How many hours are too much??

zachSDMF · Criminal Joined: 27 May 2003 Posts: 89 City: Livermore

I am lookin to get a newer used boat and was curious, for reliability reasons... how many hours are too much?? Assuming the boat has been well maintained...

jryoung · Ladies Man Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 7664 City: Man Jose

Well maintained? I'd say 1000 hours, it's kind of like the 100,000 mile marker in a car. There can be a lot of great hours left, but some attention to detail (compression test, drive train) could yield you some valuable information.

That being said and since your are in Livermore I'll shamelessly plug my buddies boat here. Just under 700 hours, but it has been well taken care of. Jolson is an only child so you can imagine how he is with his toys. Laughing

http://forums.wakeboarder.com/viewtopic.php?t=44743

03Belmont · Wakeboarder.com Freak Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Posts: 4656

I would have to disagree on the hours.... wakeboard Boats are drivin at around 20-25 mph most of the time. so 1000 hours would be like putting around 25,000 miles on a car and that is not much at all. even if the boat was drivin at max (45mph?) for 1000 hours thats only like putting 45,000 miles on a car.

jryoung · Ladies Man Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 7664 City: Man Jose

03Belmont,

pilot_ryder · Posted: May 01, 2006 3:32 pm Post subject:

just as long as its in good shape keep riding Mr. Green

jryoung · Ladies Man Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 7664 City: Man Jose

pilot_ryder, the discussion in this thread is related to buying a new or used boat and at what amount of hours a buyer should be concerned. Rolling Eyes

grapic · Outlaw Joined: 01 Jul 2003 Posts: 192

This topic has been discussed several times over the past few years. Boats engines are used differently than cars or trucks. The load is constant on a boat. Wakeboarding is similar to towing you boat up a never ending mountain at 55 - 60 mph. RPM's at 23-24 mph on the boat are 2800 - 3200 depending on ballast. My suburban can tow on the freeway at 70 mph at lower rpm.

Boat engine manufactures say change oil at 50 hours - I equate this to 3000 miles on a car. So 1000 hours equals 60,000 miles. Other factors on a boat that greatly effect engine life are fresh/saltwater use, winterization procedures, and routine maintenance.

Wakebrad · Ladies Man Joined: 11 Dec 2003 Posts: 12257 City: Dallas

grapic, good points. Although it's not just the wear and tear that causes oil to need changing every 50, water vapor in the oil causes it to need to be changed earlier also. So it's not a 1 to 1 relationship.

I'd also like to add that many times under-use can be more harmful than overuse. If a boat has sat for 2-3 years unused it will break down faster than one used for 100 hours those years. So you have to consider the age of the boat. If a boat is 15 years old and only has 200 hours on it, it probably has sat out a few seasons.

When looking at a boat in person question the owner about the routine maintenance. If they have been doing the maintenance they should know exactly what it entails. To be really knowledgable see if you can find the owners manual for the boat. It shows what the routine maintenance should be. Find out how much they have really been doing.

Erik · Posted: May 02, 2006 7:56 am Post subject:

grapic, probably the most reasonable car miles to boat hours analogy I have read on here.

☆

nauty_tique · Newbie Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 38 City: Winston Salem

We bought a 87 2001 SN back in Oct with 1100 hours, put over 100 on it since and have had 0 problems, if it's any help.

zachSDMF · Criminal Joined: 27 May 2003 Posts: 89 City: Livermore

great help fellas.. most the boats i been lookin at have anywhere between 50 hours and 500 so looks like I'm right in the pocket assuming req maint has been done regularly.

Shawn Madison · Posted: May 02, 2006 2:12 pm Post subject:

We put 500-800hrs a year on the last two boats.

Brass Balls · Newbie Joined: 29 Apr 2006 Posts: 25 City: NorCal

I'm currently in the market for a used boat. One in particular that I'm most interested in I had the dealer check the actual engine hours. He said that any model that has fuel injection can have the engine hours read directly from the fuel injection computer on the engine which is more accurate than depending on an hour meter alone.

He was able to tell me how many hours were spent over 3k RPM and how many hours from 0-800 RPM. Of 190 hours only 30 were over 3k and 102 hours between 0-800.

The_fng · Criminal Joined: 14 Nov 2003 Posts: 57

The fuel injection electronic control module is virtually no different than the hour meter in the dash outside of it's ability to record the details. It is absolutely just as swappable (actually easier) than the hour meter.

I bet we replaced 4 per year on warranty in a 15 boat per year dealership and once it's swapped...) hours.

The FNG