No Hour Meter...what gives?

[derby]

I've been looking into a 1999-2003 SS or SAN. I found a dealer in SoCal that has a couple but both, he claims, have no hour meter.

Is this common? Can you use a scan tool to get the computer hours?

Thanks...and if you have, or know of, the above boat for sale in California let me know.

Derby

[NautiqueJeff]

RE: No Hour Meter...what gives?

You can get the hours through the scan tool on any boat with a GM engine. With the Fords, you're out of luck.

[bkhallpass]

RE: No Hour Meter...what gives?

I'd be shocked if they did not have hour guages. However, I wouldn't be surprised at all if they were not working, or weren't accurate. The digital guages are, of course, a known, source of failure. Now on my fourth set of guages, the hour meter reads 21 hours, but I know the boat has at least 400 hours. But, I digress.

If this is a dealer, presumably, he or she would know that with the digital guages, one must power up to view the guages. Can't remember off the top of my head if the hour meter is in the tach, or in the speedo.

If he or she is a bonehead, then I guess said bonehead might not kow that the hour guage is in one of the other guages and could be overlooking it.

Just some thoughts.

BKH

[derby]

So if the boat came with digital gauges or PP it should have it right? I'm old school analog with the 2001 now. Forgive me if my questions seem silly.

And yes the boats are at a dealer. Not a CC dealer but still you would think they know....maybe. The funny thing is it's two boats with the same issue.

[derby]

Or thy're playing "bonehead" just to get you out there to look at a boat with 2000 hours. I'll make a call. Thanks you two.

[linebacker55]

I am pretty sure that the hour meter is in the tach.

[ag4ever]

I have a 2002 SANTE. Mine has the GM based Excalibur engine in it, so I have three hour meters. Only one of them has the correct hours on it. My engine has the correct hours stored in the computer. My perfect pass has the incorrect hours in it, because the brain was replaced once. My tach has the incorrect hours in it since it has been replaced twice.

Even if a boat does have an hour meter, I would be warry of a very low hours boat that has much wear on it.

I would buy a boat more on how it was maintained that how many hours a guage shows on it.

[NautiqueJeff]

If you perform a full system reset on PP, you can enter the correct hours, if you know them. Then PP should keep the correct hours from that point on.

[NigelC]

That is an interesting point Jeff. I would like to enter the actual hours in my PP digi pro v6.5. I am sure I tried to do this via a full reset before without any luck. Could this be because I retained the baseline slalom values and maybe not performed a "full" reset. I would be happy to clear these out if I could get to the position of entering the hours.
btw, good luck with the new boat tomorrow.

[NautiqueJeff]

You should be able to completely reset the system (and enter engine hours) by completing the procedure below. Be sure to jot down your current settings first!

[ag4ever]

Which means this is of no use to the originsl poster as the hours can be reset at any time.

Even a Hobbs meter is not fool proof. They can be disconnected so the true hours on the boat looks lower.

I would only trust the engine computer hour meter, assuming the computer has not been replaced.

[derby]

In the end it does come down to the condition of the boat as a whole being more important then the hours. We've all seen jacked up boats with low hours and vice versa.

Noting the hours run on the motor is a bonus.

Thanks to all.

[GoBig]

General rant...
I've been looking at buying a 2000 to 2002 SAN for several months. It is AMAZING to me how just about every ad I come across for these years says, "LOW HOURS!!", "ONLY 80 HOURS!!", "HARDLY USED...USED ONCE SINCE 2003"...or something of that nature. I'm well aware of the issues with the electronic gauges on these years and the possible work arounds. But don't insult my intelligence by claiming that your 7-8 year old boat only has 13 hours on it...especially when every other ad is claiming the same thing.

I have found that most people are honest when I call them on it. But I wonder how many unsuspecting, uninformed buyers are spending top dollar thinking they are getting a hardly used boat? I know there is a law in CA about misleading buyers regarding mileage on a car. Does anyone know if there is a similar law that applies to misleading buyers regarding hours on a boat? It just seems to be blatant fraud to me.

[SquamInboards]

I agree there should be a law, but I practically guarantee there isn't (for boats) and even if there IS it would be state-specific. NH doesn't even have titles for boats. That's right, you can write a bill of sale on a napkin with a crayon and take it to an agent (any marina or store with agency status) and register a boat in your name. Of course if you stole it, they'll find you because you're in the computer now with the VIN / HIN of the boat... but anyway to stay on topic I agree that the best thing is to have it mechanically checked out, ask if there are service records, or at least have the engine compression tested, etc and check the rest of the boat out visually. It's hard to know from far away, but it's better to get a close look and have to fly home empty handed than to get a POS shipped to you unsuspectingly...
The only thing I can say to older boats with no hours - we do have customers here who never use their boats. There's a 1995 BlueWater here with 75 hours on it. probably 2 hours every year are just the techs getting the boat ready in spring and putting it away in the fall. These people NEVER use their boat, and it really only has 75 hours on it. I have never met them and their boat is kept in a boathouse 20 feet from where I sit at my office window, in plain view. The point is if it's well maintained, or used very little, either way it will show nicely. If it's abused or simply used hard, that's obvious too, when you look close enough.

[tadelfio]

I agree with Derby. I think that too many people rely too much on the hour meter to place "value" on a boat. My hour meter was removed to put a depth gauge in it's place. A new one was put in beside the throttle but I couldn't tell you when it was put in. I also know that I personall have added a bunch of hours to the hour meter by leaving the ignition switch on. As long as anything is on then it keeps on going. I'm not to concerned about this either. I think the boat condition speaks alot louder than the hour meter. I'd much rather have my 97 SN that I know has been used and maintained then have a 97 SN with low hours that just sat around for years not being used. JMO