200 engine hours in a year

I am at the boat doing some maintenance tasks and realized that we have owned this boat just about a year now. I was noting engine hours on my primary filter change and I am at 995 hours. I did this last about 50 weeks ago at 803 hours. So almost 200 hours on the engines in that time. In contrast, I just changed the oil in the genset (not sure why) and realized that we only put 30 hours on the genset in that same time.

I hope that this next year I can get even more hours on the engine. 200 just doesn't seem like enough time. Maybe in another year when I have another partner in the practice and my wife will be retired I can get out more.

I do about 600 hours a year, in the four months of summer that is available... Lots of that time is trolling for salmon at idle, perhaps as much as half of it. I know other folks that spend just as much time as I do out there but they are parked a lot and have much faster boats.

I don't think they enjoy their boats any less despite the difference in run time. I wish my summer was longer, but when it gets dark and cold and the fish are gone... so am I! I have a friend who had a Nordic Tug 32, he only put about 150 hours a season on his Cummins, but he spent most of his time hiking and kayaking where I spend most of mine fishing.

I don't think engine hours reflect how much you enjoy your boat, perhaps more of what you enjoy doing with it

AKDoug said:

I do about 600 hours a year, in the four months of summer that is available... )

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That's a lot of hours in 120 days, 5 hours a day.

We put just under 1,000 hours a year and we cover 17,000-18,000 nm.

There is no right number for the yearly engine hours. It's better if the hours are spread around the year so the cylinders stay lubed during down time.

IF the engine use is spaced out with months at times between uses , there is usually an "out of service for over 30 days" procedure in Da Book, the maint manual.

Seldom is in the operators/owners handbook , so look in Da Book.

Doug, you must spend just about every day out on the boat during the season. Sounds great!

I wasn't worried about 200 being enough hours for the engine, we use the boat at the very least once a month throughout the year, but it isn't enough hours for us to justify the cost of ownership. The solution of course isn't to eliminate the costs of ownership, but to use the boat more.

dhays said:

I wasn't worried about 200 being enough hours for the engine, we use the boat at the very least once a month throughout the year, but it isn't enough hours for us to justify the cost of ownership. .

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Having observed the pleasure you're gotten from the small amount of usage, I'd argue against the statement above. There's no magical hours to justify the cost of ownership. One priceless memory might do that. Feeling we must justify our pleasure and recreation is a sad aspect of the times. Happiness is a worthy pursuit.

I don't see engine hours as measuring the use of the boat. It's just the use of the engine. If you run the boat for a few hours and then anchor or take a slip in a marina and enjoy yourself, that's what's important.

BandB said:

Having observed the pleasure you're gotten from the small amount of usage, I'd argue against the statement above. There's no magical hours to justify the cost of ownership. One priceless memory might do that. Feeling we must justify our pleasure and recreation is a sad aspect of the times. Happiness is a worthy pursuit.

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WesK said:

I don't see engine hours as measuring the use of the boat. It's just the use of the engine. If you run the boat for a few hours and then anchor or take a slip in a marina and enjoy yourself, that's what's important.

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You both make great points. Maybe it is just the difference between how much I want to use the boat vs how much I am able to use the boat.

dhays said:

You both make great points. Maybe it is just the difference between how much I want to use the boat vs how much I am able to use the boat.

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Now that is a definite. But then that motivates you to move toward more leisure time. It also gives you something to look forward to and there is tremendous value in that. I've known men who never developed any hobby and never dreamed of retirement as there was nothing in it they looked forward to.

I like the "Number of Days per year you're using the boat" metric myself

kev_rm said:

I like the "Number of Days per year you're using the boat" metric myself

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That IS a great metric. I am going to compile this out of the log for last year, out of curiosity.

For our usage I also think "nights aboard" is telling. We have been averaging just under 200 engine hours/year, but we have lots of nights aboard in some great places.

Jeff

Nights aboard...every night.
Hours on the engines - 784 last year
Miles cruised - something around 5600
But we also sat for 5 months this winter and two weeks last spring.

dhays said:

You both make great points. Maybe it is just the difference between how much I want to use the boat vs how much I am able to use the boat.

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The point I was trying to make above is that your engine doesn't have to be running to be using the boat.

Whatever the number is, its good that you want it to be higher... it would probably mean you didn't like your boat if you wanted it to be lower.

