www.iFourWinns.com

My 97 Vista 278 has had a soft spot (12" or so in diameter) around the stbd side "small" hatch. It starts at the hinge side of the hatch, and goes towards the port side.

I have never had a boat with this kind of issue before - the damage occurred before I bought it. I rebedded the hatch immediately when I bought the boat, and it hasnt (visibly) leaked since. From the spot being so soft, all the gel coat has cracked or spiderwebbed around it. Its going to have to be cut out for sure.

Im nervous that this repair is going to cost $2500+, has anybody had anything like this repaired before? Any other Vista owners with aft deck soft spots around their hatches? Would a fiberglass repair person go from the headliner side, or the top side?

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1997 Four Winns Vista 278
T - 4.3l EFI
Kohler 4esz Genset
379 hours as of 8/8/21

Can you post a pic?
I've replaced the deck from the helm seats back to the engine in my Horizon but never done a repair like that. I'd think for sure you have to do it from underneath removing the headliner. This is more involved than repairing a flat surface on a deck because you have to leave the outer glass work intact.
It might be possible to inject thinned epoxy (CPES) to form up the core material if it's not too far gone.

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

So I finally found a fiberglass guy in my area that squeezed me in his schedule weeks ago, and just started working on the soft spot last week (which has grown some since my last post!! )

Any way, the guy found the REAL cause of the water intrusion and core rot - the stupid snaps on the bow for the factory option "cushion package" from Four Winns Ive used the cushions a total of ONE time in six seasons. I told the guy to remove the snaps, seal up the holes. If the next owners of the boat want to reinstall the snaps for the stupid bow cushions, more power to them.... I originally thought it was from the small hatches but it was not.

So I got ahead of myself for a minute, lol. When the guy came the other day and drilled holes in the deck to inject epoxy, he was greeted with wood powder. Totally rotted. He said Four Winns used subpar materials to begin with and it was beyond rotted. Cut open the forward deck from above, removed the remaining rotted wood dust, installed composite board that will never rot and epoxied it in, injected epoxy in surrounding areas, and tomorrow he is going to seal all holes and re-non skid the whole forward deck.

He let me step on the repaired area today and it is about good as new as its going to get! Very satisfied with his repair so far.

So to all my fellow FW owners with snaps on the forward deck/bow... do not forget to remove them and put 4200 on them every season or two!! This little overlooked maintenance cost me a lot of money.

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1997 Four Winns Vista 278
T - 4.3l EFI
Kohler 4esz Genset
379 hours as of 8/8/21

Nice follow up on this problem. As anyone who has fixed rot knows, it always is more than what we think it is! After I did the deck in my '88 about 10 years ago, I found a few more spots, the front bulkhead in front of the gas tank/ski locker area I did about 5 years ago and then another spot under the pass through between the windshield consoles that I fixed this spring. In both cases it would have been very difficult to cut all the bad wood out. So what I did was dig out as much as I could, dry it with a heat gun and hair dryer for several days, and coat it with multiple coats of CPES (penetrating epoxy sealer) then fill in the dug out areas with rot doc's Fill it Filler (very strong fiberglass reinforced filler) and then cover that with epoxy/'glass cloth.
Your job really needed a professional. Only way to go. So whatever you paid, its worth it. The newer boats are not built any better either. You can still have delamination with composite built boats. Just seal ALL the penetrations!! and I do mean ALL.

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

At least it is going to be good for a long time! Hope you got a good deal on the repair

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NEW - 2000 Cobalt 246 w/454 Magnum 385HP | SOLD - 2000 FW Horizon 180 LS w/5.0Gi 250HP Volvo Penta

Gottwhat - the repair was incredibly reasonable!! A few neighbors who watched the guy work were impressed by his work and are going to use him.

So far, so good. Soft spot fixed, Check. Now if I could only get my Kohler generator running,....

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1997 Four Winns Vista 278
T - 4.3l EFI
Kohler 4esz Genset
379 hours as of 8/8/21