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Boat hours


Bad1king

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I'm looking for advice.  Looking at buying a new Malibu MXZ 22 2017.  We found one we love but the hours on the boat are keeping us from making an offer.  The boat is very well maintained and in great shape but has 460 hours on it.  The seller provided us a breakdown of the hours and speed and RPMS.  The first 229 hours was at 700 RPM and between 4 and 6 MPH.  The most of the rest of the hours are what I would call normal use, 11 to 12 MPH at 3500 RPMs. How concerned should we be with buying this boat with this many hours for a 17? Love the boat and I think the price reflects (in the ball park) of the hours. 

Thanks for any advice

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<500 hrs, esp. with that  distribution  means the thing has hardly been run.  Good for at least another 1500-2000 hours if it has and will be maintained correctly.  The hours/RPMs prove my point that half  of the time these things are just idling around.  

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12 minutes ago, Bad1king said:

Really want to buy this boat! Damn hours, wish it wasn’t staying at me at the helm! Lol 

If the hour number is the only thing bugging you, then learn to drive with your eyes closed.  The hours on this thing are peanuts.  We are 650 (slalom at 32-26 mph) on a 99 - no issues whatsoever.  Had to do the fuel pump and that is it.

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30 minutes ago, oldjeep said:

Curious if people are really getting 1500-2000 hours on surf boat engines sacked out and lugging them at mid rpms .  Slalom is a whole other animal.

Good question.  I've been in ski school Nautiues with close to 3K hours; no idea if surf boats are that durable.  Nonetheless, with ~300 hrs, the OP's boat is good for  YEARS.

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My 2014 LSV has 610 hours.  I am of the opinion that hours really aren't that important, as long as the boat is well maintained.  That said, I would use it as a negotiation tool.

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4 hours ago, RyanB said:

My 2014 LSV has 610 hours.  I am of the opinion that hours really aren't that important, as long as the boat is well maintained.  That said, I would use it as a negotiation tool.

agreed about the hours not being a deal breaker.  overall condition is what drives the value of the boat.  

as for the 1500-2000 hour goal, I have no doubt that these motors will go that distance.  probably similar to 250k on a late model vehicle. I think the reason you dont see many with that number of hours is that high hour boats usually have multiple owners and maintenance start to get neglected.  

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17 hours ago, oldjeep said:

Curious if people are really getting 1500-2000 hours on surf boat engines sacked out and lugging them at mid rpms .  Slalom is a whole other animal.

Honest question.  Have you seen a thread, here or anywhere else, about engine replacement on a high hour boat?  I haven't.  The only time I ever see engine replacement threads are when someone improperly de-summerized their engine.

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3 minutes ago, RyanB said:

Honest question.  Have you seen a thread, here or anywhere else, about engine replacement on a high hour boat?  I haven't.  The only time I ever see engine replacement threads are when someone improperly de-summerized their engine.

I've seen plenty of them about ski boats with 1500-2000 hours on them.  That is why I was curious if the wake boats are seeing similar lifetimes.  Seems like most of the surfer types here are flipping boats every couple years, don't really hear much about surf boats with high hours (over 1000)

Edited by oldjeep
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1 minute ago, oldjeep said:

I've seen plenty of them about ski boats with 1500-2000 hours on them.  That is why I was curious if the wake boats are seeing similar lifetimes.  Seems like most of the surfer types here are flipping boats every couple years, don't really hear much about surt boats with high hours.

It seems to me that RPMs are RPMs.  Does it really put more stress on an engine turning 3500 RPMs pushing weight than not?  I think you can make a strong argument that a ski tug would have its engine under more strain running at the RPMs necessary to ski at 30ish MPH.

Maybe its the same, maybe not, but I know of many small block powered houseboats that run 3000 - 5000 + hours before overhaul.  They are pushing a lot more weight than my LSV.  And are running hours on end at 3000 RPMs.

But you are right in that I haven't seen many posts about high hours in a surf boat.  Maybe I will be the first.

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My 2016 has 650+ hours on it and they're all surf hours.  Our boat is running like clock work.  We surf probably 150 - 200 hours a year, so I'll be able  to answer this question by 2025 easy.....

