hi all
can anyone give me info on a four winns h180 , I'm thinking of buying one and just said I would ask the forum for feed back
thanks all

Point noted
cheers

They are a sassy looking boat OptumSteve. I can just see myself zooming around in one with half a dozen bikini clad beach babes on board but take Toph's advice. They are not a boat for the big blue briney.

I had a Searay 180br built by Raeline in NZ, Raeline still make it today as a Raeline 180. For the type of boat it was I was impressed with its ability to handle the chop without heavy thumping for a rather beamy boat. With 4 people on board we could hammer it from Middle harbour to the fish markets on a 23-25knt cruise speed in relative comfort, ie it didn't feel like my spine was going to rip out my arse. I used to look after a Four Winns 25ft at a marina for a bloke it had a 7.4l v8 HO mercruiser with through hull exhausts, sounded great! I also used to look after a 18ft approx Stejcraft bowrider.

My take was as follows:
NZ Built Searay (raeline) - Nice pratical boat and would make a great boat for a family, build quality looked to be better than others incl the USA built searays 185br etc and hull ride and handling was really good for that type of boat, I drove a 3.0 and 4.3 version both had more than enough power but the 4.3 is like a rocket ship when it gets going. However you would want to keep it out of the weather and dry at home too much plywood, staples, and vinyl etc. If I wanted to get another one of these types of boats it would be one of these every day of the week.

Four Winns - Defiantly felt like it was more suited to the great lakes, stainless was crap quality and always spotted / rust stains, gelcoat was crap and faded easily, pretty much the same too much staples and plywood for my liking, handled okay but felt like it had a really flat bottom and always thumped really hard in the chop. Overall the Searays just feel like a more refined product.

Stej-craft (Australian) - Absolute disgrace, dash fell out just stainless nuts no nylock no locking or washer, handled like crap, upholstery was crap at only 2 years old, wiring looked like a birds nest. Just a really poor build quality and QA e.g. water leaking one day? Bilge pump thru hull pipe had come off it was just stuck on with no clamp or anything, steering stopped working, wasn't assembled properly and the cable just slid right out of the actuator.


They are all mass produced products built to tick the boxes at the lowest price and you can tell if you look closely. They are the type of boat that look great at a boat show and people with no experience buy them then and there.

However I would say Sea ray seemed to pick up there game in the last 10 years and they are the only ones I would trust/buy. If I was buying one now I would go for the Rae-line 180 take one for a drive you wont be disappointed and at least has had some obvious thought put into it regarding our environment and saltwater use.

Also apologies for my post. .. its mostly cause i know theres a person who poses as multiple people on here for their own amusement and as the sb crew are all so helpful they can get taken advantage of...