I have a 22' Deck boat with a 1996 Mercruiser 5.7lx /Alpha 1 drive. I bought the boat 6 years ago with 69 hours on it(It sat about a few years before I bought it). When I got it I installed new manifolds, a waterpump impeller, and a Perko Flushpro a 147 degree thermostat and some other misc stuff, as well as having the drive resealed.
I use this boat exclusively in salt water, and put about 50-70 hours a year on it. It sits in a slip and gets used every weekend. It is flushed through the flushpro every outing, but that really only gets the exhaust flushed. After 3 years I replaced the manifolds again as well as the impeller as perventitive maintenance. I pull the drive off every other year, after I winterize it to look at the bellows.
This boat has never given me any real problems. It really runs nice, and uses/leaks no oil. I've had to replace the starter, the circulating pump and some other small odds and ends, but overall, its been very reliable. I've never overheated it, abused it or run it hard aground. I give it a through going over every fall when I pull it out of the water.
How many hours/years can I expect this power package to last? Right now I have 320 hours on it. I was hoping to get about 500 out of the engine and leg. Is that reasonable for a saltwater engine? Do other people get more time? What is the typical failure? I figure it has to rot through at sometime.
I'm thinking that I will just replace the engine at 550-600 hours with a 5.0MPI. As I said, my family uses the boat every weekend, and I'd rather do the engine on my own schedule in the winter than rush a new one in and ruin two weekends in the summer. Does that seem reasonable, or am I cutting this one's life short?
As far as the drive is concerned. I figure I'd just use this one until something fails, and replace it then being that it is pretty easy to swap out. How long do these Alpha 1's tend to last if not abused?
I use this boat exclusively in salt water, and put about 50-70 hours a year on it. It sits in a slip and gets used every weekend. It is flushed through the flushpro every outing, but that really only gets the exhaust flushed. After 3 years I replaced the manifolds again as well as the impeller as perventitive maintenance. I pull the drive off every other year, after I winterize it to look at the bellows.
This boat has never given me any real problems. It really runs nice, and uses/leaks no oil. I've had to replace the starter, the circulating pump and some other small odds and ends, but overall, its been very reliable. I've never overheated it, abused it or run it hard aground. I give it a through going over every fall when I pull it out of the water.
How many hours/years can I expect this power package to last? Right now I have 320 hours on it. I was hoping to get about 500 out of the engine and leg. Is that reasonable for a saltwater engine? Do other people get more time? What is the typical failure? I figure it has to rot through at sometime.
I'm thinking that I will just replace the engine at 550-600 hours with a 5.0MPI. As I said, my family uses the boat every weekend, and I'd rather do the engine on my own schedule in the winter than rush a new one in and ruin two weekends in the summer. Does that seem reasonable, or am I cutting this one's life short?
As far as the drive is concerned. I figure I'd just use this one until something fails, and replace it then being that it is pretty easy to swap out. How long do these Alpha 1's tend to last if not abused?
