Is 900 hours too much on a boat?

I have an opportunity to buy a Mastercraft Prostar 205 at a great price. Is it cheap because it has 900 hours on it? How many hours is too much? When do engines go out? Any help would be great!

Depends on how that motor was treated in those 900 hours.

We had an 89' Prostar 190 with 1500hrs on it, sold to some friends of ours last year and its still going strong to this day. Only thing they have done is rebuild the carb. No other prombles at all really.

Check the tranny for slipping and if the boat is in neutral the prop shouldn't be moving. Check the sparks for color. Test drive the boat (for at least 15-30 minutes), look for blue smoke. Wakeboard a little behind it, and check the boat itselfs.
Check after this the on all eight cilinders the compression and the color of the sparks.

If all this is good, the engine is probably good (perhaps some minor things). I know boats which are up 3000 hours and still going strong. Mostly the tranny is the first thing which breaks.

It all depends on the load and maintenance.

Have 1100 on my 2000 x-5. Still purrs like new. If it was taken care of, it will last you many many years.

I bought a PS 205 for 11500 with 975 hours on it. We put on over 200 this summer. The only thing wrong is the tranny has a slow leak. So it didn't like sacs too much. But my uncle is a mechanic and we are going to rebuild it come march or so and it will be fine. The thing is if the tranny goes bad, it's $1,000. So do what you can to get that sucker in the water. Spin it around a few times and make it actually work.

It seems like the hardest thing on the engines is leaving the boat outside. When the boats are indoors they don't build up the condensation that they do outside, especially in places with a cold winter. I compared a '92 Malibu we had to a '93 MasterCraft of a friends a couple years ago. Ours was always garaged, his always left outside. When you opened our engine cover, the engine looked like it was brand new. Opened his, their was surface rust all over. The result, our engine ran without one problem with 1500+ hours, his run poorly with about 500. Like the posters above said, it all depends on how the boat is taken care of. I've seen ski school boats go over 3000 hrs.

From what I know about the boat, it has a 4 blade oj prop, tower & speakers & lights, launch seat and lead, interior need to be replaced, 900 hours. SO I'm guessing it was used quite a bit with a lot of weight in it. I just didn't want to pass up a Prostar for $10,000 just because it had higher hours. Still sounds like a good deal or should I keep looking?

What year is it??? I would be leary of a Pro Star 205 for $10,000. Don't buy it without having a dealer check it out, that is well worth the money. If the boat was heavily weighted there could be tranny problems, etc. You're going to spend a good amount to get the interior re-done etc.

It is a 1995 Prostar 205. I have been emailed several pics and it looks like it is in great shape, except for the interior. How much should I expect to pay for a new interior?

depends on the workmanship, if you go with MC skins, I would guess a few grand??? Make sure you take it out on the water before you buy it and see how it runs.

Just a hunch, but a 95 with a trashed interior may be a sign that the guy did not care much about keeping the boat in good shape. That includes the engine. I would definatly have a dealer look it over the drivetrain and the steering etc with a fine tooth comb. You can clean up an engine to make it look purdy, but if he did not keep up with oil changes it could be a problem.