Hours

viper1

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
May 13, 2002
Messages
283
What would be considered a lot of hours on an 87 merc crusier??
 

viper1

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
May 13, 2002
Messages
283
Boat looks good shape for a 87. So i'm thinking maintenance must of been too. And its approx. 400 hours on the meter. So maybe i'm good.
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
Staff member
Joined
Jul 23, 2011
Messages
47,306
for reference, I bought my '88 with 600 hours on the clock. when I pulled the heads to upgrade to vortec's you could still see all the cross hatching from the honing operation, and the bearing clearances were like the day it was assembled.

I know of guys with over 3000 hours on their rigs, and I know of people that needed engine replacement at about 500. As AllDodge indicated, its all about the maintenance.
 

thumpar

Admiral
Joined
Jun 21, 2007
Messages
6,138
My 1983 with a 2.5l had just over 500 hours on it when I got it. I sold it with pretty close to 600 and it pulled mid spec RPM with a 19 pitch prop loaded. I actually saw it on the lake last summer going strong. My current boat has just over 600 hours and still going strong.
 

pckeen

Commander
Joined
Jun 20, 2012
Messages
2,067
Put it this way - We use our boat most weekends during the summer for fishing and watersports, and often two - five days a week. All our trips are pretty short. We put on about 30-40 hours a year. A 400 hour motor can have lots of life left in it, if it was maintained well and stored properly. That motor has less than 14 hours use a year on it on averaqe - so very light use. However.....with a motor that age, how it was stored and maintained will have more of an impact on its use than the hour reading.
 

Bondo

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 17, 2002
Messages
70,468
Ayuh,..... My ole 4.3l had 1600 hours on it, when the hour meter quit, nearly a decade ago,.....

It's still goin' strong, with 'bout 150 psi compression,......

See's My boatin' hours declined after I bought waterfront property, I'd guessimate it's hours over 2,000, headed for it's 3rd 1000 hours,...
 

rallyart

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Jun 7, 2008
Messages
1,175
I'm over 400 hours on mine and I'd still call it almost new. I'm only on my third set of plugs. I had 120 in the first year I owned my boat.
If it only got used for about one week a year you might get 16 hours a year on it. Since '87 you would have 432 hours. Probably its sat for several years without being run. That's when you hope it was well put away.
 

UncleWillie

Captain
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
3,995
Maintenance is by far, the overwhelming key.

The same size engine in a boat will burn about the same amount of fuel in one hour as a road vehicle will burn in 100 miles. (Mixed use for both)
A rough comparison is 1 boat hour is equivalent to100 road miles. The same amount of work was performed in each case.
A 500 hour boat is in about the same point in its life as a 50,000 mile truck.
 
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