Hours vs mileage.
 

How many hours is to many?
Found a 89 Baja 250 sport with a 1000 hours.
I am completely new to boating I do not want to buy, just to drop what I paid for the boat into the boat.
Thanks

At 1000 hrs AND being a 89 (assuming stuff hasnt been rebuilt or replaced yet) its not if its going to break but when. Buy it right, drive it easy if replacing motor isnt in your budget

It seems there are a lot of repowering and rebuilding going on, lots of the boats I have looked at have been repowerd or rebuilt. So it has me scared a bit. Are most of them due to running hard, it Is a performance boat, or is marine use just that hard on motors? I would like to test the waters with the family and time before spending to much. At the same time get the boat I want. Which is a Red 250 sport, man they are beautiful.
Thanks

This has been discussed before.

You can't compare car mileage to boat hours.
Your car shifts gears to cruise at lower RPMs.
99% of boats do not have this capability, so they are always running at a load, often high RPMs, and going "uphill both ways."


Too further complicate things, a boat might have 1000 hours on it...
995 at WFO and 5 at idle.
Or 955 at idle and 5 at WFO.

Only the later model Merc offerings with SmartCraft/PCMs can give you this breakdown of hours that's pertinent to how the engine has been treated.

It all comes down to money and how hard its ran and if oil changes been kept up, im sure somone will come on and tell us about how they got 1200 hours on their motor but for every 1 of those guys there are 10 who didnt get past 600 hours, 1000 hr motor is on borrowed time

Buy it right . If it's just a 330 horse 454 their a dime a dozen to replace.

I would take a high hour motor over a newly rebuilt by Who Knows Who any day

My buddy has over 2000 hours on his gas motors in his heavy azz cruiser that is being Wrung out at 4000 rpms to 17 knots and they have never had a valve cover off.

I would put 2000 hours on my parasail motors like nothing, many had 4000 before I pulled them.

Have a compression test done and have a good mechanic listen to the motor.

The Bravos drives are indestructible behind that little bit of power.
Only thing about a boat with that many hours the gimble and transom assembly gets real loose and most likely will need rebuilding or replacement which is going to run you 3 grand minuim .

And the money part is can you, will you spend 4 or 5 thousand to put another motor in a 10 or 12 thousand dollar boat when the time comes?

Check to make sure the hour meter is actually wired for engine run time and not ignition on time. Some boats have been wired such that the ignition was required to run the stereo, yet the motor was off but the hour meter marched on. This will unfortunately yield artificially high engine hours. Just something to check.

1000 hours would be evidence of a well used, yet not necessarily abused boat. As previous posts mentioned, marine motors are under continuous load unlike automotive applications.

I resemble that guy.

Yep what Articfriendse says.

Many motors began their death the second they were overheated. Than new impeller but did not change the old superheated oil.

You can run the crap out of them and they will take it , if you keep good fresh oil in them and don't overheat them
I have over the last 20 years, but you overheat them , they tend not to like that.

Thank you all.
I don't want to race, that boat looks fast just sitting there. I do want to tube, cruise and fish with my family on small lakes and big such as lake Erie.
Probably not a bad idea to find a 454 to freshen up till the one in it goes.

If this is the boat your want, get a survey from a pro. Much better that just guessing.

With a boat of that vintage, the powertrain wouldn't be my only concern. Make sure the transom, stringers, floor, etc is not soft.

I would only buy a 1000 hour boat with the idea of a full restoration as the rigging is also almost 30 years old. You replace the motor but then the trim pump dies and then the rams leak and then the control cables are junk and need replaced etc etc. All of that stuff happens at the beginning of every other weekend that you invite your friends and family out. I'm not saying that it needs a full resto, but that boat could easily suck up another $10-15k and still be problematic.

Yup.

Rebuilding and replacing a low hp engine is easy compared to that. Both labor and $$$$.

Concur...and I will add that IF the hull, deck, stringers, TRAILER etc. are all in good shape doing a re-power or freshening up the motor is relatively straight forward.

Sometimes it is better to spend a little more to get a little more boat. In boating, you will spend the money it is just a question of when.....

