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Name:	John C -	Reply
Subject:	What's normal amount of hours per yr on a boat?
Date:	7/11/2011 1:30:19 PM

Forum folks, I am considering buying an i/o bowrider runabout style boat for the lake. All of my family's boats are too old to have hour counters on them so I am clueless as to what is normal for a boat.

Most of the boats I'm looking at are from 2000 - 2004 models.

What's a normal range of hours for boats like that?

Is there a rule of thumb?

Thanks!

Name:	Summer Lover -	Reply
Subject:	What's normal amount of hours per yr on a boat?
Date:	7/11/2011 1:55:54 PM

We have an 18', '04 bowrider, had to replace the hourmeter/tach at about 175 hours, I think the new one is at about 50 - 60 nours. We have not run it as much the past several years, tend to stay at the pier more (food is less expensive and for the most part right), and other than the idiot on the wakeboard boat at the back of the slough, there are far fewer morons to deal with.

Name:	Nancy Christine II -	Reply
Subject:	What's normal amount of hours per yr on a boat?
Date:	7/11/2011 1:57:38 PM

Not sure what your looking for in that question but a good rule of thumb for Hr's to miles is 1Hr = 60 miles. It will mostly depend on if the boat was kept at the lake or was trailed.
Most boats in the water often have more hours than boats the need to be pulled to the lake.

Name:	Ulysses E. McGill -	Reply
Subject:	What's normal amount of hours per yr on a boat?
Date:	7/11/2011 1:59:22 PM (updated 7/11/2011 2:06:59 PM)

Hours will be very widely. Call me tomorrow and I will share some ideas.

Name:	John C -	Reply
Subject:	What's normal amount of hours per yr on a boat?
Date:	7/11/2011 2:02:20 PM

thanks. E.g. I saw a 2003 Sea Ray Sundeck advertised with 315 hours. I don't know if that's good, bad, or average. It is a boat that is dry stored at a marina on Lake Lanier.

Name:	CAT BOAT -	Reply
Subject:	What's normal amount of hours per yr on a boat?
Date:	7/11/2011 3:30:07 PM

Maintanance, that is your friend. If you find a boat with 800 hours on it, and the customer has good records it could be in great condition. My Master Craft has 957 hours on it. All 8 cylinders have about the same compression, and the engine is generally healthy. You can pull operating history from modern engines with ECU's and gather tons of information that will help you. We see some boats with 100 hours with crazy information. Like "500-1,000 rpm 1 hr" "4,500-5,000rpm 99hrs" lol)Hi-Performance engines, say 500hp+ can run 500+ hours with no issues, provided they are taken care of. 300 hours does'nt sound like it's too bad! My .02 worth.

Name:	Samdog -	Reply
Subject:	What's normal amount of hours per yr on a boat?
Date:	7/11/2011 4:02:47 PM

Good advise. I would rather have a boat that has been used regularly and maintained than one with low hours that has been done lots of sitting around. I bet the water patrol boats have thousands of hours but they run every day and get regular care.

Name:	CAT BOAT -	Reply
Subject:	Not that is matters.....
Date:	7/11/2011 4:17:55 PM

But my 1995 2-door Tahoe that I drive every day has 227,000 miles on it. Really it does! I love it, it runs great and it has been very well taken care of. The paint looks fabulous, the carpet is nice and clean, the A/C works great. Maintanance is your friend. 1/4 of a million miles.>>>>> :o

Name:	GoneFishin -	Reply
Subject:	Hey Nancy
Date:	7/11/2011 4:49:20 PM

Nancy, I am confused. When you say 1HR = 60 miles do you mean a car?

Name:	Summer Lover -	Reply
Subject:	Hey Nancy
Date:	7/11/2011 4:56:13 PM

I heard CAT bein' called lots of things, but never heard him bein' called Nancy, I guess you got to be a special friend to get away with that.....

Name:	CAT BOAT -	Reply
Subject:	Hey Nancy
Date:	7/11/2011 4:59:47 PM

Now "Thats' some funny chit right there". LMAO

Name:	Nancy Christine II -	Reply
Subject:	Hey Nancy
Date:	7/11/2011 5:19:13 PM (updated 7/11/2011 5:20:30 PM)

LOL that is funny.........................

For some one who does not often think of engines in Hr's, a good way for that person to get a idea of what it means is to convert Hr's to miles.

But it's a loose rule of thumb becasue as you know marine engines run at much higher RPM's that a car.

Just a conversion to visualize Hr's for the lay person.

Right Nancy?,,,,,,,,,,,Opps I mean CAT.

Name:	greycove -	Reply
Subject:	What's normal amount of hours per yr on a boat?
Date:	7/12/2011 8:58:22 AM

Nancy...my brother retired as head of equipment maintenance (trucks, tractors, bulldoziers, train engines, company cars, etc.) for a large paper mill in Florida. He tells me they equated each hour on a piece of equipment at the equivalent of 50 miles on an vehicle for service requirements. Quite close to your number. So a boat with 250 hours would be about the same as a vehicle with 12,500 miles in terms of wear and tear.

Name:	mckaygmc -	Reply
Subject:	What's normal amount of hours per yr on a boat?
Date:	7/13/2011 7:56:35 PM (updated 7/13/2011 7:57:08 PM)

Many of the Fork lifts I service have well over 12,000 hrs on them..However they are governed at 2,000 - 3,000rpm.
Not nearly as high rpms as a boat engine. But they are subjected to ALOT of abuse.

Name:	John C -	Reply
Subject:	thx for the advice on boat hours, boat wanted.
Date:	7/14/2011 3:20:02 PM

good info and perspective from all. I have narrowed my search down to ( I think ) to a 2000 - 2003 Sea Ray Sundeck 240. The only trouble is that it's kinda hard to find a good used one that is reasonably close.

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