engine hours

[Bill Robin]

What is the life in hours for a motor? Is 205 hours a lot?

 

[dvan1901]

Re: engine hours

Depends on the year of the boat and how well it has been maintained. You can have, and many do, a boat with hundreds of hours that run like they are new. You can have new engines that run like crap. Really depends; I know it's not the answer you were looking for, but not knowing anything about the engine in question, that's the best I can do.

 

[Bondo]

Re: engine hours

Ayuh,... What motor,..?? a 10hp outboard,..?? a 300hp outboard,..?? 300hp I/O,..??

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: engine hours

205 Hours isn't a lot no matter what type of engine it is. However, the important thing is how the engine acquired those hours. I'd rather have a boat that acquired those hours over 5 years, than one that acquired those over 20 years. Non-use seems to make engines wear faster in my experience.

 

[blouderback]

Re: engine hours

To put engine hours into perspective, sometimes I think of it this way:

1. I figure I average about 40mph in my car.
2. I drive about 15,000 miles per year.
3. Doing the math, I put about 375 hours per year on my car.

So, 205 hours on a boat is like 8,200 miles on a car. However, boat engines are run in harsher conditions, so maybe that's not a good comparision.

Depending on the area of the country, I've heard that "average" use is anywhere from 50-100 hours on your average family run-a-bout. Now for me, I've only put about 30-40 hours per year on my boat. I'm in the northeast, on a trailer, so I can only realistically boat from May - September (if I'm lucky), and I only get out about twice a month at that. So, 205 hours for me would mean about 5-6 years of use.

Now, throw all that out if the engine wasn't maintained properly. I'd take I higher hour well maintained engine over a low hour poorly maintained engine every time.

 

[5thFish]

Re: engine hours

205 hrs is not a lot. If you can pick up a maintenance manual for this particular engine, there's usually a maintenance schedule inside. My engine for example requires certain service every 100hrs, an advanced service every 300hrs and around 700hrs an overhaul. Of course it all depends on how you've taken care of the thing but for my engine 700hrs = overhaul = a lot of hrs.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: engine hours

What is the life in hours for a motor? Is 205 hours a lot?

Welcome to iboats.

List what engine you are talking about and list what known maintenance it has had. Without receipts = not really done....that's alledged maintenance.

 

[dan t.]

Re: engine hours

700 hours = overhaul? what kind of motor is that? a well maintained north american IO should last for 1500 t0 2000 hours.

 

[sbbamafan]

Re: engine hours

I don't know how long one SHOULD last but I can tell you my 1991 Chaparral 2000SL with a 5.7 and Volvo Penta stainless DP still jumps out of the hole faster than most ski boats and will run in the mid 50's. Not burning any oil and has over 1100 hours. I really don't do anything special to maintain it but religiously change oil every season, change plugs every other season, change impellers about every three seasons and always winterize and de-winterize. I am just starting to have some ujoint noise, but I will probably ignore it until next year.

 

[skargo]

Re: engine hours

My 31 year old Mercruiser 260 with 455 hours on it starts and runs better than just about anything else I own.