Found the boat of our dreams... now for the hard part

Marlinspike · #1 07-02-2006

How many hours on a diesel (Westerbeke, I think) would be considered too many/ready for overhaul?

The front runner has 1250 hours. Is this enough to use for negotiating price?

Thanks!

MIKE20244 · #2 07-03-2006

How old is the boat?

Marlinspike · #3 07-03-2006

the boat is an '83, but i'm guessing that might not matter. I'm really wondering about the engine.

PBzeer · #4 07-03-2006

Often times, it's not the number of hours, but the kind of hours. If it was run at low RPM just for battery charging frequently, that's much harder on it than normal operating speed. Also, how clean the fuel was kept. Dirty fuel can shorten the life of an engine drastically. You might want to think about having the engine sureveyed seperately, by a qualified mechanic.

Regards,

camaraderie · #5 07-03-2006

1250 hours is nothing on a '83 boat...just getting broken in!
I'd be more concerned about lack of use issues like hoses and impellers. Good idea to get a diesel mechanic to look at it as a part of the survey process as any used engine can have problems that the average surveyor won't identify.

sailingdog · #6 07-04-2006

Also, has any maintenance been done on the engine. If not...then 1250 hours may be way too long...

A well-maintained engine with a lot of hours can be worth more than a poorly-maintained engine with far fewer. As PBzeer has pointed out, engine use and load is also important...just like a car that has mainly been driven on the highway has an engine in better shape generally than one used in city traffic, the diesel that has been used to move a boat primarily is often in better shape than one used just to top off the batteries.