How many hours is too much?

(skatehawk11) · (skatehawk11) **Join Date: May 2008** 08-22-2008, 4:36 PM

so i been looking around boats for sale in my area in an attempt to find something awesome that may help me persuade my dad to picking up an inboard. I found this awesome 2000 SAN d-drive for 25000! I think thats an awesome price compared to what i've seen. The thing is my dad is complaining that theres 350 hours on it! Is 350 too much? How many hours on a boat is too much?

(bill_airjunky) · (bill_airjunky) **Join Date: Apr 2002** 08-22-2008, 4:44 PM

350 hrs is like having 65,000 miles on your truck. Average use in most areas is around 75 hours per year. So that would be like 5 yrs of use.... in an 8 yr old boat. Pretty light in my book.

(formfunction) · (formfunction) **Join Date: Jun 2008** 08-22-2008, 4:46 PM

1500 is pretty high hours for that boat.if it had that many I would make sure he serviced it good.350 I think is a good number if not a little low.If you go too low it just means the boat sat a whole lot and probably isn't in that good a shape.

(trdon) · (trdon) **Join Date: Sep 2007** 08-22-2008, 4:48 PM

25K sounds like a lot to me for a direct drive. I have seen same year V drives for within 2k of that price and DD for near 20.

Not to mention 350 hours isnt much. I bought mine with 420 and my other one with 525 and didnt flinch at all fro either. I have looked at some with as much as 850 and didnt care at all. 900 or more I would think twice about though.

(westsiderippa) · (westsiderippa) **Join Date: Dec 2006** 08-22-2008, 4:54 PM

350 is nothing most of the guys i know will have that in less than 2 years, including myself, thats why i sell my boats typically after a year or two. but i want to know what do you do with the boat if its got 1000+ hrs and is basically washed up and no one wants her anymore. sink it? lol. seriously what would you do. alot of wake camp boat owners go through this because they have 500 hrs in a year on there boats then cant sell them. trade in? bone yard? what?

(rio_sanger) · (rio_sanger) **Join Date: Apr 2007** 08-22-2008, 5:07 PM

"350 hrs is like having 65,000 miles on your truck"

Bill, you may be a bit off on your calculations,
That would be averaging 185 mph in your truck!

Regardless though, 350 on a 2000 is nothing,that thing is barely broken in
...probably be more like 15,000 miles on a truck.

(johnsvt) · (johnsvt) **Join Date: Dec 2006** 08-22-2008, 5:23 PM

I would rather have a boat with about 100hours per year than a boat with 10 hours per year. I will add that the boat needs to be in reasonable shape, though.

(bill_airjunky) · (bill_airjunky) **Join Date: Apr 2002** 08-22-2008, 5:30 PM

chris (rio_sanger) on Friday, August 22, 2008 - 5:07 pm: Edit Post Delete Post
"350 hrs is like having 65,000 miles on your truck"

Bill, you may be a bit off on your calculations,
That would be averaging 185 mph in your truck!

Regardless though, 350 on a 2000 is nothing,that thing is barely broken in
...probably be more like 15,000 miles on a truck.

Sorry man. I wasn't basing that on speed, but on 15,000 average miles per year. 15,000 x 5 = 65,000.

But you got it.

(formfunction) · (formfunction) **Join Date: Jun 2008** 08-22-2008, 5:31 PM

I looked at a cc with a thousand hours and it looked almost new.Right next to it was a supra with two hundred that looked like the junkyard so paying attention to the service and condition is very important.

(treycleaton) · (treycleaton) **Join Date: Mar 2005** 08-22-2008, 5:35 PM

That seems like a lot for a DD. You can get a new Centurion DD for a little over 30k

(skatehawk11) · (skatehawk11) **Join Date: May 2008** 08-22-2008, 6:02 PM

we bought our sea ray last year....its a 2003 and it had 75 hours on it. And since weve put about 100 hours on a season. So 350 is nothing i guess. I just needed an idea... thanks everyone!

(tampawake) · (tampawake) **Join Date: Mar 2008** 08-22-2008, 6:28 PM

350 is nothing

(suprarider501) · (suprarider501) **Join Date: Aug 2008** 08-23-2008, 6:59 AM

i have an 07 supra with 350 hours on it.... its nothing

and thats just from 1 season.

(Message edited by suprarider501 on August 23, 2008)

(1boarder_kevin)

I would say a normal life would be 1500-2000. My dads 85 MC has 1500 hours and still runs strong.

(bird_dog0347) · (bird_dog0347) **Join Date: Feb 2006** 08-23-2008, 8:16 AM

350 is nothing if properly maintained... for example, my truck has a little over 1000 hours on it according to the driver info center. It is a 2006 chevy HD and it has 32k miles on it. If your car has an hour meter... go check it, I think everyone here will be very surprised. And my truck tows a lot too, so I don't want to hear how much harder my boat engine is working, it is not that much different.

Also, they recommend that you change the oil every 50 hours in a boat, and 3k miles in a car... so that math says 350 hours would be like 21k miles for the boat. I don't think it is anywhere near that though as I change my own oil in the truck and boat and the boat oil is no where near as brown after 50 hours as the truck is after 3k miles.

(hbguy) · (hbguy) **Join Date: Jun 2005** 08-23-2008, 8:31 AM

On a 2000, I would rather have 350 than 150.

(chaser) · (chaser) **Join Date: Sep 2006** 08-23-2008, 1:34 PM

"Sorry man. I wasn't basing that on speed, but on 15,000 average miles per year. 15,000 x 5 = 65,000. "
That's actually 75000. :-)

I'm definately no mechaninc, but when running my 2500HD truck, I'm usually running around 2000RPMS. When running my boat, I'm around 3000RPMS. Start doing the math on that and you'll see in a years time your boat engine is seeing alot more RPM's over the same amount of time. I would guess that means more engine wear in comparison to your truck? But back to the original question, 350Hrs seems like normal to maybe even low hours on a boat that age.

