Engine hours, how much is to much ?

[HappyPants]

Im looking at a few used tournament boats, specific a 93 mastercraft with a 351 that has 1250 hrs. Boat has been well kept, but is that to many hours ?

 

[tommays]

Re: Engine hours, how much is to much ?

It depends on who owned it


My BILs 1977 351 lasted until 2004 pulling barefoot skiers the whole time



Tommays

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Engine hours, how much is to much ?

i'd rather have a motor with 500 hours, that has been cared for than one with 100 thats neglected. it's that simple. maintainance.

 

[HappyPants]

Re: Engine hours, how much is to much ?

Thansk for the replys.

I know its a hard question but No history really available, its at a dealer, boat is in fantastic shape, so there is no doubt it has been well maintained.
So to simplify the question, do you guys think 1250 hrs is to much for a properly maintained boat ? A boat that was used for what it was designed for and maintained up to spec. I suppose it will come down to price

I seen some other sites say a marine engine is designed for 2000-2500 hrs,

 

[JB]

Re: Engine hours, how much is to much ?

You are in the wrong place to ask about a 351, HP.

Moving to I/O

 

[95yj]

Re: Engine hours, how much is to much ?

At best, with great maintenance, that motor is already past half of its lifespan. Generally a gas engine will be pretty tired by 2000 hours if you really take care of it. 1500 hours is a more realistic number.

If you really want to know something about the motor, do a compression check on it.

 

[hoof harted]

Re: Engine hours, how much is to much ?

take her for a test run before u ante up. but, if the engine has half the hours my brain has, forget it. coors was the culprit. i switched to miller, but it ain't done much good.

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: Engine hours, how much is to much ?

Take it for a test run & do a compression test.....
Hours are basically meaningless.....
I can't tell ya how many times I forgot to shut the key off......​

 

[Rob454]

Re: Engine hours, how much is to much ?

You figure 1993 boat. 1250 hours divided by 14 is 89.something so lets say 90 hours. Figure the guy takes the boat out in the season 15x thats only about 6 hours of driving. Either way its only about 90 hours per year.
Unless the boat makes noises or the boat handles/drives/feels/acts weird or the compression is really low and its a good price ( you can probably talk them down a lot due to the hours and they know people tend to shy away from high hours. i woudl personally go on a ride and also make sure that they have no problem with you having a inspector look at the boat.
if everything is ok and the price is right then id say buy it. A motor isnt really that expensive. I got a motor rebuilt for a buddy for abotu 1000$ but it was a chevy mine was about 1500 and it was a ford. Parts were slightly higher but they were built to marine specs.
Unless the boat looks liek crap and looks liek its been ridden hard and put away wet I woudlnt be afraid to buy a boat with higher hours.

Your other option is to purchase new. Not sure if this is your first boat but for a first boat I preferred to buy a used one the cheapest I could get it. I plan on getting abotu 5 years out of it and then go buy something newer

Good luck
Rob

 

[hoof harted]

Re: Engine hours, how much is to much ?

if she bogs- check under seats & lockers for empty coors bottles. guess thats why she wouldn't plane. heard a clinkin noise figgered the engine was shot so i sold it to a guy for a case a coors. the guy found a couple hundred pounds a emptys. he's still runnin her.

 

[jspringator]

Re: Engine hours, how much is to much ?

Specialized ski boats are very expensive new. I just had a 351 long block installed in my cruiser for around $3,000. That is a drop in the bucket to what a new one costs. Also, Ski boats have a drive system that is more reliable than the typical IO. This mitigates in favor of buying used, because a drive can cost more to replace than the engine. Usually, it is cheaper to repower than it would be to make a tired looking boat look new.

On the other hand, ski boats are started a lot because you have to turn off the engine everyone someone stops or starts skiiing, and is probably subject to more full throttle starts. I woulds replace the starter on a rebuild. If the price is right, and the boat LOOKS good, and you know going in you may have to do a rebuild, and the boat runs good now, I don't see how you can go wrong with it.

 

[Limited-Time]

Re: Engine hours, how much is to much ?

It all breaks down to maintenance. The pros here will tell you the number of power plants that actually WEAR OUT is few and far between. Most succumb to poor maintenance loooooooong before they wear out.