Engine Hours

There are many factors in hours of any motor. Its a balance of maintenance and how hard she has been worked.

I recall talking to yacht captains from Ft Lauderdale who kept their boats on the "New River". It was very apparent that getting a fresh water flush as they entered the new river on their way to home berth made a huge difference in how their engines lasted and even their appearance in general. That would make any fresh water slipped boat more desirable that's equal in salt waters. It's fairly affordable to add a flush kit to your engine and a small hassle to attach the dock hose for 10 minutes every time you take the boat out. Too bad we can never know how hard an engine has been run. But there are clues when you put all the puzzle pieces together.

Frank60 said:

I'm searching for a 40 to 50 ft trawler. All of my experience is with gasoline engines. Looking at a few mid-2000's boats. At what point should I start getting concerned about the number of hours on the engines? I'm seeing some in the 1,000 to 1,500 range and others in the 3,500 to 4,500 range. Unfortunately the boats that I like are on that higher end. When would you walk away just based on engine hours?

For example, one is a Grand Banks, Caterpillar engines, 3,200 hours. Another is a DeFever CMY with over 4,000 hours. It seems that the prices are somewhat taking into account the number of hours in comparison to other listings but not dramatic discounts.

I guess that at some point the engines need to be re-built? What does that entail for a diesel?

Appreciate any thoughts on this.

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As many have already said how well the engine and for that matter the rest of the boat was maintained and looks has more to do with price than engine hours alone. A visual inspection says a lot of about the seller. If the boat looks neglected, it doesn't matter how many hours it has, within reason. Look at the engine zincs. If they look brand new, beware. But if the log book (if there is one) shows they were replaced every few months, and again just recently that's a good sign. I just bought an older boat from the original owner. Engine hours were low. The seller had his broker do a full survey as well as an engine survey. I personally talked to the the engine surveyor. He had the engine oil and antifreeze analysis done. Both Passed. There was a list of 10-15 things that needed attention. Nothing that alarmed me. He said that even though the boat was older the engine looked like it wasn't abused. I did most of the items on the list myself and hired a Caterpillar mechanic to adjust the valves and remove and clean the inter-cooler and heat exchanger (All of which were on the surveyors list) and all looked very good.

So I feel pretty good that what I got was a well maintained boat.

I would require a survey of the engine as well as the rest of the boat. Have an oil and coolant analysis done. Don't forget the generator if equipped. Make sure the engine zincs are inspected. Review the log book if the seller has one. Discriminating owners maintain their boats better than average. The other piece of advise is look at a few boats, even if you have to travel. You'll get a better perspective of how they were maintained than just looking at pictures and reading descriptions. Avoid the convenience of just looking at listings. Good luck and please post back how the search is going and what you do finally get.