Hours on Engine?

[Toad67]

Looking to buy used boat, so hours are like mileage?
so what’s a lot? Is 250 hrs a bunch?
thanks

 

[bobeast]

It may seem counter-intuitive but there can be such a thing as too few hours. A 20 year old boat with 250 hours would send up a big red flag for me. Nothing kills a motor quite like letting it sit for months on end without being started and used.

Also of concern is what kind of usage that 250 hours entailed. 250 hours at idle is not great, nor is all 250 hours with the throttle wide open. 250 hours on an under-powered boat meant those were some hard hours. As you can see, there is no simple answer other than "it depends"

All that said, I would expect a well maintained gas engine to last at least 1500 to 2000 hours before needing a rebuild. As with all rules of thumb, your mileage may vary, literally.

 

[Scott Danforth]

well maintained gas motors get to 3000 hours or more

250 hours is what should be on a 5 year old boat. average use is 50 hours per year. if its on a 20 year old motor, then it sat for a long time. sitting stuff goes to crap in a hurry.

think of it this way. 250 hours is about 10,000 miles on a car.

 

[Sea Rider]

Scott,

So 40 miles per hour use. This is a raw estimate or what factory, someone has determined so ? Do you think that portable 1-2 cylinder motors can last that long as 3K hours same as much larger HP ones ?

Happy Boating

 

[dingbat]

Average hours is a concocted figure.

How do you reconcile the comm putting 1000 hrs. a year on his motor with the guy who lives in Nowhere Utah that uses his boat once a year to watch fireworks at the local lake?

I put more than 50 hours a year on my lawn mower....lol

I’ll put 40 - 50 hours on my boat next week alone.

 

[Toad67]

I didn’t think of it that way, low hours on an older boat, yea probably sat a while for reasons unknown, I did find a 1992 Four Winns in immaculate condition, garage kept, don’t know the hours yet, but I like it and will be able to test it in lake first.

 

[Scott Danforth]

with a 1992 Four Winns, i would be looking for evidence of water-logged foam and rotten stringers.

 

[Toad67]

What location on boat do I look for water-logged foam? And I don’t know what stringers are.
Why do you say that about Four Winns?

 

[Scott Danforth]

because Four Winns are not much better than bayliners, and mostly because you are looking at a 29 year old boat with a 15 year design life. boats built in the 80's and early 90's were not of the best initial quality.

 

[garbageguy]

Supposed number of hours on a used boat motor - just ONE thing to consider when buying a used boat. If real, and makes sense with ALL the other considerations in considering purchase of a used boat. 250 hours is not much. We put about 100 hrs per year on just one of our boats.

 

[Toad67]

I heard Bayliners were low on the scale, any opinions on 1996 seaswirl?

 

[Toad67]

Other boats I’ve found, ‘93SeaRay 19’ and 1999 Glastron 17’. These any better of quality?

 

[Scott Danforth]

Other boats I’ve found, ‘93SeaRay 19’ and 1999 Glastron 17’. These any better of quality?

Maybe when the were first built. However it looks you're looking at boats below $5000. That is project boat range.

Fiberglass boats in the 25-30 year range will have issues, and many of those issues will be rotten transoms and stringers. That kind of problems usually costs 2-3000 to fix

 

[Toad67]

Thank you for the info.