Digital gauge hr meter when purchasing a boat

[Liamfm]

Hi all, I've come across a few '00-01 sport nautiques for sale, but of course they are all plagued with the digital gauge issue. That being broken or replaced hour meters and the gt-40 engine. How does one determine value on these boats considering the lack of information on the hrs? Some look quite nice, but having no idea of the hrs scares me both on the initial purchase and on the resale value.

Thanks!

[MLars]

I kind of went with my gut when I bought mine. My seller was extremely forward with all information he had regarding the boat. It was in above average condition and had only 300 hours on it. I lifted up the dashboard the other day to see if the gauges had been replaced, and all wiring and mounting points looked like they hadn't been touched since new. It is tricky though because at one point I believe correct craft offered a free replacement of these under warranty. This was pretty close to when they came out so mine could have been replaced very early on in their life and I wouldn't have even known. And honestly I would go based more on condition of the boat and how it was maintained versus the amount of hours anyways. A high hour boat can be in better shape than a boat that was beat on with half as many hours.

[DW SD]

2000 hours at 30 miles per hour is only 60k miles. Equate that to a car.
Just go on condition and maintenance records.
I believe a properly maintained gt40 could go 10k hours.
I'd be as scared of a 100 hour boat. Best would be something used for hours at a time each and every week and properly maintained. . I think. 9 months hiatus every year doesn't do a mechanical thing like an engine any good.


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[Pitty]

If they have perfect pass, it stores the hours as well, i believe push on/off and menu buttons at the same time and you will be able to see the hours

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[Tallredrider]

Hours are irrelevant on a 17 or 18 year old boat. Do a compression test on the engine and judge the condition of the boat by what you see and how it functions.

[Liamfm]

Great advice everyone, thank you!

[jmo]

A maintenance log can help support the hours on the gauge.

There are honest people out there - I was one of them that sold an 01 GT40 Nautique.

I actually rolled the existing hours onto the replacement analog gauge so it was correct.


______________________________________
2006 SN 196 Limited Excalibur
2001 Super Sport Limited GT40

[Sailfun]

2000 hours at 30 miles per hour is only 60k miles. Equate that to a car.
Just go on condition and maintenance records.
I believe a properly maintained gt40 could go 10k hours.
I'd be as scared of a 100 hour boat. Best would be something used for hours at a time each and every week and properly maintained. . I think. 9 months hiatus every year doesn't do a mechanical thing like an engine any good.


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This is really not a valid comparison. A car at 30 MPH is probably using about 40 HP if not less. A boat at 30 mph is probably using 200 plus HP. Push it to 36 and your using 250. Boat engines live very hard lives compared to auto engines.

[DW SD]

This is really not a valid comparison. A car at 30 MPH is probably using about 40 HP if not less. A boat at 30 mph is probably using 200 plus HP. Push it to 36 and your using 250. Boat engines live very hard lives compared to auto engines.

Maybe a valid point, and definitely don't want to argue. Then again, we aren't talking about engines with 5000+ hours here.

What do you think the real lifespan is?

I have 250k miles on my 1999 toyota land cruiser and it burns zero oil and passes smog by a mile (no need to do a compression test, so I can't cite that). I'd speculate if I continue to maintain it, could easily see 500k miles without opening it. I'll probably replace it before it goes that far.

I have an L92 (Gen IV LS engine, aluminum 6.2L from a truck very similar to LS3) in a hotrod I built. It has 170k miles on it. Also burns no oil between changes and absolutely rips.

Personally, I think fuel injected engines and when properly maintained will last a very very long time, even in a marine setting. Much longer than most offer credit. The reason I mention fuel injected (vs. carb'd) is they meter fuel much better and don't tend to wash out cylinders (especially when a carb needs rebuilding, which seemed to be annual in a Nautique I had 20 years ago).

My $0.02.

Doug

[Sailfun]

I would say 1500 hours is a valid number. Every engine is going to be different. A boat with no ballast used for skiing and cruising is going to have a engine that will last far longer then a boat slammed with 5000 lbs of ballast. Aircaft engines that run much like boat engines at constant high power settings generally go 1500 to 2000 hours.

[DW SD]

Interesting that perspective and thank you. And I don't know that you are wrong 100%, but I'm pretty confident you are wrong and still believe that these engines can (and should) last many thousands of hours. Still, I'm very happy to agree to disagree.

We should start a thread to poll long time hours and their use hours on the engines! Maybe I will. And am now curious.

I have definitely seen folks here claim many thousands of reliable hours of use from their nautique engines.

I run with 2400 lbs of ballast or so on an OG 210. I'm still not at 1/2 throttle (assuming the throttle arm is approximately linear) when we are surfing @ 10.5 mph and 3200 rpms. I've read most engine wear actually happens during starting, not necessarily during use under load. (top fuel dragsters excluded ) I would not be surprised that at higher throttle settings more

I had thought airplane engine overhauls are mandated by FAA procedures / requirements / schedules.

Doug

[Tallredrider]

Obviously an airplane engine failure is worse than an boat engine failure. I think that number of hours is an FAA procedure, not because it is necessary per se.

My experience of one guy...a buddy of mine had a Nautique of the time you guys are talking. The engine was rebuilt at 3400 hours and had belonged to a ski school that kept detailed maintenance schedules.

[Sailfun]

Aircraft engines have a recommended time between overhauls. It's not a requirement and the engines are generally overhauled on condition. They are checked often for compression and if there is any metal in the oil or filters. In addition the monitoring systems where you can read cylinder temps and EGT's can give immediate indications of issues. Aircraft engines that are run daily in schools or other uses generally always make it to TBO. Engines used infrequently where planes sit for 30 days or more without use rarely make it to TBO. I would take a ski school boat with 800 hours over a trailer queen with 250 if the same age. Your throttle position is not a good indication of power. The newer Malibu's show exactly how much of the engines total power you are using. It's generally well above 80% surfing or boarding loaded out. In most cases internal corrision is what kills boat motors especially those that don't get proper care like end of season oil changes.

[Blamey]

I honestly don't think hours matter that much on a 17 year old engine so wouldn't stress about it too much. Compression test will tell you most of what you need to know and water test and visual inspection will tell you the rest. Also don't expect a seller to let you run a compression test on their engine. You can ask but it is perfectly reasonable for them to say no.

An engine rebuild will cost about 3k and get you an engine that will probably run for another 15 to 20 years.

Yeah it sure would suck to get a boat then have to rebuild the engine that same year but in the long run it's not a massive cost. Make the call based on the information the seller can give you and how informative they are and how honest they are about the boats condition.