engine hours

[Home Cookin']

a frequent question for those looking at used boats is about a "good" number for engine hours. We know that unlike mileage on a car, too low if not good. People seemed scared of high hours.

On a local saltwater fishing forum someone posed the question about engine hours on their 4 strokes. I've compiled the results below. Of course, it's completely unscientific. However, most of the boaters on this forum are serious boaters and we have a fairly long season for the die hards; not the 12 Saturdays a year types:

2005 Yamaha 225 659 hours
05 f250 1856hrs
2000 Honda 130 789 hours..
2007 Yama F250.......180hrs
2005 Yamaha 250 4 stroke 1190 hours
2007 Yamahas 250 4 stroke 2,369
Honda 35 jet 14 years so far with 40 to 50 trips a year.

 

[Augoose]

Re: engine hours

I try to avoid extremes, both high and low because they both have their issues. However, my opinion is that I'd take a low hour engine over a high hour engine everyday of the week. I'd rather rebuild a carb and change some fuel lines from non-use than rebuild a head or a block due to a lifetime of wear and tear through normal use. The boat I bought last spring had 114 hours on it and it was a 1999, so all indicators was that it sat.....a lot. After draining the fuel, replacing a couple of lines and then rebuilding the carb (out of pocket expense was about $100) it runs great. This of course does not take into consideration damage caused by miss-use or sitting for a lot of years where EVERYTHING rots away.

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: engine hours

Well I have put around 130 hours on mine just this year. and I am the past i had a old 1968 Johnson 85 sea horse that had well over 3000 on it before very bad prop strike killed it. Bent the crank.

It is very rare that a motor ever wears out, some thing else all ways kills it.

 

[jkust]

Re: engine hours

Here in MN ya have to be a die hard fisher or be on big water to pack hours on your boat since our season for recreational boating is so insanely short. In other words when you can't comfortably swim, people don't go. Really low hour boats that get used a lot on smaller water and are correctly maintained are common since most of are lakes are small. Because of that, I'd only want a low hour engine since they are the norm...mostly.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: engine hours

I bought my F-330 with 740 hours . . . and was not afraid.

Fresh water hours over 16 years, so I was OK with that.

 

[QC]

Re: engine hours

I believe most of our engines are capable of 2000 hours. Most failures in Marine are cooling system related. Especially with inboards. It is not about cylinder wear which is what you would worry about with high hours.

 

[rbh]

Re: engine hours

Just think of it as a generator, loaded or unloaded hours