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billius.
Im interested in a 2010 Puma I found for sale. It has a 250 pro xs on it with 624 hours. Is that a lot of hours for a 2010 whats normal hours for a boat per year? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Unless you have a SC monitor you will need to hook it up to the computer to know how many hours are on the motor.
With SC gauges that record of history should be there, just rotate through using the MODE button.
Sounds like it was fished a lot. I bought my 2008 classic with a 2014 Pro XS 200 last October. Motor had 238 hours when I bought it (I saw the CDS display). Interesting thing was ZERO hours above 5,000 RPM. The motor was placed in service April 2014, and by October 2016, about 2.5 years later, it had roughly 240 hours. 100 hours per year or so? So that sounds about right. If it runs good, I would be happier with that than with one that had under 50 hours. These things need to be run.BTW I have been going about two or three times per week since we got it and have 291 hours now. Almost 6 months and 51 hours. So I am on that roughly 100 hours per year also.2008 Pantera Classic2014 Mercury Pro XS 200
600+ on a now 7 yr old motor is about 100 hrs/year. Kinda like OT57s. We repowered with a 2012 175 Pro XS in 2012. Between College Tourneys and fun fishing, it has probably 400-420 hours on it. Not sure I want to see the RPM sheet on it though…but on a 1996 old school Eyra, its been a beast.96 Eyra/12 Mercury 175 Pro XS with 2015 single axle trailer2017 Victory Gunner
Have the motor gone over by the best reputed Merc tech in your area. Insist on compression and leak down test. Hours arent nearly as much of an issue as the maintenance and oil. Any motor could fail tomorrow, but that will eliminate many of your concerns.BTW, mines only a 150, but has lived most of its life above 5K rpms. at well north of 600 hrs.. I have nearly stock compression.
We seen motors last from 0 to 2800 hours and more on 2 strokes. The most common number we start concerning ourselves with is about 1500 hours. Sure there are those that run out before that and the number there is a wide berth of range. On direct injection we find if they last beyond 400 hours then they usually run a long time. On EFI and Carb motors weve seen them into the 3000 hour mark. We start watching reeds and compression if they get to 900 hours. We have seen much more power and compression issues on engines that have sat for a long time, as in 2 years or more. These engines must be slowly run as if they were new with a break in time. The rings are loose and lose seating after sitting. You fire up the engine and run it like you stole it after sitting in Grandpas garage for three years, and they will prematurely break. We have seen that one dozens of times. If an engines been sitting more than one to two years, clean all (ALL) the fuel out and put fuel in with a stabilizer (carbon guard, QuickClean, Stabil, *SeaFoam) or some type ethanol and moisture removal additive. Check the oil for clabbering, from the former use of different oils. Changing out a few bucks worth of reeds can also be preventative measure. Place a 50:1 oil ratio in the fuel tank to give you the same double oil it had new, then go break it in, again. Run it for two hours with varying RPM and keep it below 3500 to 4,000 for the first our, then keep it below 4500 with short bursts less than one minute to 5,000 RPM. Then leter fly after 2 hours of resetting everything. It should keep the engine running for several more years if everything was good at first. Two stroke engines depend on three things to restrict pressure, porting location on the stroke, rings and reeds. If the rings are set and the reeds are fine then the ports never change. What happens is the reeds are frozen(stiff) from sitting as are the rings. Then the reeds chip, break or split and go through the Cylinder, chipping a port, clipping a ring and damaging the entire port or bore. Rings run hard after sitting can catch a port or grab carbon buildup and chip a port run hard after sitting, which also damages a port or bore. Just treat it new with fresh fuel and most will be fine. Thats the method of mechanical TLC required for a garage queen or barn find.
BTW on the Mercs, you can easily re-enter break-in mode if you want, which will double-oil for 2 hours automatically. You need a helper so that you can align the clutch dogs. Gently shift into gear with motor OFF. It probably wont happen. Now have your helper spin the prop slowly while you continue trying to shift into forward. It will eventually shift (if you force it, you get to pay your local merc tech to fix it). Now you are ready. Put motor back in neutral and confirm it will now shift to forward with no resistance. Turn key on but do not start. Shift to forward, then back to neutral, repeat a total of three times. You have to do the entire procedure within something like 10 seconds – key on, F-N-F-N-F-N… You are now in break-in mode again. If you listen, with the cowl off, you will hear the oil pump (front bottom of powerhead, starboard side) click and buzz for a bit. Thats the oil pump prime sequence that purges any air from the oil injection pump. Now make sure the remote oil reservoir is 2/3 full or so and go through the break-in procedure again. If you have a mercmonitor or smart craft gauge, you can watch the break-in counter count down. If not, you will have to guess. If you dont run with the motor loaded up, it wont count down. IE you cant idle for two hours.Note that this is a really good idea as BCB mentioned. By initiating the oil pump prime sequence you make sure that sitting for a couple of years did not let the pump lose its prime. Running it with air in the pump can blow up the powerhead due to a lack of lubrication caused by an airlock in the pump.2008 Pantera Classic2014 Mercury Pro XS 200
Ive also found a 08 Cougar with 400hrs. Should I go with a 2008 Cougar with 400 hours or a 2010 Puma with 600 hours both with 250 pro xs on them. Should I go with older boat with less hours or newer boat with more hours?Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Its all your choice.
My opinion……….NEWER boat with more hours.
Unless the deal was a very, very good one, Id find another boat with lower hours.
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