I am no stranger to turning a wrench, fiberglass is not rocket science. But am trying to avoid to much of It right off the bat. I really want somthing I can enjoy and not work on constantly. I do have a garage big enough to work on it in the off season. I know nothing about boats other than I love being out with other's on theirs.
Lol
Thanks

As a new boat owner, structural fiberglass repairs will turn you off from the whole thing in a heartbeat! Stripping out the inside layers and wood, then putting it all back together again is not something for the newbie (no offense).

I have a late '80s boat, and it has been one big labor of love from the get-go. My thing was that I"knew" it was going to need work and be a headache when I bought it, but I had two other boats to use and this was the boat that I had wanted for years and years. Five years later, I'm still working on it (but just about done). This was not a basket case either... it had been pretty well taken care of, had all of its service documentation for the 450 hours it had on it, and had a number of newer parts on it.

With the above said... get a survey even if the boat is inexpensive. A moisture meter reading from critical areas can tell a lot.

Post some pictures!

Well there you have it, lol. A boat 15 years old or less will give you a lot less hassle. A motor with 500hrs can be a bargain if the heads were already rebuilt and give you maybe another 500 before you need anything major. A nearly 30 year old boat with 1000 hours is pretty much shot.

This is $12000.00 almost twice as much as the one with 1000 hours. But it has only 40 hours on new motor still a 89 thou.
But man is it sexy
content://media/external/file/38253

content://media/external/file/38253

Can't figure out how to share Craig's list or photos from my phone.

Listen to what you guys are saying! If he's buying a boat, he's going to spend,change,tinker and fix things till the day he sells it and start all over again.
And if your really going to be a boat guy you have to have more than one, so you always/maybe have one that's working. just tell the wife the 2nd one is hers.

I just bought a scan tool and put it on my 525. It showed 386 hours. I thought I was running the boat kind of hard but the rpm breakdown showed 161 of those hours were at idle speed! Only 14 hours are over 4,000 rpm. I don't know if that older engine can be scanned but if so it will tell you a lot.

Thanks everyone I clearly have some thinking to do.

listen to yourself here and you will be a happy man! The glass work is not rocket science but not at all fun.

I have a few friends who live their life that way and truthfully, they are the smartest boaters I've ever met!

That said, owning a boat brings special feelings to me. It's not like romancing a girl, it's more like pride of ownership. Once you have owned your first boat, you'll most likely go one of two ways.....

Never again!
Boats forever!

Whatever you buy, it will cost you money so be prepared. Best way to minimize the loss is to buy the latest model, lowest hour setup you can find. Stock standard boats with simple Merc power over racing and custom build engines are also cheaper in the long run. May be prudent to start with a well known brand name smaller boat in good condition so you can have a season out of it then trade up next year without risking or losing too much?

I'd like to suggest outboard power for simplicity but this is OSO and I may get flamed so I won't suggest it.:eek:

Don't give up, lots of great input here and keep us posted. There's many experienced guys here that enjoy talking over mistakes learnt and knowledge gained. If you have concerns, you'll always get helpful advice right here.

Welcome to the forum!

RR

Older EFI motors won't break down the hours in each rpm band. I believe it's MEFI 3 and up that did so.

Where you located?

And what are they asking for your dreamboat.

Pics would help. No one is going to scoop the boat accept Duramax. But he has his hands full counting his money these days.

I live in Portage Lakes Ohio which is about an hour from Lake Erie.
I would love to show the listing but not sure how to post Craig's list here.

Thanks every one

Wants $12000,00
Has only 40 hours on motor.

Baja 250 Sport - $12000
http://cleveland.craigslist.org/boa/5683333096.html

via cPro for Craigslist: http://tinyurl.com/CL-Android

1989 25 foot baja - $7500
http://cleveland.craigslist.org/boa/5690782829.html

via cPro for Craigslist: http://tinyurl.com/CL-Android

Take those claims with a grain of salt. You have no way of knowing what was done to that engine or when it was done.

This is hard, lol
I know.

I agree. I have heard the same things your saying. I have twin stock 1997 502mpi Mags which never been touched internally that are pushing 1000 hours. I bought the boat 11 years ago with them in it at 230 hours and notice no loss of performance ,top speed etc. They also use no more oil then when I got them and same oil psi. Just tune ups, oil changes, impellers, and changed exhaust riser gaskets. I mostly run them in the 2800-3400 RPM range, but do run them up to w.o.t. frequently too. I personally know some of these engines running at 1400 hours untouched.