"jay" wrote in message
...
I ran into someone else on the river today.. at the marina actually... who
had a sea ray a few years older than mine..
He made mention that sea ray started putting a USB port in their engine
compartment a few years ago that read the hours on the engine with some
device that the dealer would have..

Has anyone ever heard of this, or is this guy smoking crack?

-j



Jay,

I don't think it's actually a USB port, but it's my understanding that the
hours can be scanned. I believe all of the later model Merc engines that
utilize the computers have this ability. I think anyone w/ a Merc scan tool
has the ability to get this info out of an engine. I know of people that
have this done to used boats when looking to purchase it to verify engine
hours.

I also heard from a reliable source that they could tell how the boat had
been driven with this option too. Can't pretend to verify this though.

Buck