5.8 GT40 - What is considered "High Hour?"

[DuckDawg22]

Hey guys, new the board here and have what is probably a noob question. I learned to ski as a kid behind a late-90s Ski Nautique and have always loved the look of the classic boats; fast forward 20 years and prices falling back down to reality from the COVID insanity and I'm looking to pull the trigger on one of these beauties for my young family. I consider myself very mechanically inclined, but my background is in outboards and all frames of reference regarding hours/service life are viewed through that lens. From what I gather, while the access to these engines may not be great, working on them is relatively easy once you do it a time or two.

My biggest ask is around engine hours. Understanding that the models I'll be looking at are 20 years old, what number would scare you off of a boat? I hope to come across that original owner, 500ish hour boat out there somewhere, but using a 2001 SAN that's less than an hour from me as a reference, it's a third-owner boat with an estimated 950 hours. I live on the California Delta so this boat will be used year-round - 200 hours per year may not be out of the question. Assuming proper maintenance on my end, will a PCM go 2,000 hours or am I crazy?

In terms of new engines, what is a ballpark for a replacement? I have a 14 month old with another on the way, so we'll be cruising for a while before graduating to tubes, skis and wakeboards. The 5.8 would be just fine for my use.

Appreciate the wisdom on this board so far; it makes buying one of these older hulls much easier knowing there is such an avid community of owners out there as a resource.

Thanks, HB

[NautiqueJeff]

Treated right, a GT-40 can go into the 2,000 hour range. I have heard of some hitting the 3,000 hour mark. Find one that's been taken care of, continue the maintenance, and they'll go a long time.

[jmo]

If you’re willing to travel to get the right boat, look at boats in the northern states as they typically have lower hours given it’s a 6 month season at best. Agree that the gt40 will go to 2000 hrs before needing a rebuild. One drawback is getting parts or a replacement block as I believe those are scarce now.

[bturner]

Jeff IS the man so I won't contradict his wisdom but will share my thoughts.....

High hours mean something different depending on what part of the country you live. If you're in one of the warmer states where the seasons go 6 months or live on a large reservoir like Norris in TN and cruise for 25 - 45 minutes to go somewhere for lunch, hours rack up quickly. Here in Michigan where the season is 3 - 4 months and these boats are used primarily on smaller inland lakes, hours are nowhere near what you're seeing in the previously mentioned areas.

My average day on the water consists for pushing off the lift, idling 50 yards, then throwing a rope to start sets. After 30 - 45 minutes of watersports activities we typically head to a sand bar 10 minutes from the house and hang out. All in a typical day has about an hour to an hour and a half or run time and this would be for a longer weekend day outing. Week day outings are even shorter as we focus on getting our runs in after work and getting back. A typical year here is 30 - 40 a year for an engaged boater. For someone on the lake that has purchased a "status boat", I've seen those that get 10 hours or less a year and this is not all that uncommon. It's not uncommon to find 20+ one or two owner ski boats with under 600 hours. So, for us, a high hour boat starts at about 800 hours. That doesn't make it a bad boat as everything depends on condition but for us, it's a high hour boat and the price should reflect it.

The other thing to consider when buying a high hour boat is that it's not just the engine that has the hours. Interiors, wiring, electronics also are getting used. Here in the north interior work is crazy expensive. 19' inboard ski boat interiors are going for north of $5K for basic replacements. For vDrives that prices can easily go north of $8K which was the estimate I got to put one in my 07 Mastercraft X2 back in 2019. I heard that price now is about $10K+ for a premium, like factory replacement from one of the better shops up here. We're also getting into more electronics from those boat that are 10 YO come on the "older boat" market. You really have to start being concerned about getting replacement parts and the crazy prices for their replacement.

Closing thought on hours.....

I've seen a lot of posts where guys will say the hours don't matter to them but I never see any of them actually buying one for themselves.

On engine replacement.....

Engine replacement can be dicey and quickly go south for both DIY and professionally done. There are plenty of stories of sketchy mechanics, shady dealers and novice installations that have gone bad. As far as pricing goes, it depends. I've been involved with 2 engine replacements. We got both engines from Michigan Motors......

https://www.michiganmotorz.com/products/marine-engines

Both were straight inboards. We bought new long blocks for both and did the installations in a garage. Biggest challenge was getting the engines out/in. Everything else just unbolted and bolted back on. We had everything we needed onsite before we started and did both on a Saturday/Sunday. I would imagine a dealer or mechanic with a gantry crane and experience could do it in less that 10 hours cover to cover but have no clue what they would actually charge.

For dealer installation, the quick estimate model I've used with boat dealers is, whatever the cost of the part is, that's what the labor will be. Is that true? Probably not but that's what I've used in the moment and I've pretty much been right in the ballpark. I've heard dealers are charging north of $150/hr up here these days so I would plan on double the hours to 20 to cover parts uplift and materials. My guess would be somewhere about $3K in labor and somewhere around $300 in shop materials. I'm not seeing new 5.8s so a reman at Michigan Motors would be about $4K but you'll need to add the dealer uplift to this which can be all over the map. All in I'd say about $8K for someone to do it for you.

https://www.michiganmotorz.com/5-8l-...-marine-engine