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Question:how many hours do you feel like is the life expectancy

3326 Views 4 Replies 5 Participants Last post by Maine Sail, Sep 17, 2009

southwindphoto

Discussion Starter · Sep 16, 2009

I'm looking around at used boats, and finding they have diesels that have anywhere from 1000 hours to 4000 hours. And some are already rebuilt, or repowered, that have very low hours.

So, my question is how many hours, does your boat have, and what year is it?

And how many hours do you feel like is the life expectancy of a Yanmar, or Volvo, and Universal diesel motors, "presuming it has been well maintained".

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negrini

· #2 · Sep 17, 2009

Yanmar, 54HP, 2009, 650 hours. We have beasts here with 7K - 9K hours before being rebuilt.

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mitiempo

· #3 · Sep 17, 2009

I think engine hours is not the whole story. If you average 50 hours a year, mostly in and out of the marina without ever getting the engine up to proper operating temp and/or idling with low or no load the engine will probably die before its time. I think an engine with more hours run more often at proper temp would be preferable to one run rarely, but with lower hours. Of course this assumes each has had proper maintenance, especially oil changes. Commercial truckers get very long life out of their diesels, seldom letting them get cold. Average marine use is just the opposite in many cases.
Brian

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canadianseamonkey

· #4 · Sep 17, 2009

1973 Westerbeke 4-107 with 1947 hours....runs great.

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Maine Sail

· #5 · Sep 17, 2009

Hours don't matter much to me and I actually prefer an engine that has been run & run hard vs. one that runs 5 minutes in and out of a harbor.

I'd much rather buy a boat that has a 1/2 hour or motoring out a river or inlet to get to good sailing grounds than one that only needs to run five minutes or less at a time. Short runs are far worse than long hard runs on the engine.

What matters more to me is condition, oil analysis, prior owners running habits and the overall condition of the engines exterior. Are hoses fresh and not cracking, is there lots of visible rust, are there oil leaks, wher are the maintenance records etc., etc.. How often has the gear box fluid been changed? Yearly? What about antifreeze? Yearly or bi-yearly? What about oil changes? Every 50 or 75 or is it 100-150??

The general condition of the boat, it's bilge and engine compartment will tell you more about how it was taken care of than just about anything. A clean bilge and engine compartment are true signs of pride of ownership and a likely sign the engine has been well cared for..

This one had 2872 hours on it when the photo was taken but I keep up with maintenance and replace anything an anything that needs it. Many don't..

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