On Jun 25, 1:30 pm, RogueIT wrote:
I have a couple questions in my quest to know as much about boats
before I buy a boat

How many hours (roughly) on a boat would equal 100,000 miles on a car
engine?
is there some equation to convert hours = miles of wear?

How often do you change the oil in a boat?

Do you have to dry dock a boat to do this or is it easier?

Is it true that Volvo has a better engine than mercuiser?

What are everyone's feelings on Regal Vs other boat manufactures?

What is dead rise and why does it matter?

thanks
Rogue

Rogue

How long a boat motor will last is a loaded question, and their really
is no way to compare a boat engine to a car engine. A boat engine is
typically much more heavily loaded than your car is. Look at cars,
their de-activating cylinders at highway speeds, no problem, now try
that on a boat, big differance. If you spend most of your time riding
around at low to moderate speeds, the engine will last a very long
time, do a lot of raceing, you could kill an engine in a weekend if
you try hard. I've always found that the average boater, that uses his
boat 100 hours a year, can expect to get at least 1000 hours out of
the engine, ten years. But that number can vary dramatically, just
depends on how hard you run the boat. I've seen people that race get
50 hours, and I've seen fishermen get 7000 hours.

Oil changes, most boaters, once or twice a season. Oil and filters are
still cheap insurance. And the boat does not have to be hauled to do
so. Install an oil change system in the boat and it becomes a 15 to 20
minute job.

Most of the Volvo line are Chevy engines, I prefer Mercruser myself if
I was looking for a gas engine. I like their exhaust manifolds and
cooling system better, but they both work fine. Volvo has some nice
outdrives.

Afraid I don't know anything about Regal.

Deadrise has to do with how deep a V shape the bottom is. A deeper V
will ride better in a sea than a boat with less of a V. But their is
no such thing as a free lunch, the deeper V will sit deeper in the
water, so you can't go in real shallow water, and deeper V's tend to
use more fuel than boats with lesser V's, they require more power to
push them through the water. If your running around on a lake, or a
bay, and their's not much boat traffic, a shallow V is the way to go.
If you plan on spending more time out in the ocean, or their's lots of
boat traffic to contend with, a deeper V is probably the way to go.

John