Diesel hours-1250 too high????

Generalizations, like a lot of the above, can be dangerous and may lead an inexperienced buyer astray. Engine hours is only one of many variables in the list of things you must include in your inspection and eventual decision matrix when shopping. Just because the engines are low time and smell like a tractor when the engine crank up, doesn't mean the boat is even worth an in-person inspection.

Look at the 2 photos: One is of an 8 year old diesel Sea Ray with only 450 hours on the engines. The other is of a 21 year old diesel Sea Ray with about 1500 hours on the engines. Which would you be the most interested in going to see in person?



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Hours only tell you the smallest portion of the complete story. The overall condition and evidence of maintenance habits say a lot more about the value of a boat than an hour meter does.
I've seen a lot of beat to crap low hours boats. I've also seen a lot of really beautiful older boats with high hours.
What worked best for me was to find out everything I could about the models I was interested in, ask lots of questions, don't be shy, inspect every nook and cranny you can wedge yourself in to, ask more questions, have another set of more objective eyes eyes take a look at it with you, (send tons of pics to Frank and get list of more things to look for and ask about (thanks again Frank)) ask more questions, get a survey done (including of the motors), and then ask more questions of the surveyor.
I found that my surveyor appreciated the questions and liked the fact that I was so knowledgeable about the boat.
In the end you'll likely get a great boat that you'll love. I did.
 
When I purchased my 280, I was surprised that surveyor did NOT use a RINDA scan tool as part of the survey. Why? The RINDA tool gives you the ability to breadkdown the hours by RPM bands on mercruiser engines. How much time were the engines working at the highest RPM bands, vs just in idle. I innately like low hours on my boats. Period. However, higher hours wouldn't be a deal breaker for me especially if I was able to confirm maintenance records and if available, where in the RPM bands those hours were actually spent. I wouldn't but a gas engine with significant hours spent up in the 4500+ RPM range, for example.

Aside, I assume a cummins tech would be able to pull the same data on a cummins marine engine using the proprietary cummins software. In the diesel engine world, I would like to know how many hours are spent in excess of, for instance, a 90% load RPM band?
 
My friend has a 97 Ocean Yacht with a pair of Cat 3406. His engine room is as clean as Websters! He has been taking it to the Bahamas every winter for the last 20 years and has 4000 hrs on them and burns no oil. Maintenance is the key.
 
My engine room looked like Frank's until the day that my generator siphon break gave out and sprayed salt water all over the room. I cleaned it all up but over the past 2 years the residual salt has slowly shown it's ugly head.

FWIW, I bought my boat in February of 2014 with 1840 hours on the 3116's. I now have 2380 on them. 540 hours over 3.5 years does not seem like much. Like Frank, I do all of my own maintenance except for the 2000 hour rack inspection.

The original owners bought the boat in 1998 and did the loop. When you do the math, that's even less hours per year than I am using it.
 
Buying a boat I really want maintenance records.

I agree that it is difficult (seems like especially in south Florida) to find boats which have service documentation. In the last few months we have been on probably 10-12 boats in person. Had significant conversations with brokers/owners on another 15 or so.

When I ask about service documentation most of the time it is sporadic. If the answer is yes, I then start to get specific. Lot of yes's evolve into "well have a couple of things".

I believe having as well documented service history as possible will increase the value of a well maintained boat. For me every scrap of record, invoice, fluid test, etc. increases the value of a boat when I sell it.

Since any boat I buy will eventually be sold - works for my perspective.

Mark
 
I have been looking at 8 - 11 year old 44DB and 470DB's lately including calling the listing brokers throughout the U.S. I knew going in to this search many people would not have good records, but the amount that do not have far exceeded what I was expecting. The Broker ad's are also very misleading. I know, shocker.

I would jump at the chance of a 10 year old diesel boat with 1,250 hours if the maint was solid.
 
A little late to this thread. I have a friend with a trawler that has twin Cat 3208s. He runs them on average 200 hours per year, does all the recommended services, changes the oil at required intervals, and has oil analysis performed at every change. At 4,400 hours, I'd take that boat anywhere.
 
I wouldn't have thought 1200 hrs would be anything to worry about, otherwise no one would ever buy a diesel powered commercial boat.

My brother and I ran a crayfishing (rock lobster) operation with a single cat 3208 (425 hp) with a Hamilton jet drive and that boat would do 12 to 16 hours a day 7 days a week in the height of the season. Never let us down and plenty of hours on it when we sold it 3 or 4 years later for circa 30% more than we paid for it.
 
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juggernaut1 said:
I wouldn't have thought 1200 hrs would be anything to worry about, otherwise no one would ever buy a diesel powered commercial boat.

My brother and I ran a crayfishing (rock lobster) operation with a single cat 3208 (425 hp) with a Hamilton jet drive and that boat would do 12 to 16 hours a day 7 days a week in the height of the season. Never let us down and plenty of hours on it when we sold it 3 or 4 years later for circa 30% more than we paid for it.
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Copy that. I grew up working on open party sportfishers in the late 70's, early 80's every summer as a deckhand. The main reason I keep my dermatologist busy. We ran 12 hours per day, 7 days, and I don't recall ever having a single major mechanical. I forgot the details, but they were probably Detroits. Those old mechanical engines were bullet proof.
 
I thing here is the answer: No, 1200 hours on a diesel powered boat is nothing to worry about provided the machine was correctly maintained.
I have more than that on the 400DA and wouldn't hesitate to take it anywhere.
 
I know boats are a different animal but I know a guy that does the maintenance on PDS courier vans. They are Fords with 5.4 gas engines. He said many of the vans have over 500,000 miles and over 15,000 hours. I also have a good friend that sells John Deere heavy equipment. He's seen diesels with over 40,000 hours without a rebuild. Just an idea of how long a properly maintained engine can last.
 
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