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Posts: 2067
| I fish a lot but have never really looked at Hrs per year...I think I put around 100 hrs a year on the big motor - Who has put the most on? Anyone put 200 hrs on in a year? I found out Mercury can choose to not honor prepaid warranties (5 or 7 year extended) once you hit 500 hrs. |
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Posts: 1663
Location: Kodiak, AK | This gets asked alot and it's always "it varies." Troller? Caster? Big water? Weekend warrior? It all depends. Usually, for a "normal" fisherman that takes things seriously and fishes more than just weekends, you could look at 50-100 hrs. Last year I put 279 hrs on my motor, all on LSC and zero trolling, fishing several days a week. For some that's alot. For a saltwater charter in Florida and maybe some freshwater guides...that's half a season. |
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Posts: 2097
| Largest lake I fish is 8000 acres with other sub 3000 acre lakes. I troll with a kicker. I used less than 4 tanks of gass last year. |
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Posts: 682
Location: Sycamore, IL | I don't have an hour meter but I am sure that I put on more than 200hrs each year on my outboard. I do a lot of trolling... |
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Posts: 2067
| I'm asking because I have to decide in 15 days if I want to buy more warranty (has two years of Platinum left currently) - I think with the hrs I fish its not wise. Guessing I'll be close to 500hrs after the 5 year warranty is up....esoxfly you cant catch muskies doing 50mph....that's a ton of hrs running for a caster in a season. Has anyone made warranty claims with Mercury over 500 hrs? Are they always denied as soon as you go over 500 hrs? |
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Posts: 1663
Location: Kodiak, AK | IAJustin - 4/30/2013 6:19 PM
....esoxfly you cant catch muskies doing 50mph....that's a ton of hrs running for a caster in a season.
Going 50, no, and you try to avoid long runs when you can. But when you have to run across a body of big water to get to fishable water or get out of the wind or mud, you gotta put hours on the boat. Sometimes in the fall I'll run 30 minutes one-way. That's an hour just to get to one spot and back on one day, not to mention the other spots that day alone...it's not uncommon to put multiple hours on the boat in a long day. It's part of big water fishing, which is why it's one of the variables I mentioned above! Big water vs inland lakes are day and night for hours on a motor. That isn't that much running on a lake as large as LSC, especially fishing it 4-7 days a week for six months. I'd guess Spencer and Hulbert put more hours on than that. But that's my point; it all depends. If I was fishing smaller water, I'd not have to run 15-20 minutes to get to some of my daily spots. 300 hrs isn't that much on a big water motor run seven months of the year (forgot the Month of May for bass fishing).
280 hrs is a lot of hours, but you asked if anyone did 200 hrs on a motor, and I had that on the Yammie by October this year.
Edited by esoxfly 4/30/2013 8:34 PM
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Posts: 183
Location: Grand Forks ND | Wow. I just turned 200 hours last fall and I've had the boat for 6 years. |
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Posts: 4080
Location: Elko - Lake Vermilion | I avg. about 150-170 hrs a year on the big motor
98% casting,...... I probably fish around 400-450 hrs a year for muskie on avg. for the past ten years.
G-Rome |
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Posts: 906
Location: Warroad, Mn | I have a 2002 optimax with a smart guage. It reads 1,931 hours/10=193.1 hours/year. All high speed running, as I use a kicker to troll. It's been rebuilt twice.
Lots of days on a very big lake.
Doug Johnson |
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| O.K. I'm just bragging......but I put 500 hrs on my Pathfinder/Yamaha between sept 2011 and sept 2012. I managed another 396 since but unfortunately the hour meter ends there due to a balancer gear that let go and clogged the oil intake.....BOOM! Saltwater guides regularly put 500+ hrs/year. Many boats for sale down here with 1500+ hrs on the motor! |
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Posts: 1663
Location: Kodiak, AK | Ben, tell us more about the balancer gear....I'm only a couple hundo from 896....I have a 225 sport and on a Pathfinder, I'm guess it's not the same motor, but I'd love to hear about it... |
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Location: Green Bay, WI | I've been researching this sort of thing for an upcoming boat/motor purchase. On TheHullTruth's forum there are threads talking about various engines. Some of the folks running four-stroke engines like Honda and Yamaha have gotten 5000-8000 hours on these engines. For instance, the Coast Guard guys run their Honda 225hp engines for almost 10000 hours. There was one thread where a Verado guy had several thousand hours on one of those engines--and they've only been out since 2005, so that's 400-500+ hours per year on average. The DI two-strokes seem to have fewer hours, but there are still several reports of those engines with a couple thousand hours as well.
The bottom line, as far as I could tell, was that it was NOT using these engines that hurts them. It's not using them that seems to be the problem. Living in the Midwest, it's doubtful that there is enough available seasonal time to "over-use" the engine. It's just not going to happen when you consider that the people in South Florida, Texas and California can boat all year around. And they are boating in salt water, which is harder on the engines. So I think that unless you are on the water every single day, running for several hours per day, you aren't likely to have a problem with any of the modern engines on the market.
So take care of the engine and do proper maintenance, and it should last as long (or longer) than you do. I would not be afraid to put several hundred hours of time per season on a modern two- or four-stroke marine engine. PM me if you want links to those forum threads I mentioned.
TB
Edited by tcbetka 5/5/2013 1:58 PM
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| Esoxfly, The yamaha master tech told me my motor has the 5th incarnation. Its a common problem and a trained ear can hear it instantly. The main thing is service intervals and having a master tech working on your motor! I believe its exclusive to the f150!? I'm picking her up tomorrow and I'll ask a few more questions. He did say they change em out constantly so maybe its something we should be looking at every 100hr service. |
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| I talked to the tech today and he said it is exclusive to the 150. He also said the problem has been addressed and resolved. They said it makes a distinctive "whining" noise. Good Luck! |
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Posts: 1663
Location: Kodiak, AK | Interesting. I've got a 225 Sport and it's got a "noise" it makes that Yamaha is aware of it and there's a fix for it...but it involves pulling the powerhead off the mid section. Good thing it's harmless. |
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