Problems with high # of hours

[Ben22Boat]

I'm looking at purchasing a 1996 Sport Nautique with close to 800 hours on it and am wondering What kind of problems, if any, might I see at such hours? What sort of things have other people noticed at 800 hours and up?

[Rick]

RE: Problems with high # of hours

Depending on how it has been mantained or if iwas used extensively in salt water the exhaust risers/ manifold may be rusting out. If fresh water with regular oil changes there shouldn't be any problems my 2000 had 1200 hours on it when I bought it in 2004. There has been no problems whatsoever except for the dirty bilge where the bilge water sat in it for each summer as it was used every day. the nice thing about high hour boats is that they always have fresh gas in them so condensation/gunk in the gastank is not usually a problem as it can be in older boats. Also there is no condensation in the oil as the oil is heated and usualy changed on a very regular basis.

[Daryl]

RE: Problems with high # of hours

almost 1300 on my 1990, regular use, zero issues. Runs like a top. I replaced exhaust manifold gaskets last summer, and had to replace the raw water pump the summer before that (even with new seals in the pump I couldn't get it to prime itself correctly).

800 hours in good shape wouldn't scare me one bit.

[Fast351]

RE: Problems with high # of hours

I've heard the add two zeroes rule to approximate a marine engine to the wear a car engine should take.

For example, 800 hours = 80,000 miles. Barely broken in....

[Rick]

RE: Problems with high # of hours

I'm not sure about that. My current has 800 hours on it and 40000 miles. PCM reccommends rebuilding the engine somewhere between 2000 to 2500 hours, if you are going to use it 100 hours a year(a lot) that means a rebuild in 12 years. Not bad.

[DanielC]

RE: Problems with high # of hours

My 1997 ski has 1847.2 hours on it, as of tonight. Raw water pump has been replaced, see post above. My FCC developed a fuel leak on the top where the wires go to the high pressure pump inside, and I had to replace the low pressure fuel pump. I did not use fuel stabilizer that year. I do now.
I take care of a 1998 Ski that has 1200+ hours on it, had to replace the raw water pump, and it also got the fuel leak on the fitting on the FCC. I have put two sets of spark plugs in the 1997, and replaced the V-belts on both engines. Normal maintaince, in my opinion.
If you drive a car at 60 miles an hour for one thousand hours, the car gets 60,000 miles on it.

[swooddc]

RE: Problems with high # of hours

my 97 ski (gt-40) has just over 1200, around 1100 hours replaced alternator this year I had to have the distributer, and both fuel pumps replaced, along with a major tune-up (plugs, wires, impeller, cap/rotor) about $900 in parts. all of those parts were original. This would probably be your worst case scenario. my compression is still great on all cylinders and I don't anticipate any other major expenses for the next 10 years when a re-build will probably be due.
you can probably expect $300 per year average in stuff like this, which is really good in my opinion.