Hours on a boat engine.

**mtaylor** · 04-30-2007, 06:39 PM

how many hours would you sat an average sterndrive wake/ski boat motor has in it?

is 100 hours too many for a used boat?

thanks for the help on the world's most random question.

**bisnibble** · 04-30-2007, 06:54 PM

no

what kind of boat and engine?

**givethepigeye** · 04-30-2007, 07:58 PM

No. I put 100 hours on my boat the first summer.

**mtaylor** · 04-30-2007, 08:58 PM

its a rinker 190 something (unimportant something) and some kind of mercruiser motor with 270 hp, a 2005 model.

im not extremely sure about the details, this is second hand info.

**bisnibble** · 04-30-2007, 09:09 PM

if you are buying it for skiing/wakeboarding i would not get a rinker............ but i dislike sterndrives

**mtaylor** · 04-30-2007, 09:16 PM

Originally Posted by bisnibble

if you are buying it for skiing/wakeboarding i would not get a rinker............ but i dislike sterndrives

reason?
im interested

**habituallybored** · 04-30-2007, 09:39 PM

My reasons....

- all the weight is in the rear which = slow to plane
- difficult to hold a constant speed and wake size when pulling a wakeboarder.
- we've never had a tower on our ski boat, but i sometimes feel like when you are slaloming you can pull the rear of the boat to one side and then the other
- When you are turning hard to double up (I think that's what its called...basically when you figure 8 to push two of your wakes together for a huge wakeboard jump) the turning difference is amazing.
- ease of entry/exit of the boat (lame, I know)

I've always had sterndrives because we've never been able to afford an inboard, but I've spent many, many hours getting pulled behind my buddy's Malibu and there is no comparison. If your serious about skiing/wakeboarding, got the dough, and either live on a lake or have access to a deep launch......go big.

**birdman829** · 04-30-2007, 09:42 PM

Originally Posted by mtaylor

how many hours would you sat an average sterndrive wake/ski boat motor has in it?

is 100 hours too many for a used boat?

thanks for the help on the world's most random question.

My family has been putting 150 hours a year on our 1989 Wellcraft 170 American for...well...since 1989. 100 hours is peanuts.

As far as the anti-sterndrive comments, I completely agree. A stern drive is great boat for family/general purpose use but if the primary focus will be waterskiing and wakeboarding, you'll want a direct drive or v-drive. Our boat had served us well but in the past couple years we've wanted to get a new boat as we get more into wakeboarding and waterskiing but they are $$$$$. Just depends on how you want to use it and how much you can spend.

**bisnibble** · 04-30-2007, 09:53 PM

Rinkers are just blah .....they become outdated and loose value very quickly ... the model you are talking about I am sure is the Captiva Bowrider ......
Sterndrive's are cheaper for the boat companies to make but you are going to have more maintenance because essentially the motor as a lot of parts that make direct contact with the water.... so more corrosion ect....
If you are going to buy the boat mainly for pleasure and casual skiing/tubing with the kids then this boat is probably going to be fine

but if you are going to be using it for mainly skiing and wake boarding... especially tubing.... it puts tons of strain on the boat and i would suggest getting a boat specifically designed for water sports like mastercraft, ski nautique, moomba ect.....

moral of the story get an X-Star they are sooooo choice it does eveything and anything you want plus some
Some boating stoke because this thread has me excited for the water to warm up:

**Shredhead** · 05-01-2007, 08:38 AM

100 hours is nothing for a boat. But I totally agree, I/O's suck for water sports.
If you don't have much money, get an older inboard. If your into wake boarding a 82-89 Ski Nautique is your best wake for the buck. If your into Slalom I would probably go with an old Pro Star Mastercraft.

**Snow Dog** · 05-01-2007, 09:47 AM

bisibble -- great pictures.

**pechelman** · 05-01-2007, 09:58 AM

100hrs seems to be the typical number for people who buy boats, never use them, and then decide to sell.

while ive got nothing to add to the watersports side, Ive never been a fan of the I\O mercs or mercs in general. Had a few problems with them on other peoples boats and heard enough from others to just stay away. Granted, playing in a lake is a completely different story than being out in the Ocean or Bay.

The yamaha's we've had have never let us down and been trouble free, pretty quiet, and decently efficient (for a boat engine).

**Shredhead** · 05-01-2007, 11:01 AM

Originally Posted by Snow Dog

bisibble -- great pictures.

I agree, my body hurts just looking at those.

On a side note, it's generally not considered a good idea to pull tubes from your tower. They have a lot more drag than a boarder and can cause cracks in your gelcoat at the tower mounts. I've seen my ski pylon deflect as much as 5 inches pulling four tubers and it's bolted to the stringers.

**bisnibble** · 05-01-2007, 01:01 PM

Originally Posted by Shredhead

I agree, my body hurts just looking at those.

On a side note, it's generally not considered a good idea to pull tubes from your tower. They have a lot more drag than a boarder and can cause cracks in your gelcoat at the tower mounts. I've seen my ski pylon deflect as much as 5 inches pulling four tubers and it's bolted to the stringers.

