Hour Meters

[airdvr1227]

Something I've always wondered about. I see some pretty low hours on 20+ year old boats. If it's non EFI wouldn't it be as simple as hooking up a 12v power source on a new meter and running the hours to where you want them and then replace the existing meter? I know on cars it's a federal offense. What about boats?

 

[H20Rat]

Yep... Hour meters are really easy to make lie. They are maintenance gauges for the owner, and reminders of how little or much you use a boat in the season.

(doesn't even have to be a 12v line... I installed a cheap hour meter this season that just requires a couple wraps of wire around a spark plug wire. No electrical connections. I did it for reason #2 above and nothing else.)

 

[KnotConnected]

Yeup. Hour meter is just a 12v activated stopwatch. I put a new dash in spring of last year, including new hour meter (old dash had a meter where the white circle is in the lower left, new dash has a digital meter built into the tach). I just made a note in the maint logs that the meter was replaced at 1021 hours.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f117/n915aa/Menominee-2015/20150805_165648_zpspr0s0tjg.jpg

 

[jforrest1]

I was wondering about that. My hour meters are on the tach gauges for my twins. One of the gauges has been acting up and may need to be replaced. I was wondering if I could set the hour meter to the current reading if replaced.

 

[KnotConnected]

Surely, jforrest1. Just connect it up to a 12v power supply (like the one below, which can come in handy for plenty of things) and let it hang out until it catches up.

https://www.google.com/express/prod...989690431_6136318?mall=Texas&directCheckout=1

 

[rlamothe]

Last night I met the guy who sold the boat that I ended up buying. He told me the hour meter reads much higher than actual because he used to use the radio in the boat when he was working in his garage. I had assumed the hour meter was wired to the tach or the engine some how, but does that make sense of the key is just switched on?

 

[oldjeep]

Last night I met the guy who sold the boat that I ended up buying. He told me the hour meter reads much higher than actual because he used to use the radio in the boat when he was working in his garage. I had assumed the hour meter was wired to the tach or the engine some how, but does that make sense of the key is just switched on?

If you hook it up wrong then yes, it records key on time.

 

[KnotConnected]

Last night I met the guy who sold the boat that I ended up buying. He told me the hour meter reads much higher than actual because he used to use the radio in the boat when he was working in his garage. I had assumed the hour meter was wired to the tach or the engine some how, but does that make sense of the key is just switched on?

Yes, rather common. The first click in the ignition will generally bring power to the gauges, including the hour meter. The wiring diagram below is pretty standard. As you can see, much of the wiring is all in series, so if you're replacing a gauge make damn sure to verify the integrity of your terminations and connections or you could run into quite a headache later on (like loss of ignition, possibly at a terrible time).

 

[Natesms]

Last night I met the guy who sold the boat that I ended up buying. He told me the hour meter reads much higher than actual because he used to use the radio in the boat when he was working in his garage. I had assumed the hour meter was wired to the tach or the engine some how, but does that make sense of the key is just switched on?

How both my boats are wired up from the factory. I accidentally added 22 hours to my port motor because I left the key on overnight.

 

[rlamothe]

apparently he added several hundred. Which, not great for resale purposes, but probably helped me get it!

 

[tlombard]

I was wondering how mine functioned the other weekend and noticed that mine won't run up unless the motor is actually running thankfully.

 

[oldjeep]

Yeah, one correct way to wire them is through a 3 prong oil pressure switch. Modern Fuel injected boats don't really have the problem since the hourmeter is a function of the ECM

 

[rallyart]

If someone uses there boat for a week out at a lake they might put on 16 hours. Miss a few years going out before you decide to sell and it is really easy to have very low hours on a boat.
On my old Grew the hour meter broke at 700. I got around to replacing it a year later. That meter broke at 550. It sat at that for the rest of its life. I have an hour meter on my computer managed engine now that I can read on the tach. There is another on my PerfectPass speed control. The one on the speed control is not accurate, but the unit is wonderful to have for watersports. I have learned to not worry too much about hours. Check the engine, look for smoke, see how it runs. You can figure out if it needs work as most boat engines don't die from hours. They die from missed or poor maintenance, freezing or overspeed.

 

[thumpar]

On my last boat I had to keep the key on for the stereo to work. I racked up probably 15 hours a season just doing that. That actual engine usage was around 20 per season. Even then it was a 1983 boat with less than 600 hours on the meter.

 

[jkust]

I suppose another reason we always say condition not hours. Even on say an MPI engine, I wonder what happens if you disconnect it, use it and reconnect the meter. Since it is ECM driven, I wonder if the digital meter just says Error or something? Point being, even with a MPI engine, what percentage of used buyers that buy from a private party have the engine hours read off of the ECM to compare.

 

[JimS123]

I didn't have a factory installed hour meter so I installed one myself in 1984 before I ever launched the boat. Years later it broke so I replaced it. My current reading is 120 hours, but I know the true hours is 1450. I guess if I were to sell it and I wasn't honest, the new buyer might get the wrong idea.