I've been thinking about this for a while now... but what constitutes "normal use" of our motors? Does the average boater cruise the majority of the time at 3000 RPM, or is that the minority? I boat with guys that baby things all season long, and then others with 496s that know nothing other than idle or WOT. What's the "intended use" of Mercury's blue motors? I'm just curious as to how others run theirs?

I cruise 3200-3400 nearly 95-99% of the time... hell I feel bad holding my stuff for more than 30 seconds to a minute. No trying to create a huge debate, just trying to see what others consider "normal", because I've always wondered.

You'd be amazed when you see what Rpm's your engine has been at after a season as a percentage of the total time.

Even those that consider themselves as speed demons have the throttle WO for a small percentage of the time.

i just finished two 110 mile poker runs and i ran 4200 - 5000 the whole time with 15 - 20 mile runs at wot at a time 820 hour stock 502's. That's my "normal" use.

Years ago I had a Chapparal 235 XLC with a 260 Merc/Alpha One drive. Normal use for that boat was WOT all the time unless in a no wake zone. Sold it with over 950 hours on it and never a rebuild. All of my buddies had much faster boats, so I was always p laying catchup, hence the WOT. Now I have a Big Block and hardly use use WOT. My buddy has the Small Block :0)

This describes me exactly - but I think we are probably softer on boats than most on this website.

My "Average RPM" is probably very low as most of my hours are probably done at Idle.

Great post
I have the same questions. Almost every time out,I run the boat up to 5000-5200 just for a quick blast, maybe 30 seconds.But I did do a Poker Run this year and ran for extended periods of 4500-4800 for 5 minutes,and blasts of 5200. Is this bad. Have a friend that ran a F-2 boat for 2 seasons and said they ran there 525's WOT all race,no problems. Are the valve springs on the 525,s a concern when ran hard?

3000-3700 for me... Mostly 3600-3700 cruise.

If the kids are on the boat 3K.

I hardly run WFO.

I generally run 3000-3200 rpm, but I always goose it on the way back home for 5-10 minutes around 3800 - 4200. Kinda wakes up the crowd when we're getting closer to the marina, energizes them to get their crap together when I slow down to dock, and it sets the mood to head to the bar after we're all buttoned up!