For me, the metric would be days underway, anchored out and possibly as a short term transient. That was probably 12 to 14 weeks last year for me. Also put 600 hours on the engine. That was slightly less hours than the preceeding 2 owners did in 12 years. Expect to be on board 8 months this year and 1,400 hours.

Ted

Most boaters up here in the Great White North struggle to reach 100 engine hours a season. That assumes an "average" working stiff who gets to go out on weekends and maybe a week or two vacation. 200 hours would be a hard-core boater. More than that means you're retired.

I like your attitude "The solution of course isn't to eliminate the costs of ownership, but to use the boat more." We used our boat much more than last year, every weekend and some weekday nights. Two weeks of cruising the Maine coast and I was surprised that equated to only about 110hrs of engine time. I'm angling for even more use this year too.

Ken

In my marina, most boats do less than 50 hours per season (New England).
Most of the boaters are weekenders.
So 200 hours a year is a good amount in my opinion.

I put a bit more than 100h for my first year last year and very happy with it! Should be a bit more this year but my number of cruising hours will always be limited by the fact I am working and that up here we are frozen 6 months per year. Quality time is not a question of quantity

L.

BandB said:

We put just under 1,000 hours a year and we cover 17,000-18,000 nm.

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BB. - You'll win several awards for this usage including one from the fuel suppliers.

sunchaser said:

BB. - You'll win several awards for this usage including one from the fuel suppliers.

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Well, I think one thing that jumps out is our hours of engine use aren't exceptionally high. We just cover more water because we're faster. And, yes, the fuel suppliers do like us. However, we are nothing compared to some of the megayachts. We prefer not to look at what we spend on fuel, but just think of all we saved when the prices went from $4 to $2 per gallon.

However, in engine hours we're no greater than many full time trawler cruisers.

And we don't put many miles on our cars. Our three cars are now 4 1/2 years old and all have under 18,000 miles.

For many years we avgd about 1000 hrs/yr on the mains with 4000 hrs on the gens, probably my biggest year was 2500 hrs on the mains with 12,000 gen hrs (having to run two gens during peak loads)

BerettaRacer said:

For many years we avgd about 1000 hrs/yr on the mains with 4000 hrs on the gens, probably my biggest year was 2500 hrs on the mains with 12,000 gen hrs (having to run two gens during peak loads)

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What were you doing that big year with 7 hours per day running the engines and 33 hours per day of generator usage? Doesn't seem like much time left to spend wherever you were.

Three Atlantic crossings, three Med crossings, Ft Laud to down island and back, plus many far down island trips, and a bunch of Bahamas running.

BerettaRacer said:

Three Atlantic crossings, three Med crossings, Ft Laud to down island and back, plus many far down island trips, and a bunch of Bahamas running.

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Yes, any crossings add hours fast. A crossing of 10 days would give you the equivalent of 34 seven hour days.

You need to jump in to the Passage maker thread.

we put 350 hours in 2016, fishing in central BC, whch is our normal summer, and change oil in october, etc...we have what is called 'gulfcoast oil and fuel bypass filters, that use a 6" bounty paper towell, i buy at costco...[gulfcoastfilters.com] i send an oil sample in when i change it. if we only put about 200 hrs on, i change only the oil/fuel filters, and need to add a couple of quarts! it takes a while to learn the system, ours have been on for over 20 yrs! any questions, just ask...i use amsoil 10/30 synthetic in my genset, change it at 100 hrs, which is uaually 2 years...the world throws a lot of good oil away!...clyde

AKDoug said:

I do about 600 hours a year, in the four months of summer that is available... Lots of that time is trolling for salmon at idle, perhaps as much as half of it.

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I also put a lot of idle hours on the clock dragging for salmon. My favorite use of my boat(s).

It took 2.5 years to reach the 300-hour threshold.

BandB said:

Yes, any crossings add hours fast. A crossing of 10 days would give you the equivalent of 34 seven hour days.

You need to jump in to the Passage maker thread.

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Yeah, now if you could only DO a crossing in ten days, lol. Speed and range are inverse factors. Ft Laud to Gib, then Gib to Greece/Turkey & return. I think it was around 11 knts for fuel range. That was an older 150 'Fead with big Detroit 149's

Even Ft Laud to Grenada/Barbados is a bit of a stretch, weather always on the nose.