Engine Hours

Cap'n Morgan · **Posted:** Mon Mar 05, 2012 9:45 am

firecadet613 wrote:

Just saw an '03 we are looking at next weekend with 585 hours on the motors.

Nice looking boat. That equals about 65 hours per year of use. About normal for most people that slip their boat and use it primarily on weekends. Sometimes it's better for a boat to be used regularly than not having many hours on it. You should be able to get at least 1200+ hours out of that 2003 302 before the engines show signs of getting tired. For you, that would be 6-8 years of use.

Let us know what you think of the boat after you look at it, good, bad or otherwise.

firecadet613 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 05, 2012 1:38 pm

Already found a downer...no cockpit fridge or icemaker. That 302 in Ohio you linked to is nice, except for the Merc motors. Not a big fan, but not a deal breaker.

We are set to look at a 302 and 322 still this weekend.

Cap'n Morgan · **Posted:** Mon Mar 05, 2012 1:56 pm

I have had both Volvo and Merc. I like them both, but with a little edge to Merc. Love the Merc MPI's in our Monty. Easier to work on for me in the boats we have owned. Also more choices of certified Merc mechanics in most area's than Volvo. Also has been real easy to find merc parts on line for me when I needed them, in several cases they were cheaper price wise than comparable volvo engine parts. In the end, they are very similar internally. Also, the BIII drives on our 282 have been just as nice as the DP we had on our 268 Vista.

On a side note, we had no cockpit fridge in our 282 when we bought it. We just bought an all AC dorm size fridge and it fit perfectly under the cockpit wet bar. It kept everything cold for 8 hours or more on the lake with no power. Cost = $76. Also, our 282 was set up from the factory with a drain hose and AC outlet in the wet bar for a fridge/ice maker. I suspect the 302 is also.
Two DC fridges running while off shore power, can eat battery power rather quickly.

Alan_G_298Vista · **Posted:** Mon Mar 05, 2012 3:07 pm

firecadet613 wrote:

What does everyone have roughly for engine hours on their boats?

I've got about 230 hours on my '04. Just saw an '03 we are looking at next weekend with 585 hours on the motors. I've seen some with under 200.

How about you?

On our previous boat, an 2003 248 Vista we owned since new in 04 we did 390 hours between the 2004 and 2010 boating seasons. On our 2004 298 Vista we put 45 hours on it last year, it's got a total of 240 hours on it presently.

Cheers

ric · **Posted:** Mon Mar 05, 2012 4:22 pm

I live on a small lake (2x3mi) so I could be on the boat all day, but maybe put a total of 30 minutes of runtime hours on the boat. I know this is true because on a typical weekend of being on the lake all day with friends, I burn 4-5 gallons.

Mark T · **Posted:** Mon Mar 05, 2012 5:10 pm

Our 1994 Sundowner has 465 hours on it, which comes to 27 hours, 49 minutes, 59 seconds per year. We have yet to put it into the water. I have, however, spent at least 28 hours working on the boat, or buying S@#t that you guys have recommended to me.

Anyone want to take a bet as to how many hours we put on the boat this year ?? We rented a slip at Pier 33 in St. Joe, it is 39 minutes from our house. We have also rented a cottage on Torch Lake (MI) for 2 weeks this summer, and our oldest daughter lives close to Diversey Harbor in Chicago.

firecadet613 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 05, 2012 6:53 pm

Cap'n Morgan wrote:

Also, our 282 was set up from the factory with a drain hose and AC outlet in the wet bar for a fridge/ice maker. I suspect the 302 is also.
Two DC fridges running while off shore power, can eat battery power rather quickly.

Very good to know. Thanks Capn!

Winter Sux · **Posted:** Mon Mar 05, 2012 9:10 pm

Well a little food for thought here guys. I have a customer who runs a fleet of plumbers vans. He has hour meters in all of them. Typically they have around 2,500 hours at around the 50,000 mile mark. Sure there are tons of idling hours but hours ARE hours. He trades them in at 200,000 miles with never any engine failures. All of them are 4.3 chevs. Just some food for thought

TX H210SS · **Joined:** Thu May 27, 2010 9:10 am **Posts:** 1488

Not just a whole lot of hours idle time on boats...unless you are looking at those who troll fish then yes.....I would say a majority of hours on the bowriders are water sports or starts and runs ..for more start ups which equals out with idle time on a car. In my job a car engine can idle for eight straight and never move an inch...those vehicles are measured in years not miles or hours.

Guess best measure is compression....

Mark T · **Posted:** Wed Mar 07, 2012 9:18 am

What's the most hours anyone has on their boat ??

Cap'n Morgan · **Posted:** Wed Mar 07, 2012 9:44 am

Mark T wrote:

What's the most hours anyone has on their boat ??

I think it may be Dan (MaryannII) on his 278 Vista.

maryannII wrote:

In my opinion, MaryannII is the best looking 17 year old boat on the lake. She has 1100 hours, and still runs perfectly. Four Winns got it right with this boat! Dan

Decision · **Posted:** Wed Mar 07, 2012 11:05 am

If you maintain your boat engine(s) well, the engine(s) will easily give you over 1000 hours of use without any real notice in performance.

We had around 1100 hours on our 1988 30' Doral Prestancia (twin 5.7 litre OMC's) and I achieved my best top speed ever with this boat the year before I sold it to buy our current 328 Vista.

Each spring and once or twice a season afterwards I would make a WOT run for about a minute to see what the top speed I could achieve to make sure everything was working fine. Right around the 1000 hours mark I got a GPS 46 MPH. My best speed to date. I would always expect around 44 - 45 MPH with clean bottom, light winds and a reasonable load. That's on a 20 year old boat.

I have always recorded this top speed information on our 25', 30' and current boat, so that I have a history of performance.

Mike.

weather · **Posted:** Wed Mar 07, 2012 11:34 am

292 on our 1999.

Original owner put on 206 hours from 2000-2003, then let it sit until we bought it Aug 2011 with 267.
That said, reports from others in my marina said he would come down every so often and let the engines run at the dock for a bit, clean it and leave. Odd, but seems to have kept it in excellent working order.

alanurt · **Posted:** Wed Mar 14, 2012 7:22 pm

465 FWC hours on a 2004 Four Winns 268 Vista. Compression in the 150's!! Great motor.

bschmid2 · **Posted:** Wed Mar 14, 2012 7:54 pm

180 on my 2006 H220...all of them good!

www.iFourWinns.com

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