Yes i know this.... the added air you get from the tower is just Irresistible ...... if you want to keep your boat don't do this .......... the red x-star in the pic is no longer alive.............. 2 broken towers no big deal....... but the cracked hull finally killed it last august don't tell master craft about the 4 tubes

.... the people at mastercraft are sweet ..... i don't think the waranty department likes me and we are especially hated at O'brien

I will do some full TR's in july
Here is some more bone crushing stupidity from last summer

**Natedogg** · 05-01-2007, 02:18 PM

Originally Posted by bisnibble

I will do some full TR's in july

Yes please.

Ouch.

**danhikeski** · 05-01-2007, 05:04 PM

We used to put 100+ hours on our 1987 Mastercraft a year. For a while, it was just 100, and it seemed like I never went, so, no, 100 hours it's just breakin-in.

**FrozenKiwi** · 05-01-2007, 06:49 PM

Does no one out there use outboards, here in NZ nearly every boat on the lake has an outboard. If you're lakes shallow watch out if your buying a directdrive/ v drive if you do run aground it can be very expensive. If your a very serious skier/wake boarder there not very good (pulled round and weight way to far back) but for everything else there great.

**mtaylor** · 05-01-2007, 09:01 PM

i just found out that it has only 40 hours on it, so no problem there

**birdboatboy** · 05-01-2007, 09:40 PM

Grew up in Minnesota skiing behind outboards. Definitely better than I/O's for skiing, obviously second to direct drives.

Originally Posted by FrozenKiwi

Does no one out there use outboards, here in NZ nearly every boat on the lake has an outboard. If you're lakes shallow watch out if your buying a directdrive/ v drive if you do run aground it can be very expensive. If your a very serious skier/wake boarder there not very good (pulled round and weight way to far back) but for everything else there great.

**other1** · 05-02-2007, 09:19 AM

I agree with the others, a DD/VD is the way to go for skiing and boarding. As far as the hours, it really depends on how the boat was maintained. My buddy sold is I/O last spring to a couple of guys for 10K with 115 hours on it. Just saw it down on the river last week and they couldn't get it to start. It looks like they didn't winterize it properly, the interior was trashed from storing it outside with a make shift blue tarp cover over the winter...and it now has 123 hours on it. Looks like it is worth about 5K now.

Love my 83 Ski Nautique 2001. 867 hours and still runs like a top!

bisnibble, remind me not to be on your part of the lake

**mtaylor** · 05-12-2007, 07:03 PM

so instead of starting a brand new thread, ill bump my own to show off a picture of our new toy.

disregarding all of your advice, we bought the...

yellow rinker!

and then spent an hour polishing the tower.

and someone stole our mirror before we bought it. the shop guy is ordering us a new one.

and the steering wheel was mounted upside down.... fixed now, but wtf?

**jfost** · 05-12-2007, 10:18 PM

the only reason I don't like an I/O is that it is unsafe to wakesurf with. 1 wrong fall and say goodbye! Other than that, I've had plenty of fun behind I/O's tubing, wakeboarding, skiing (not so much). I actually hate waterskiing, but that's another story...

Anyway, nice looking boat, enjoy it but please dont wakesurf behind it... (or get one of those prop-guard things)

**funkendrenchman** · 05-13-2007, 01:05 AM

Originally Posted by mtaylor

.

disregarding all of your advice, we bought the...

Sweet, you won't be this excited again until the day you sell it.

**refried** · 05-13-2007, 08:55 AM

There is nothing wrong with sterndrives, they just need a little more maintainace than an Inboard or outboard. Pull the outdrive every winter and service it, It makes it easy to check the bellows, gimble bearing and cable (this also keeps it from getting stolen). watch for manifold leaks, and keep a coil and fuel pump handy for spares (never run the fuel pumps dry, they will start to get noisy then stop working). run it at WOT (full throttle) alone fully trimmed out, to see what your max RPM is, make sure it is within Mercruisers spec. if not get the right prop to put you at the upper end of the scale (4800 I think).Get a bottle of 303 and hit all the rubber, vinyl, and plastic, It's not slimey like armor all, and protects much better.

**mtaylor** · 05-13-2007, 08:34 PM

Originally Posted by refried

There is nothing wrong with sterndrives, they just need a little more maintainace than an Inboard or outboard. Pull the outdrive every winter and service it, It makes it easy to check the bellows, gimble bearing and cable (this also keeps it from getting stolen). watch for manifold leaks, and keep a coil and fuel pump handy for spares (never run the fuel pumps dry, they will start to get noisy then stop working). run it at WOT (full throttle) alone fully trimmed out, to see what your max RPM is, make sure it is within Mercruisers spec. if not get the right prop to put you at the upper end of the scale (4800 I think).Get a bottle of 303 and hit all the rubber, vinyl, and plastic, It's not slimey like armor all, and protects much better.

the place we bought it from is going to winterize it for us at the end of the summer, i would guess they would do most of this (minus the actual driving of the boat)