(mac_attack) · (mac_attack) **Join Date: Oct 2003** 08-23-2008, 3:57 PM

Super Airs didn't come in D-Drives that year. That is to much for a D-Drive but the hours for that year is not high at all. If it was a super air (v-drive) the price would be about right depending on condition, accessories, etc.

Here are a few Super Airs in that price range.
http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/8/605163.html?1216934206
http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/8/594788.html?1214492204

(newty) · (newty) **Join Date: May 2005** 08-23-2008, 5:35 PM

My 03 tahoe has an hour meter in it and has 2600hrs and 62000 miles. 350 is nothing.

(bac) · (bac) **Join Date: Feb 2008** 08-23-2008, 5:43 PM

My 08 Silverado has 34k on it, and I'm just south of 700 hours. So it is possible to have high mileage and lower hours, but its not very likely to be the case with a towboat.

(Message edited by bac on August 23, 2008)

(bigshow) · (bigshow) **Join Date: Feb 2005** 08-23-2008, 6:17 PM

Average rpms on your truck is maybe 2,000. Average rpms on you boat is more like 3,200. It's different.

(tinytdubb) · (tinytdubb) **Join Date: Jul 2007** 08-24-2008, 8:49 AM

newty brings up an interesting point

(face_smash) · (face_smash) **Join Date: Aug 2004** 08-25-2008, 5:36 AM

A guy who runs a ski school on my lake has had a boat since 1998 and its had done just under 25,000 hours before it started struggling last year!!! He had it serviced all the time and had oil changed 2 or 3 times a season!! However, he just had an engine rebuild and its back on the water!!! Going all day everyday!!! He also has a correct craft 230 but he likes the small one as its great for beginners!!!

So i guess the answer is no 350 hours is nothing!!! I was told that V8s dont start to loosen up until they have done 1000 hours!!!

(nickbot) · (nickbot) **Join Date: Feb 2007** 08-25-2008, 8:08 AM

350 is nothing. if it gets up around 1500 - 2000 rebuild it...

(deneng) · (deneng) **Join Date: Feb 2005** 08-25-2008, 8:43 AM

My 84 has 1200 hours and still has good compresion and runs good. I don't know why people worry about the hours on a V8. 25000 hours? Thats like 2500 year or 200 a month or 8 hours a day 365 days a year.

(rmdanie) · (rmdanie) **Join Date: Jun 2007** 08-25-2008, 8:56 AM

Our 02 Supra has 1400 hours. It was owned by a wakeboard school before we bought it. maintained better than book recommendations. I had compression checked before I purchased and it was tight. Runs sweet and has never given me a lick of problems. Oil generally looks better than my vehicles oil when changed.

When I bought it it had 1167 hours. I decided then that I would rather have a well used boat owned by an experienced person.

To each his own. I hope others feel this way too because I am about to have to sell my ride since Baby Daniels will arrive in January.

Ryan

(guitsboy) · (guitsboy) **Join Date: Aug 2005** 08-25-2008, 9:23 AM

Its hard to determine exactly how hard every hour is on your boat. Granted when youre pulling a rider up, or youre blasting across the lake, the motor is under a heavy load. But my boat spends a good amount of time at idle, and when pulling it only sees about 2700 - 2800 rpm even fully sacked out. That a moderate load, but nothing outrageous. But in my case, between warming up and idling through my channel out to the big lake, then idling back, I probably add almost 20 minutes of idle time to the clock. I might go out and come back 3 times in a single day, thats an hour on the clock with virtually no load. That adds up pretty quick.

Personally I wish they measured engine use in gallons of fuel used as opposed to engine hours. If you figure a 20 MPG truck with a 350 would go through 5000 gallons of gas over 100K miles, now if you figure that an average boat cruising chews about 5 GPH, you get: 100K in the truck is close to 1000 hours of use.

Still using this equation or any others for that matter is pretty meaningless. Bottom line is that most older engines need to be freshened up after 1500 to 2000 hours. Newer motors might last a bit longer thanks to fuel injection and added protection built into the computers like knock sensors, etc. However the biggest concern is how it was used and the maintenance done.

(kkong72) · (kkong72) **Join Date: Apr 2007** 08-25-2008, 4:39 PM

Guy from around Cincinnati has an 8 year old Malibu response with 8000 hours on it

(guitsboy) · (guitsboy) **Join Date: Aug 2005** 08-25-2008, 4:43 PM

8000?!? Holy good god! What does he just leave the key in the on position when he's not using the boat?

(05mobiuslsv) · (05mobiuslsv) **Join Date: Apr 2006** 08-25-2008, 4:48 PM

That's alot of gas.

(crowem87) · (crowem87) **Join Date: Nov 2005** 08-25-2008, 7:44 PM

1200 here and still running strong

(denverd1)

754 on mine. If halfass maintained, 2000 hrs is nothing. ring job and a rebuild should get you another couple thousand. People freak out because they don't understand engines. It's nice b/c there are some bargains out there.

(cccbuilders) · (cccbuilders) **Join Date: Jun 2007** 08-26-2008, 9:56 AM

220 1 year. the more hours (good) Less hours means the boat sits and sits (not so good)

(grant_west) · (grant_west) **Join Date: Jun 2005** 08-26-2008, 10:05 AM

Tony has a good point:

I say it's all about how the boat is USED. A boat that has been sacked out and banged over doubble ups all day long but has only 40 50 hrs on it has some miles on it. Some say you shouldnt even pull heavy loads for 20 -30 hr's.

When trying to figure out how many hrs is to much on the boat. Try asking the owner how much of the time on the Hr meter is under load?