General Question about Engine Hours

dmanmtl

Seaman
Joined
Apr 14, 2013
Messages
63
Guys,

I am actively looking for a new boat (17-20 ft fishing boat with an outboard) - I ahve a general question about engine hours.

I have seen some boats - 8 to 10 years old - advertised with 150 hours, and some others advertised with 800 hours. I get the basic difference but what is really considered high hours.

Back in the old days we used to think of cars with more than 100k miles as high mileage - What's a high hours on a boat.

Obviously there are many factors such as maintenance and how it is used but generally speaking one will not know that when looking to purchase used.

Thanks again in advance for your comments

D.
 

Bondo

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 17, 2002
Messages
70,465
Ayuh,.... It's best to just forget about hours, 'n concentrate on Condition,....

A compression/ leak-down test will tell ya the general overall condition of the motor,....
Hours won't,....
 

dingbat

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Nov 20, 2001
Messages
15,414
Lack of use kills motors.

I would take a well used motor with 800 hours over one with 150 hours that sat in a garage for the past 8-10 years.....
 

jkust

Rear Admiral
Joined
Aug 2, 2008
Messages
4,942
It's regional...cold climates see lower hours. We have 3 months of summer here in my state and taking into account other things that get in the way of boating plus bad weather, boats tend to sit a lot. My paradigm is very different than that of folks in warmer climates as to what I would be willing to accept hours-wise. That is to say I expect the engine to be fully operational as a given at the outset so 200 hours or 50 hours, I expect both to be in tip top shape thus the 50 hour boat get's my attention though that is easier said than done with used boats where sometimes you need to compromise on certain aspects.
The fact is that engines can last thousands of hours with just basic maintenance but the higher hours tend to show up on the boat in other ways. For every hours we put on our hour meter, we probably put 4 on it just floating around.
 
Top