When buying a used car, you need to look at the mileage. A high mileage means the vehicle has been used heavily and will probably be more expensive to maintain. With a pre-owned boat, what you need to look at is the engine hours. Engine hours are the number of hours that an engine has run over its lifetime. Just like mileage, more engine hours mean the boat will have more maintenance needs. That is why you need to bring in marine surveyors Fort Lauderdale trusts to use an engine hour meter to determine how long the boat has run over its lifetime.
While engine hours are meant to help you understand how long a boat has been used, you should verify. It is not uncommon to find a used boat that seems to have too few engine hours. If the hours seem too low, chances are the engine hours have been tampered with. Experienced marine surveyors Fort Lauderdale will be able to verify this.
The average boater uses a boat for about 50 to 60 hours every season. You need to keep this information in mind when evaluate the engine hours. If you are targeting a boat that is four years old, it should have at least 200 hours. However, if that boat has less hours, the seller might be dishonest. You need to investigate further.
While an average of 50 hours per season is normal, it is good to note that there are exceptions. This is more so when you are considering a boat that was used in the southern parts of the United States such as Florida and Texas. The boating seasons in the southern states are longer. Considering the weather is favorable here all year round, it is not uncommon to find a boat that was used all year. This means the number of engine hours will be more. If you are buying a boat from southern United States and the hours are too low, you need to verify.
How do you verify engine hours?
It is easy to verify the hours on a vessel that has an electronic fuel injection. This technology has been around for over 15 years. A marine surveyor will be able to tap into the engine management system and access the engine hours. There are many electronic tools used to assess this.
If you are buying an older boat that uses a carbureted engine, you will not be able to verify the engine hours. Your only option will be relying on the knowledge of a boat surveyor in Fort Lauderdale to report on the condition of the vessel.
Marine Surveyors Fort Lauderdale