How to Calculate Engine Hours for a Boat

Checking the engine hours on a boat can be challenging if the engine does not have an hour meter.

Before purchasing a used boat, it is very important to know the condition of its engine, whether it is an inboard or outboard engine. Aside from visually inspecting the engine parts, you can get a good idea of the potential wear and tear on the engine by knowing the number of hours of use. A diesel engine has a lot more life in it than a gasoline engine, and it should run more than three times as long as a gasoline engine before needing serious maintenance.

Things You'll Need

• Boat engine
• Hour meter

Instructions

1. Inspect the engine for an hour meter. Most marine diesel inboard engines or certain outboard engines feature one. Read the numbers on the meter. This will tell you the total number of hours of engine use and is the simplest way to calculate engine hours. The hour meter usually is located directly on the engine or on the steering platform in the cockpit of the boat.

2. Take the engine to a local dealer that services your engine's make if it does not have an hour meter. Depending upon the make and model of the engine, the mechanic can attach a computer to the memory chip in the engine and read the total number of hours of use. This is only applicable for larger outboard engines.

3. Ask the seller approximately how many hours there are on the engine. If you are buying a used boat that only had one owner, you may be able to get an answer to this question. If the owner does not know, move to the next step.

4. Ask the latest owner what year the engine was manufactured and how much the engine was used over its lifetime. From this information, you can calculate a very rough estimate of total engine hours. For example, the owner informs you that the engine was manufactured and purchased new five years ago and the boat primarily was used on weekends in a seasonal climate for approximately six months of the year. Multiply an average of 10 hours of use per weekend by 24 (the number of weekends the boat likely would have been used in a season) and then multiply the product by five (the engine's age), giving you a total of 1,200 hours.

5. Ask a marine mechanic to run a compression test on the engine if you are completely uncertain about the number of hours of use. This process will not give you an actual number of engine hours, but it will give you information about the general working condition of the engine. This is more important than knowing the actual engine hours.

Tips & Warnings

• If the engine hour meter was disconnected during the engine's life or if it was replaced or reset, it will not accurately reflect the total number of hours the engine was used. You will be able to gauge this if the engine is showing a lot of signs of wear and is not running well, but the hour meter displays an abnormally low number of hours of use.

References

• BoatSafe.com: The Life Expectancy of the Marine Engine
• PracticalSailor.com: To Keep Tabs on Your Engine, Install An Engine Hour Meter