On Thu, 3 Apr 2008 08:22:25 -0700 (PDT), Haas C
wrote:

Hi all!

I am about to purchase a pre-owned/used boat soon - it will be my
first time purchasing. I am going to buy something between 3-6 years
old - with that kind of age, what would be a good use of engine hours?
Not sure if i am getting an outboard, inboard, I/O, but would welcome
any and all suggestions. i am going to be boating mainly on lakes.
When i see ads, i usually see engine hours listed - just wanted to
know how many hours are too much, etc. Thanks!

Given hours aren't necessarily a good indicator of engine use/abuse,
but they have some relevance in terms of maintenance. A 3 year old
engine with less than 50 hours on it means that it wasn't used much -
a three year old engine with 150 hours on it is about average use.
Having said that, the engine with less hours on it may be junk for a
variety of reasons and the engine with 150 may be good as new
depending on maintainence.

As a general rule, 50-60 hrs/yr is a good measure for recreational
boats - that's an average. Again, it depends on how the engines were
maintained and is not a perfect indicator of condition.

With respect to I/O vs outboard, that's a matter of preference. I'm
stricly an outboard type. I think they are more convienent to work
on, generally more reliable than I/Os over time and you don't have a
huge hole in your transom where the I/O passes through. It's really a
question of what you are comfortable with.

Modern outboards come in three flavors - two stroke injected via
manifold (EFI like Optimax), two stroke direct injected (gas/oil is
injected directly into the cylinder) and four stroke (like your car
engine). In terms of noise, all new outboards, say built in the past
three/four years, are quiet - some more than others, but in general,
enourmous improvements in noise reduction have been made. I/Os are
generally EFI engines - not a bad thing at all. With respect to
emissions, again all engines are much improved overall - some more
than others.

With respect to the boat it'self that all depends on what you wish to
use it for. A general purpose outlook (skiing/tubing/touring the
lake/fishing) will lead you to a multi-purpose boat. Just sports
oriented - perhaps an inboard ski boat, fishing will lead to certain
style boats like bass, bay, offshore, etc. Each of these types of
boats work better with different engine types - ski boats in general
use inboards, multi-purpose boats are I/Os, fishing boats tend to be
outboards. One other type of propulsion is hydro-jet which has it's
own seperate following.

Tow vs slip/mooring can also be an issue. If you don't have the
ability to tow the boat you are interested in, you need to slip it
with the attendant issues like barrier coat/bottom paint and slip/yard
fees. You have to consider the ability to tow when looking at a
potential boat purchase.

So at this point, it's really a home work issue - what kind of boat is
related to it's function is related to it's power is related to how
you plan to use it and how you plan to get it to where you plan to use
it.

Once you have a general idea of what/where and when, you can start
digging into it further.

Finally, it's always a good idea to pay for an outside agency (dealer)
to look at the engine regardless of engine hours. Pay a shop an hours
time to go through the boat's engine and do the standard checks to
reassure yourself that you are buying something worth the money.