142.jpg20240830_154529.jpg20240830_165500.jpg20240901_105439.jpg20240901_105446.jpg20240904_132346.jpg20240904_195348.jpg20240904_200513.jpg20240905_201259.jpg20240905_202934.jpg20240905_210557.jpg
 

Pmt133

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 6, 2022
Messages
486
Which leads me to Friday and Saturday.... Friday I began installing the interior. I just ripped through cleaning everything and didn't take any pictures of that process. Here is more or less what was done sans the engine box and back hatch.
20240914_125439.jpg
And yes, I know what you're thinking.... "that looks seaworthy!" Well just be patient here.

So I gave her a bath and discovered my windshield leaks. (knew that kind of) But what I didn't know was the side glass also leaks.... So That needs to be addressed but the trailer cover covers that. For now, I won't worry about it as getting the screw cover track seems to be impossible. Winter project I planned on doing anyway.

Fun fact, the covers on the seat box, those vinyl squares are the original 40 year old 4 winns pieces. The side panels are 22 years old and the engine box and seats are 10 years old.

Next step was stop at the gas station. Tank holds a respectable 37 gallons of fuel. Compared to the 22 it used to, this is great! Got home primed the fuel system and it didn't start.... Finally after about half an hour troubleshooting, I figured out the anti-siphon valve was causing some issues. Now per regulation, all my plumbing is above the tank so I really don't need the valve. And for now it is removed. Engine primed right up after that so I will address later this week on that. But test run sounded good, no leaks... So now for the next part...
 
Last edited:

Pmt133

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 6, 2022
Messages
486
The shake down run.... Well, I don't know what to say about this other than I got in a full 3 hour run. Covered a distance of 40 miles. Zero, and I mean zero issues other than 1 noise which it made prior to the rebuild. A single loud thud that seems to be the engine but I am unsure. So that needs further investigation still after over a year. (This 4.3 is killing me)

Anyway, some photos from the outing. (yes the interior stills needs a cleaning. But I wanted the shakedown done.)
20240914_181529.jpg20240914_183918.jpg20240914_184941.jpg20240914_185236.jpg20240914_185840.jpg20240914_192802.jpg20240914_192809.jpg
 

Pmt133

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 6, 2022
Messages
486
The final line? 68 working days to launch and 33 gallons of resin. 5 sheets of half inch ply, 4 3/4. 35 yards of 1708, 15 yards of CSM. 13 gallons of foam, 30 lbs of milled fibers, 12 lbs of cabosil. A lot of elbow grease and a smile that can't be contained. :LOL: I haven't finished the cost calculation yet but let's call it 14k dollars. More if you needed to reupholster... I also factored in tools. Normally I don't but figure the average guy may need to buy some of the stuff that in my case, just wore out.
 

Lou C

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Nov 10, 2002
Messages
12,429
Wow what a great job and so glad the pix are working again so we can see the finished product. About the noise I wonder if it’s the exhaust flappers; when I changed my exhaust from the one piece batwings to the 2 piece conventional exhaust the flappers did make a bit more noise at times which sounded like an engine knock just about drove me nuts. Finally found it with a mechanics stethoscope on the Y pipe…
 
Top