How many hours are too many hours?

C

Clayton 210BR

New Member
Oct 3, 2006
46
SF Delta
Boat Info
210 Bowrider
Engines
5.0L
I bought my boat last fall with 170 hrs. It was immaculately maintained, so the fact it was 8 yrs old didn’t bother me. I had planned on keeping it for a few years, then upgrading to a bigger/newer boat. Well less than a year later, I’ve put on ½ the original hours. At this rate I’ll have well over 400 hrs before I’m ready to sell. What is the hour plateau where a used sport boat becomes hard to sell and takes a deep decline in value? For cars, it’s typically over 100k miles. I’ve heard 300 hrs. is the milestone for boats, but that seems a bit low.

I’m not complaining, just curious. For a 1st boat, this one has been perfect. Zero problems and has weathered some really stupid newbie mistakes.
 
Generally, 50 - 100 hours per year is normal. Less can raise question, and more indicates lots of wear in a gas boat. Over 400 hours in a 10-year old boat is low time. Enjoy your boat. The previous owner saved you lots of fun-time. Besides, my guess is that your usage will taper off a little (at least engine time).
 
Sorrento 25 said:
I think of it as 100 hours = ~10,000 miles on a car.
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Ditto :thumbsup:

On average, with care and proper servicing, a marine gas I/O will make it about 1,500 hours.

At this point it needs to be rebuilt.

If you are using it 50 hours / year (national average) the boat is 30 years old and time to be put in the bone yard.

Some boats warrant restoration. A vintage wood Chris Craft is an good example. However restoring a late 70’s Bayliner runabout makes as little economic sense as restoring a Chevy citation. You would just be spending a lot of money, not get it back and in the end you would still own a low end boat.
 
Agree with all. Proper maintenance and use is key. If it's not used and not put up correctly, a 50 hour boat is junk in 2 years where a 10 year old 800 hour boat put up properly will be in top shape.

Low hours on an aging boat is usually more of a concern.
 
When given choices, most buyers prefer lower hours as long as the boat appears to be in good condtion. I speak from experience on this one. When I sold my 240 Sundeck it had 400 hours. It was a tough sell because because many other 240SD's that were three, four, or five years old had much lower hours. My boat was immaculate, it was priced right, and looked as good as a brand new boat. It just took the right buyer to realize that it was maintained properly from a mechanical perspective and the hours were therefore not an issue with him. But from what I gleaned from my broker, several others before that choose the lower hour boats.
 
I wouldn't worry about clocking hours on a boat. that's what you bought it for. Go out and enjoy it especially if it's running great with no worries.
 
From what I've heard 1500 to 2000hrs and it's about time to start thinking of rebuild. I have a good friend who chartered on Lake Erie for some years. He ran charters 5 months out of the year and many days he was running doubles. He was putting 40 to 60 hrs a week on his boat and changed his oil weekly. He never ran the boat much over 3200rpm coming in or going out. He ran the same boat for 3yrs without doing anything other than routine maintenence before selling it to a friend of ours. He was a weekend fisherman and he ran the boat another 3-4yrs with no problems until he got too busy with babies to have time for fishing and sold it. That boat had to have well over 2000hrs on it with no problems. I'll have to call them and see if they can remember the hours.
 
Well. . . look at the posts on this board. How much advice is there to ONLY look at fresh water trailered boats?

Of COURSE low hours is important. All else being equal, you want a low hours boat, fresh water, trailered, and certified copies of all maintenace records.

And then reality sets in. . . .when the boats you want all have 3600 hours on the engines, smell of mildew, have 3" of oil in the bilge -> and have been sitting in salt water for 3 solid years.

Of course, that is an exaggeration.

Patience in boat buying is a virtue. The first 280SS I saw was covered in spiders (as opposed to being covered with a tarp), had 750 hours, and had registration two years out of date. A short internet search found the same boat, same year, immaculate with well greased door and swim ladder, 170 hours and lower asking price. Guess which one I put an offer on?
 
