2006 Four Winns 180 Horizon: Boatlopnik Oppo review

"WhiskeyGolf" (whiskeygolf) 06/16/2015 at 20:00 • Filed to: boatlopnik, oppo reviews, watercraft

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Recently there were a few other non-auto Oppo reviews, so I decided to collect my photos and share a review of a product I’m rather enthusiastic about: the 2006 Four Winns 180 Horizon. There’s no question I enjoy driving four wheels, but when the weekend comes, there’s no other place I’d rather be.

Let me show you around.

Disclaimer: Four Winns wanted my family to drive a boat so badly in 2006 that they heavily discounted it at the boat show and made the Canadian dollar close to even. Thanks, guys!

Four Winns is a recreational boat manufacturer based in Cadillac, Michigan. They make a range of models from the 18’ 180 Horizon bowrider to the king-of-the-seas H440, a 44’ monolith that sleeps you and your entire extended family. Their trademark is handsomely styled boats with classic lines, extra standard features and value pricing.

Exterior

I realized I don’t have any proper photos of the boat in the water, probably because most of the time I’m actually in it. But the internet has photos, and believe me when I say it’s a classy shape. This particular generation of Horizon has a smoother outline than the current models and I always take a glance back at the dock when I leave. The fiberglass hull is primarily white, with a solid colour tape stripe around the rub rail. Optional graphics were something we didn’t spec.

Canvas options are plenty, and we typically store the boat at the dock with a cockpit cover and secondary mooring cover. It’s more work, but the result is we have a nearly spotless 10 year old boat.

Interior

The 180 Horizon is a bowrider, so the front has space for about 3 people. The boat’s overall length is 17’6” so there’s space for 7 people officially. I like the deep seats. We tried some other brands at the show originally and the shallower seats just didn’t feel as secure.

I’d say this is my view about 95% of the time the boat leaves the dock. The full assortment of gauges includes a depth meter that we optioned and has come in handy many times (although if you’re navigating by depth meter, you’re gonna have a bad time). Switches are for the bilge blower, bilge pump (also automatic), navigation lights and horn.

My 6’4” frame looks directly at the window frame when I sit in the seat, so I leave the seat bolster permanently in position. That means I generally have to wear glasses every time I go out, otherwise I get hit with bugs, Ariel Atom style.

Tunes on the water are provided by a Clarion head unit and 2 marine speakers. We really don’t use the stereo all that much, mostly because when there are multiple people onboard, we prefer talking. You can spec some sick systems on the current models, though.

The stern of the boat comes in two different configurations: standard and SunSport. We have the standard interior, which includes 2 jump seats beside the engine compartment that can be moved down for seats and up for a larger sunpad. It works really well and doesn’t reduce the available interior space like the SunSport bench seat.

Performance

The boat weighs 2300 lbs wet (ha!) and is powered by a Mercruiser 3.0L 4 cyl engine. Mercury Marine sources many of their blocks from GM so I believe this one is a bored out version of the 2.5L 4. It produces 135 hp and 180 lbs-ft of torque. Boats have a higher torque requirement so that added displacement is needed to keep the boat on plane. That displacement, combined with the single gear transmission, is likely the reason that boats like to drink the dino juice a little more liberally. WOT comes at about 5000 RPM and that pushes the boat to 42 mph. I’ve tried just about everything to get the boat going faster and it always ends up at 42.

This inboard-outboard unit is the smallest displacement engine generally used in marine applications. It’s very well matched to this boat. We’ve never really been wanting for power, despite having up to 5 or 6 people on board when skiing or tubing. Four Winns’ hull design means we consistently get up on plane in about 3 seconds and it turns beautifully. When the lake is calm, it’s such a blast to build a slalom course.

The current generation of 180 Horizon models can be built with up to a 4.5L 6cyl engine producing 250 hp. Now that’s a rocket ship!

Portability

My family tows the boat with a V6 Mazda Tribute. At about 3100 lbs with trailer, we’re basically at the top level of what might be considered safe for the car’s 3500 lbs limit but considering we generally transport it from the lake to the dealer twice a year, it works well. That brings up the other point in that we’re basically paying a trailer fuel economy price all the time. How do those guys with V8 pickups do it!

Any larger boat and we’d need a bigger car so that’s another reason why this boat fits our requirements very well.

