boat hours?

[love4movies]

I am new to boating and am enthusiastically looking into buying a used boat. I am wondering, is there a certain number of hours on the boat I should stay under? One example is a 2001 Glastron 205 with the 5L fuel injected engine. The seller states that the boat has 257 hours, but the engine has 20 hours. Do marine engines have a certain lifespan?

 

[Lyle29464]

Re: boat hours?

It is unlikely you will ever wear it out. Most engines die from support failure from the marine parts that supply cooling + the exhaust and non use. If you keep it tuned and serviced + replace the manifolds before needed it will run well over 1000 hours maybe 2000

 

[H20Rat]

Re: boat hours?

Nope... maintenance means everything. Too few hours can be just as bad or worse than lots of hours.

 

[southkogs]

Re: boat hours?

I've heard average hours per year (for most people) is between 60 and 90. A 2001 with 257 hours is less than 24 hours per year, which I would consider low usage.

Here's what would creep me out a little on this boat - low usage plus a brand new engine (20 hours). Why was it replaced? And what kinda' shape is the outdrive in then? Was it a maintenance issue that killed the engine? Then what else wasn't maintained?

 

[tpenfield]

Re: boat hours?

I agree with the above ^^^^ posting . . . low hours to begin with (about 25 per year . .. 50 per year would be typical) then a new engine and only 20 hours. It would mean really checking things out to see if there are lingering problems.

I would be hard pressed to buy a boat with 900 hours as that would be on the higher end of things . . . under 500 hours would be OK.

Many folks get their engine well over 1,000 hours . . . but to buy someone else's boat/engine with that many hours would be a gamble.

So, figure 50 hours per year is typical use . . . 20 hours per year is light use.

 

[04fxdwgi]

Re: boat hours?

1293 hours on my origional engine. Hopefully will make it over the 1300 mark this weekend and she still purrs

 

[UncleWillie]

Re: boat hours?

We bantered this issue to death in another thread.
A viable argument was that one Boat hour was equivalent to 100 car miles.

So your 11 year old boat has 25,700 miles on it with an engine with 2,000 miles in it. (If it was a car)

P.S. Let's NOT open that can of worms again!

 

[kawakx125]

Re: boat hours?

improper winterization could be a contributing factor to a new motor being needed in a relatively new boat with low hours.

 

[jbetzelb]

Re: boat hours?

I would find out why a new engine. Froze one winter might be a safe reason to still buy the boat. Someone blew the engine with only 250 hours would tell me they beat on it pretty hard. A engine that was beat on equals a boat that was beat on.

 

[jkust]

Re: boat hours?

Where are you located? Boat hours are regional along with the length of the season. My 03 now has 135ish hours on it but that is in MN with a really short season. My concern with higher engine hours isn't necessarily the engine itself but the wear and tear on the rest of it. Taking into account, bad weather, family obligations, kids sports, career, it's really tough to put 50 hours on in a three month season or likely less with rain. By the way if that engine is truly fuel injected and not an early model year 2002 when the new standard of MPI came out, it is obsolete. Point being I'd look for a 2002 with MPI before I bought the final hurah of the old throttle body system just in case you are new to these engines.

 

[dingbat]

Re: boat hours?

My 03 now has 135ish hours on it but that is in MN with a really short season.

Even if you can only boat from May 31 to September 1 that leaves you with 2,184 hours of possible boat time year.

You've boated less than 0.06% of the time available to you