Motor hours?

When your looking for a used boat do you worry about how many hours are on the motor?
I seem to worry about it just not sure if I should.

80-100 is average for a avid user.
Well maintained motors should last 3,000 hours.
But newer motors and ethanol have changed what’s normal.

Depends on how old the boat you are looking at is, at a certain point, I'd like to see that a boat was used fairly regularly. 400-500 hours wouldn't scare me on a good properly maintained motor. It's that 700-800 range that can start to make me nervous if I don't know how it was taken care of, and for reasons Pat mentions above. That's why you see so many powerhead failures before 1000 hours.

Oil and fuel make a big difference.
I used to get a new rig every year. I ran factory oil religiously and typically put 600 hours on a motor a year. Yeah it was a lot...but.
Every year when I turned them in, they were solid, tight motors, good compression, good bearings, not one bit afraid to run them for a long time.
Except one year after an argument over oil, I ran 100% walmart oil in a 3.0 merc. Hours were in the high five hundreds, and that poor motor was worn out. 88 lbs of compression, bearings were sloppy, just really tired.

Not scientific, but proved enough for me, never run that stuff again. Not even in the weedeater.

Funny how you see lots of saltwater guys with 2-3k hours and still running strong. With the bass boat crowd it seems like a lot of power heads blow in the first few hundred hours. I think most of that is attributed to not warming up the motor before takeoff and running wot for short distances. Take care of a new motor and it will more then likely last without issue. Buying used is a [censored] shoot but a printed history report will give you an idea of how it was used.

Seadrift crabbers run the living snot out of their motors, you can't even tell the brand from the slime covering the cowlings. And they'll get five or six years with a zillion hours out of them.

It's not the hours, it's everything else.

Maintenance logs is a big deal. I keep one and the receipts of any and all service. I use the same service dealer as well. You get a guy that has all that paper trail, you can bet his motor is in good shape.

As for oil, never cheap out. Use factory recommendations and the highest quality oil you can get. I try to run through a tank of fuel every 2-4 weeks, I used a stabilizer and change my online fuel filter every 3 months instead of 6. Always store inside and with a full tank.

If motor new enough I can check Hours and do a download for you

It is definitely a concern for me. I will not buy a boat unless it has less than 200 hours, no matter what year it is. I'm pickier than most. I look at the skeg more than anything, and can tell from there how well the boat has been taken care of. I bought my last boat in Aug 2015. A 20i that had 72 hours on it. The seller had all service records, and even if he didn't hardly use it, he still serviced it regularly. I did a re-break in and she ran like a scalded dog. I ask the seller if they've always let it warm up before hammering it. You can tell if they're tyruthful. These high performance engines are meant to run pedal to medal, but first must be fully warm before doing so. I sold it in April 2018 with 175 hours. It was an '07. Now, I'm looking for something similar, but plan to buy something with a warranty still attached. My luck will soon run out, if not. GL, Kicker....

80-100 is average hours a year for most actively used boats in Texas.

I’ve seen far more issues with not used super low hour motors than from that were run consistently and taken care of.

Hours are far from the major factor in that motors health.

It really just matters how well the motor was taken care of. Hours are just that, I have had a couple of high hour engines that I bought used that ran just as good and the new motors I bought. I had a Tohatsu that ran commercial saltwater all it's life with 1200+ hrs when I bought it, added 300 more on it before I sold it to a buddy and he is still running that darn thing.

Hours are not a good indicator of an engines performance. A leak down test is the only reliable method of determining an engines true level of performance.

Agreed . A leak down test is an excellent way of knowing if anything is wearing out unexpectedly .