Operating Costs

One of the main things I wanted to explain with the review is how operating costs shake down. The saying “it’s better to know a friend with a boat than to own one yourself” comes to mind, but really it’s not all that much different than a motorcycle or even a luxury car. The problem we have in Ontario is that the season is only about 4 months long, both for time and climate reasons, so whatever you spend to keep it running keeps the hourly cost high.

The single largest fixed operating cost is storage and winterization. For an 18’ boat like this, along with seasonal insurance, that cost is about $2000. Like owning any car, this goes up or down depending on your situation. My family’s situation is such that the most effective solution is to have our dealer prep, store and maintain the boat at the end of the season. The upside is that we can just get in and go in the spring and we’ve never had mechanical issues (touch fiberglass). There are lots of ways to save money here, though, because if you’re comfortable changing fluids and plugs and putting in some elbow grease to clean in the fall, you only have the cost of parts. Plus if you’re able to store it safely in a garage or something, there’s no need for shrink wrapping.

The secondary cost involved is fuel and that’s generally the smallest cost, percentage wise. The boat has an 89 L (23 gal) fuel tank that we fill once in the spring while on the trailer, then top it off with 20L cans throughout the summer. In the end we might put 2 full tanks through, so that’s about $250. Naturally if your boat is 26’ long and is powered by 8.3L V8s, that number is significantly larger, along with the storage fees.

Value

Any recreational vehicle would be considered a luxury, so I consider myself very fortunate that I get to enjoy it so often. I love spending a day out on the water and showing people around. Back in 2006 this model was listed at the Toronto boat show for a price of $18,000 CAD. By the time you add options and canvas and taxes, the “off-the-dock” price is about $25k. In those terms, this boat represents great value, and it looks even better against the current models available. The 2015 Four Winns H180 is now a full 18’ long (model bloat!) but starts at $27,000 CAD. Inflation doesn’t account for all of that, and I’m not sure you actually get the difference back in new features or performance.

I won’t compare it to a particular car model, but it offers great performance, high quality materials and stylish design for an industry-relative great price.

All photos from me.

Length overall: 17’6’

Weight: 2300 lbs (3100 lbs with trailer)

Horsepower: 135 hp

Engine: 3.0L 4cyl Mercury Mercruiser inboard/outboard

Seating: 7

Fuel capacity: 89 L

Fuel economy: not really important

Max speed: 42 mph

Experience: the best

zipfuel > WhiskeyGolf 06/16/2015 at 20:27

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I’ve often thought that while I’d like a fun car it would probably lose if weighed against a boat.

That said to make use of a boat you really need a cottage and anything within striking distance of TO is stupid expensive now.

I’m pretty impressed with your gas mileage but I guess a modern 4 stroke will do that when compared to a 2 stroke outboard from the ‘80s...

WhiskeyGolf > zipfuel 06/16/2015 at 21:08

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Yeah, I guess we’re fortunate that we got into the market quite a few years ago (1999-2000) but I think even if my parents decide to sell, I’d keep the boat and use it on the other lakes for day trips and the like.

Funny you should mention the 2 strokes too, because for 7 or 8 years before we used a 15ft 2 stroke that came with the property. It was probably built in the 80s and we were the first to use it for at least 10 years. It died when my dad decided to just park it on the property without winterizing it...

HammerheadFistpunch > WhiskeyGolf 06/16/2015 at 21:53

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These are the best thing to happen to boating since fuel injection.

HammerheadFistpunch > WhiskeyGolf 06/16/2015 at 21:56

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The 3.0 I4 from the merc family is ancient and isn’t remotely related to any modern GM block. Durable suckers though, we had a 26 foot cuddy with twin 3.0’s and aside from some vapor lock issues were indestructible.

WhiskeyGolf > HammerheadFistpunch 06/17/2015 at 00:27

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Yeah you’re right. Ours is carbureted and there was a little vibration during the first season but it seems like every hour we run it, it gets better.

HammerheadFistpunch > WhiskeyGolf 06/17/2015 at 00:29

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BTW, What is the towing MPG with the tribute?

WhiskeyGolf > HammerheadFistpunch 06/17/2015 at 00:39

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I’m going to go with... irrelevant? That’s something we’ve never really measured, but the car is kind of bad even without the trailer. Based on the 60 L tank in the car, I’d guess it’s mid 10s, max. Normal driving is probably only 19-20, so I’m trying to get my parents to pick up a city car like a Fiesta to drive the car less.

4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 > WhiskeyGolf 06/17/2015 at 03:42

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Nice craft and a good review, I’ve never really experienced a Four Winns before. This makes me have a sad though. My old man used to have an 18’ Fletcher bowrider (Arrowhawk, I think) which he sold when all the northern UK lakes imposed speed limits of 10mph or less :(

I heart boats.