Dave

 

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One of the surf buddies has a 2018 that is creeping up into the mid 1000s range very fast. He had some problems with it around 600, those were dealt with. Since then it’s mostly just been belts and the odd small thing. Most of the problems have been around ballast pumps and other accessory options. 
 

Pretty much every buyer is scared of anything with more than 400 hours. Not that they’re worried about problems but more so resale. 

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19 hours ago, oldjeep said:

Curious if people are really getting 1500-2000 hours on surf boat engines sacked out and lugging them at mid rpms .  Slalom is a whole other animal.

My wife and I went to Turks and Caicos last year and went surfing with Wake to Wake and if my memory serves me right, Mark told me that they generally get around 2,000 hours on their surf boat engines before they need to be replaced. I think they had just replaced an engine on one of their Axis a couple months before we were there and it had around 2,000 hours. Pretty impressive if you ask me!

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I bought a 2014 23 LSV with 375 hours on it that was very well maintained - it looked like new and ran like a top, never had a single issue with it.  Wouldn't hesitate to go the same route again if it was well maintained the entire time.

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6 minutes ago, teamerickson said:

“The first 229 hours was at 700 RPM and between 4 and 6 MPH.“

What? That seems strange? Endless 5mph zone?!

He's just looking at a diacomm report that shows hours in each RPM range and estimating the speeds that sort of relates to.  The speed estimation assumes that the prop that is on it now has always been on it.

Edited by oldjeep
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It sounds like the previous owner preferred to fumigate folks on the swimstep for fear of ruining the starter, which might cost $500 to fix.  Now he takes $8000 in extra depreciation because he kept the engine idling all the time.  Saved a lot of money with that one.  

And BTW, these starters are very reliable as well.  Turning the boat off will not hurt it.  

I would buy the boat if he has maintained it well.  Hours mean little to me, but because they mean something to the next guy who buys the boat, you have some leverage.  Good case of where perception does not reflect reality.  Don't get worked up over the hours.  

 

Having said all of that, it also depends on the usage pattern.  When I go to Lake Powell, the boat is loaded with extra people, sits in the sun, has food in the boat and is exposed to wind, rain and sandstorms.  I also am maneuvering around the houseboat in those conditions so my risk of dinging the fiberglass goes up exponentially.  25 hours at Lake Powell is worth about 100 hours of usage at my home lake where we make short trips, no food, and leave if the weather is bad.  You would be able to tell if it had those sorts of hours if he did not clean it up well afterward. 

Edited by TallRedRider
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3 minutes ago, TallRedRider said:

It sounds like the previous owner preferred to fumigate folks on the swimstep for fear of ruining the starter, which might cost $500 to fix. 

It helps encourage them to stop screwing around and get in or out ;)

 

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25 minutes ago, teamerickson said:

“The first 229 hours was at 700 RPM and between 4 and 6 MPH.“

What? That seems strange? Endless 5mph zone?!

Idle speed to pick up skiers/surfers or just ferkeling around...

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4 hours ago, RyanB said:

It seems to me that RPMs are RPMs.  Does it really put more stress on an engine turning 3500 RPMs pushing weight than not?  I think you can make a strong argument that a ski tug would have its engine under more strain running at the RPMs necessary to ski at 30ish MPH.

Maybe its the same, maybe not, but I know of many small block powered houseboats that run 3000 - 5000 + hours before overhaul.  They are pushing a lot more weight than my LSV.  And are running hours on end at 3000 RPMs.

But you are right in that I haven't seen many posts about high hours in a surf boat.  Maybe I will be the first.

a ski tug is generally 1 mph per 100 rpm.  On my response, at 34, I'm turning 3300 rpm.  A 2400 #boat w a skier at 34 is WAY less drivetrain stress than an 8000# rig going 11 at 3500.

In any event, OP is looking at a 17 which means it has the raptor.  Not saying its any less reliable than the ol' 350, but we are certainly devoid of long term reliability.

That said OP, engines are not nearly as expensive as people make them out to be.  I replaced a 350 last year for under $3,000 new.  Is the Ford 6.2 more?  Probably, but it's not like its a 350 HP mercury verado, either.

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