So my 200+- hours a year are going to hurt some day. :lol: :smt043 :lol:
 
You own a boat. These things are not investments. Do not think of this as an investment. It is a life style choice. Like having an extra kid. Kids are not investments either, and they also suck up all your money.

Just right off the entire value of the thing, and be done with it.
 
comsnark said:
You own a boat. These things are not investments. Do not think of this as an investment. It is a life style choice. Like having an extra kid. Kids are not investments either, and they also suck up all your money.

Just right off the entire value of the thing, and be done with it.
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Ditto that! If you get anything back, that goes into the bank or the deposit on the upgrade!! :grin:

B.O.A.T. Break Out Another Thousand and don't worry about it! If you worry about value, then you won't use it. If you don't use it, what's the point of owning it?? Use it and have fun and sell it when you're done!
 
An engine will last basically forever if you follow a few simple rules.

Change the oil often, particularly if you take short trips that do not allow the engine and oil to reach full operating temperature for 30-45 minutes every time that you use it. Otherwise, the engine and oil do not get hot enough to cause any condensed moisture in the oil pan to turn to steam and get sucked out of the crankcase. If you regularly run your engine at its full, normal operating temperature, you can change the oil less frequently.

Do NOT allow it to overheat, ever, period. Know your engine's normal operating temperature, and go to idle immediately if you see it start going over that by more than 10-15 degrees. If you suspect that you are overheating, go to idle instead of "off" to see if it will start cooling down. When you kill the engine completely, the flow of coolant also stops. This will allow it to get even hotter, and may cause warping, or cracking, of the heads and block. It may also cause the motor to sieze up after you turn it off.

Know, and watch your boat's normal oil pressure range. If it is too high, or too low, kill the engine immediately. You have ZERO tolerance for error here. Wrong oil pressure = dead motor soon.

If you can control lubrication and heat, you will win the battle. Just remember that engines in general do not like high RPMs with no load. Under load, high RPMs are fine. Whenever changing RPM, ease the throttles up or down. When I go from full throttle to idle, I try to do it over 10-20 seconds of gradual throttle change. An engine is a big air pump. Chopping the throttles too quickly takes the bulk of the pressure off of the pistons (which were designed for it), and places it on the valvetrain which is now trying to slow the engine by regulating the airflow. Easing off of the throttles simply makes the pistons do less work each time and the engine slows on it's own. You hear big trucks "jake brake" all the time going down hills. Those big diesels were built for that. Car and boat engines are to a certain degree, but not for regular, hard use as the primary braking mechanism. When throttling up, do the same. Ease from idle to full throttle over a short span of time. This allows for less internal stress on every moving internal component by preventing the engine from working harder than it needs to. It is also much easier on the drive couplings, u joints, bearings, transmission, stern drive, etc.. I try to feed the throttle just enough to keep the engine pulling until it is where I want it to be.

Finally... listen to your engine. Learn what it sounds like. If you hear, or even think you hear, any unusual sound, stop and check it out immediately. When something wears enough to start making noise, there is very little time left before complete failure.

I'm no expert in the boating world, but I do know engines. I have a 1994 GMC Sonoma pickup with a 4.3l V6 in it. It has 343,526 miles on it. It runs about an hour each way to and from work (used to - I just got a new position at work which is %100 virtual - no more commutes :smt038 ). I do my oil changes at about 10K miles. I am the only person to ever put a wrench to it. It has never been overheated. Still runs like new. Doesn't even burn oil. Leaks a little (stupid rubber seals in timing chain cover and rear main bearing), but doesn't burn it. I'm killing my accountant :grin:. He had me schedule for a replacement vehicle 8 years ago. Told me to drive it until the wheels came off when I bought it in late '93. Now, he's telling me to stop bolting things back on. He's really gonna be upset if I tell him that I am thinking about rebuilding the engine just because its been a few years, and I just feel like rebuilding another engine for old times' sake.

Michael
 
Do we give awards at the end of each year for the most informative post? I learned a lot just from reading this. Thanks.
 
Thanks for all the great feedback. I like the 100 hrs. = 10k miles equation. That puts it in the right perspective.
 
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