engine hours

[MalibuSue]

Hey, I have a question about engine hours.. So many things I read point to...  it is not a bad thing to have higher engine hours. My boat has 990 hours and runs awesome! I've read that a well used boat and regularly serviced is a bonus vs an unused boat with less hours. What are your thoughts and how long will my 2003 Monsoon 335 last me. Thanks

[granddaddy55]

im on pace for almost three thousand in your 17 -18 years, Indmar 330 5.75 years with 983, seems to run the same as new.

i think it is about lack of lay up time.  i actually owned boat for 6.5 years.  i was laid up with broken a femur for nine months, but on crutches i pulled it by hand and feet sitting on the tongue out from carport 4 weeks after break and once a month thereafter until i was surfing again

i had non ethanol as usual in my tank, though they say it makes no difference in a modern motor, i believe i will get in the long run better fuel system performance and less degradation, same fuel in it when i broke leg starting it for nine months

Friend runs super high hours in a PCM G (year round usage) and he gets codes when he doesn't run fuel injector cleaner on a regular  basis (quarterly?) as he burns ethanol but other than that the motor seems to run great 

i rarely achieve 50 hour oil changes (2 maybe 3) and just did a 76 over summer and an 81 hour interval yesterday with 25-40 semi synthetic mercruiser oil and filter , will probably do almost 300++ when my season ends in march

i think its about how many weekends a year you start and run the boat, i probably avg 44++

i think the hours may be limitless if the boat is run frequently

to extend the life of your cats, if you dont list to surf you may not need this, you may consider the plumbing kit they modified the Indmars with that came factory on the 12-14 models i think

Edited October 27, 2020 by granddaddy55

[wdr]

Let me preface this post with I am kind of OCD when it comes to maintenance. I had 1024 hours on my 2010, 350 Monsoon when I sold it in ‘18 which saw me at @ 128 hrs a year. I was going 50 hours and switched to a 33 hr change as the oil was looking a little dirtier than I would of liked come the 50 hour interval. @ 800 hours I had the oil tested at Blackstone Labs and they said it looked great. Given a regular oil change and maintenance I wouldn't worry about the hours. Is it overkill, probably but I know the engine internals are being taken care of. That leaves me to only have to worry about the high dollar “bubbling display” and intermittent computer glitches. IMO, if someone isn’t using it because they are worried about the hours they may as well get rid of it. That mentality kind of defeats the purpose of owning it in the first place. The opinion of “I would rather own a well maintained higher hour boat over a low hour beater” has been posted on here many times. The only time I have really even been exposed to the high hour mentality has been at the dealership. I was looking to do a trade in for my 2010 and they low balled me on the price by $10k from the market average at the time. I got that 10k the following week when I sold it on my own. Then when I picked up my ordered ‘19 the dealership said “once I got 300 hours on it, I should bring it down and get a new one”. I guess 300 hours is getting close to their profit margin comfort zone.

[Woodski]

@MalibuSue - it will last many hours, as noted above, although it will need repairs right after poor winter maintenance if in a freezing climate, impeller failure followed by not noticing the overheating, or lack of proper maintenance.  Simply stated, will provide many hours of great service if treated properly. 

[Surf4FamFun]

Running any mechanical or electrical device consumes a finite resource (usable lifespan).  There are enough variables (materials specification and QC, design, assembly, operating environment, operating profile (do you take the plane off on afterburners or gently accelerate down the runway with a minimal power setting), maintenance routines that accurately predicting lifespan is not really feasible.

Observations:

Don't remember reading about worn out motors on this board.  Mostly boats get too old,  something "lets go", or there is freeze damage.  Just don't remember reading that someone has so many hours on a motor that it could not do the job anymore.  

Two simple things about oil.  It gets dirty, the dirty part is particulates that the filter cant take out that are circulating and I assume do not help with lubrication.  Over time depending its makeup and the operating environment its ability to lubricate is reduced.  This is why frequent oil changes are advised.  Local Toyota shop was putting a new engine in an Avalon at 37k a few years ago.  Had never had the oil changed, pretty extreme example but there was no reason that engine could not have gone 200k plus except it did not get routine maintenance.  There are endless debates over the best oil, better oil and fewer changes vs regular oil and more changes,  Important thing is to do it with an oil that meets the viscosity recommendations and at least as often as recommended.  Anything other than that and you are betting against the OEM testing.  Interesting note; if the ECM on our 22 LSV is reporting correctly when we are surfing it is putting out 300 HP, there is no analogy to that in daily driving unless you are delivering catering supplies to Pikes Peak as your day job.  I presume this is where the 50 hour oil change recommendation comes from, very high shear pressures on the oil and extream temps in very localized spots in the engine, tough operating environment, changing the oil resets those parameters.  

Oil testing is interesting; as I understand it you learn about if the oil has deteriorated (are you changing often enough?) and what wear materials from the engine are in the oil, the tricky thing is what do you do if there is an abnormal test showing wear.

 

[wdr]

For me the main reason for oil testing was 1 peace of mind and 2 leverage . If I even got a hint of blow by in the oil I was going to trade it in. The testing showed none of that and only what would be considered normal wear for the things other than oil in the used oil. The leverage part was kind of selfish and a “the sky is falling and we might want to consider a new boat” if things were out of the norm in the oil. Fortunately she was already looking anyway and I didn’t have to play that card.