hour meter on boats????

[oldsquaw76]

I have a chance to buy a 97 celebrity boat with a 5.7 merc cruiser. When i asked the guy who had it how many hours were on it he said it didnt have an hour meter. This guy is the second owner of the boat and has had it for only 9 months. Is there anyway i can tell how much the boat has been used?

 

[Bondo]

Re: hour meter on boats????

Ayuh,...

Other than going over it closely,+ looking for signs of wear,.... Not Really....

 

[kaferhaus]

Re: hour meter on boats????

By the nature of your question you likely wouldn't know what you were looking at anyway.

Consider paying a mechanic to check out the boat prior to making an offer on it.

He will check the manifolds, outdrive boot, compression etc. etc.

Well taken care of I/Os can last a very long time. A poorly taken care of one can cost you thousands in repairs real quick.

Many boats (and most entry level boats) do not have hour meters. They are however cheap and easy to install. And the down side is that they're easily disconnected... I met a guy 2 years ago at the boat ramp and immediately recognized his boat as one an aquaintance had owned. When I told him I recognized the boat he told me how proud he was of the great deal he got on it when it only had 650hrs on the engines....

Well I can guarantee you those engines had every bit of 2,000hrs on them. The guy that owned that boat had recieved a large sum in a settlement (not sure of the circumstances) 10 or more years ago and lived the life of Riley... he fished that boat almost everyday, fished every tournament within 100 miles.... now he took good care of it, the boat always looked great but he beat the crap out of those engines.

Maybe 4 or 5 months later I saw the same guy at the ramp again with a new pair of OB's..... gee seems they were "clapped out" to use his words.... he was not a happy camper at that point.

So hour meters are good if you know they're accurate, and simply looking at the cosmetics of the engine can be misleading.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: hour meter on boats????

To me, hour meters are more a tool for a concientious owner to use in determining maintenance schedule, than they are a measure of engine wear or condition.

Even if the meter(s) have never been disconnected, they can't tell a prospective buyer how the motor(s) has/have been treated. There are plenty of low hour motors around that have been dogged beyond belief, just as there are plenty of high hour motors that have been babied and meticulously maintained.

As has been suggested, make a thorough inspection of the motor by a competent mechanic a condition of the sale. Doing so may make the difference between buying and not, and may influence the sale price as well.

 

[AguaSki]

Re: hour meter on boats????

They are however cheap and easy to install. And the down side is that they're easily disconnected...

To add to this point, even if the meter was never disconnected, you don't know what the hours were when the meter was first installed. For example, my well used 1978 Glastron does not have a hour meter, but I can install one this weekend, and then sell my boat at the end of the season with only 100 hours on my 31 year old motor.

As said earlier, the meter is for maintenance purposes and not a tool to measure engine condition.

 

[5150abf]

Re: hour meter on boats????

On a car everything is based on mileage on a boat it is hours, the hour meter is like the odometer on your car.

On most boats they are owner installed to keep track of maintenance although alot of our boats have an hour meter built into the tach.

Have it looked at by a marine mechanic, they know what to look for and could save you a bunch of money, if the owner won't let you have it inspected walk away.

 

[13utchy]

Re: hour meter on boats????

I'm looking to purchase my first boat hopefully in the next few weeks & have twice now run into the same thing with hours being unknown (and only a belief that they are low).

One boat is a 1996 Four Winns 170 Freedom (I believe the entry level Horizon) with a 3.0 OMC w- Volvo outdrive

The other is a 2001 Four Winns 180 Horizon w- a 4.3 Volvo.

From what I gather thus far; anything under 500 hours is considered low hours? I understand a lot of variables come into play (ie., did the owner maintain)

I'm trying to keep my purchase around $8k ..... And still have a decent looking bow rider to use for 2 Summers before upgrading to something with 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, etc.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: hour meter on boats????

On a car everything is based on mileage on a boat it is hours, the hour meter is like the odometer on your car.

I'd even argue that analogy is flawed... Mileage gives you a general condition, hours, even if the gauge is accurate, is still not a judge of condition. If you could have an hour meter tell you the number of hours the previous owners have spent on maintenance, THAT would be helpful!

 

[mpdive]

Re: hour meter on boats????

Something to consider here....If you become serious about a boat purchase and are unsure of the hours on the motor, you can send an oil sample out to labs that do nothing but analyze samples http://www.oaitesting.com/ It can tell a great deal about the internal condition of the engine. We sent some out at the dealer for early analysis of problem engines. Not expensive either. If your gonna invest thousands it's worth a few bucks.