engine hours

[togan9]

so what hours are on your boat and whats the highest average for these motors?

[996scott]

300 on my 07 LSV I don't know about others, but I would think if you maintain these engines properly you can go into 1000+ hrs easily. If you think about it, how many hours do you put on a car? hundreds of thousands easily I would guess. Just my .02

[bergermaister]

Not sure how that works for a reference point. My truck has just over 70k miles and just over 1500 hrs.

Boat just turned 500 hrs.

I've seen plenty of boats in the 700-800 range and you'd never know it.

[parrothd]

I had 800+ on mine 02 when sold. Just because a boat has low hours doesn't mean it's in good condition. Really depends on how it was maintained..

[millerda68]

We are at about 310-320 hours on ours. We are usually on the water 3 days a week during the season and are probably about 50/50 between just driving or additional load from towing.

[wolff supra21v]

My 07 21v is around 600 I hope to get that many more out of it. I am hoping it will be like a new boat when I am done with it this winter.

[valleywine]

210 on my 06' OBV. I think it largely depends how it's used. Some have hour meter active with radio running, some don't, like mine. Another consideration is how many hours are at idle and under power. My Jeep has 1100 hrs/37K miles for what it's worth. I have a buddy w/ 2500 hrs on his Nautique and still strong. Good maintenance is key.

[jelmhorst]

With the Indmar's and regular maintenance I was told that that you should be able to get 2000 hours+. Considering Ski schools can put 600-700 hours on a boat a season, this seems pretty reasonable.

220 hours on my LSV, third owner.

[gregski]

We're in the ballpark of 300 hours on the '07, which I consider low. I think of 100 hours per season as an approximate threshold for "a good summer". I sold my '89 DD with 1200 hours and it ran great and wasn't burning oil. I hear people talk about boat hours like anything over 500 is "high" but that seams ridiculous to me.

Just as a reference point, our truck has a little over 200k miles and something in the ballpark of 5500 hours (35 mph lifetime average seems typical)

[togan9]

mine has around 750 on it and it runs great but by its looks i dont think the previous owner was anal about its maintenance. what are some bigger things i need to see about replacing at my hour mark?

[kaneboats]

Around 1000 I would expect it to be time for things like alternator, starter and maybe raw water pump.

[togan9]

well alternator and started are brand new and waiting to be used this year

[slipperyrockTKE300]

approaching 200 hours on my 2009 OBV.

major repairs so far - had to replace exhaust manifolds.

Somehow one of them cracked...6 months out of Indmar warranty

[rca]

Just rolled past 380 on our 2011 that we got in 2012.

[New Guy]

When we had our 02 I sold it with 980 on it. I did the usual alt, starter. The guy who bought it was using it 3 days a week this past year so I would assume it has somewhere around 1100 on it now. He said no problems this year at all.

[murraymoomba]

668 on our 07 OBV. Still going strong.
Still has original battery but it probably wont crank this spring. It's been a good one.

[mmandley]

I'm surprised at so many low hours heh.

Mojo has 200 for 2 seasons.

I personally am not a fan of replacing things just because of hours or mileage unless its liquids or filters of course.
Your starter will generally give you signs its going bad, slow cranking, noises, random times it will click and not start.
Alternator will generally not give you any warning except maybe whining of a bearing.

I would give things a visual and make sure you don't see corrosion or wear like that.

One thing to mention on regular maintenance that I hardly ever see people ask about, the belt. It needs to be replaced as soon as you see cracks in the groves. Lose the belt and you lose fresh water cooling, and your alternator.

As for your engine the only real way to know how its doing is a cylinder compression test.
I personally change my impeller every season
Change all fluids each season including oil filter
Clean Spark Plugs at 200 / change at 400 <which I have never reached =/
Change Belt at 200
Have engine and trans alignment plus mounts checked at 200.

If you want to be preemptive on your fresh water pump, alternator, and or starter you can replace those when ever you feel the need of course. I for one don't want to be stuck with a no crank. Thats fo sho.

The Chevy 5.7 Small block is an awesome platform for an engine. It honestly should serve you for the life of the boat. I would expect to see 3K hours out of them with regular oil changes.

They do work much harder then a typical car engine since the transmissions are 1 speed but as long as your within the operating RPMs it shouldn't matter.

Now those ballast freaks <guilty> can expect to lose some hours to wear and tear. This is where a cylinder compression check comes in. IDK maybe try it at 500 and then every 250 after that. It will give you a good idea of the internal health, rings, valves seals, and the likes. Also look for smoke out of the exhaust, or heavy gas smells from your exhaust, this can be a sign of internal engine problems. Be aware these boats will smoke <steam> when water is below 60 due to exhaust water being much warmer.

I am interested to see how these Raptor engines hold up, I am a huge Ford fan but I have not heard of to many Raptor trucks with a lot of mileage yet to prove the long term worth of the 6.2L

[maxpower220]

Small block Chevy (or Ford) is a proven platform that should easily go 2-2500K hours without much issue. Many ski schools do over 1000 hours a yr and sell every year or two. The new "Raptor" is the same 6.2 that the F250 has run for a while and there are several trucks without issue in the 100K+ miles.

The real question on hours is the CATs on the newer engines and how well they hold up over time and hours.

I would (and did) rather buy an older boat with a lot of hours (1000) rather than an older boat with less than 50. Obviously, you always want to have mx records and history.