WhiskeyGolf > 4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 06/17/2015 at 09:07

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Canada, and Ontario specifically, is blessed with a huge amount of freshwater lakes and rivers available for boating. We have speed limits too, mostly within a reasonable distance from land but most of the wider lakes are pretty open. Hope you get out on the water again soon!

For Sweden > WhiskeyGolf 06/17/2015 at 13:29

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Four Strong Winns that blow lonely?

HammerheadFistpunch > WhiskeyGolf 06/17/2015 at 13:33

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10 mpg? man alive. I guess that answers your question about how v8 guys deal with it, cause pulling a big boat with a V8 nets you way better mileage than that. probably 14-16 depending on the hills. Heck, I get 12 pulling a 3400 popup over hill and dale with the cruiser.

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > HammerheadFistpunch 06/17/2015 at 13:40

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Thats why you buy diesel. 17 towing brother in laws 4000+ lbs boat

HammerheadFistpunch > TheD0k_2many toys 2little time 06/17/2015 at 13:42

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yeah, I used to do a lot of filming hauling around 5000+ lbs boats and we would use powerstokes and smaller gas powered V8’s. The powerstrokes were getting high teens and the v8 gas would get 12-13. When you put 10,000 towing miles on a truck each year, it sure adds up.

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > HammerheadFistpunch 06/17/2015 at 13:44

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oh yea love me some powerstrokes

Patrick Frawley > WhiskeyGolf 06/17/2015 at 13:44

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Fuel economy for boats (barring some kind of exotic low-drag hull) is always gonna be sort of blah simply because of the nature of the medium. Pushing something through water takes a serious amount of energy, and that energy requirement goes up geometrically with speed. That’s also why top speed is capped at what car guys would think is a worryingly low number. Moving at speed through water is, literally, a major drag.

CB > WhiskeyGolf 06/17/2015 at 13:57

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Man, our family would have killed for that kind of fuel pricing in our Boston Whaler. Same size, but we have to use the boat to get to the cottage on Georgian Bay, which is about an hour and a half round trip. So we were looking at filling up every weekend, basically.

Nice review! I definitely miss boating. How’s your boat hair?

WhiskeyGolf > CB 06/17/2015 at 14:29

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Ha! I keep my hair short for that very reason, but my dad’s is a little longer and ends up looking like hedge hog Brian Burke haha.

All things considering, I think we’ve struck a good balance between power and fuel costs, but it depends so much on actual use. If I’m hammering all day with skiers and tubing I can go through most of the tank pretty easily but most of time we’re cruising, so it stays pretty reasonable.

CB > WhiskeyGolf 06/17/2015 at 14:40

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Yeah, my dad and I unfortunately end up with the hair all the time. And that’s a hilarious image of your dad.

Very true on what you use it for impacting gas mileage. We have it running at 75% across the bay, so that definitely impacts our fuel economy.

Also, off-topic, but thebigbossyboss, Zippy, and I have been talking about going go-karting sometime in the next few weeks, although I have yet to make an official post. Would you be down?

WhiskeyGolf > CB 06/17/2015 at 15:27

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Hey nice, where are the best karts in the city? We’ve been looking for an office outing and I keep suggesting it. I’m often gone on weekends but if I’m around, I’m definitely in.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > WhiskeyGolf 06/17/2015 at 15:32

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Nice love bow riders. grew up riding in a 18 foot glassmaster from the 80’s my dad now has a 2010 (i believe) Stingray 23 foot “bowrider” I say that in quotes because it’s technically a “deck boat” simply because the nose is snubbed so there’s a front ladder.

I was VERY VERY close to buying a boat (or two jet skis) instead of the Montego but the wife encouraged me to go for the Montego because I wouldn’t have to drive all the way out to her uncles house every time I wanted to use it (he has dock space at a lake about an hour a way I could use) where as I can use the Montego anytime it doesn’t suck outside.

CB > WhiskeyGolf 06/17/2015 at 18:25

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Groovy. We were planning on going on a weeknight, probably a Tuesday or something like that since it would be less crowded. For the place, I think Top Karting was discussed, but I’d have to double check with him.

WhiskeyGolf > CB 06/17/2015 at 21:42

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I play hockey late on Tuesday but weekdays work otherwise. Monday and Thursday are best but otherwise Top Karting would be cool