Outboard life expectancy?

[mgarvie]

I've seen what the experts say but still wonder what my outboard's life expectancy is in the "real world".

I have a 2004 Yamaha 60hp 4 stroke that I bought new and I'm pushing an old 20 foot Bass Buggy. Hate to admit it, but most of my hours are at WOT for 12 miles each way twice a week to go camping and fishing. I have also changed all my oils and filter each year before winter storage.

What's a good "real world" estimate before I need to think about a major overhaul.

[Bamaman]

That's a very difficult question. There are many boats impeccably kept that have 3000-4000 hours. But so much usage is pretty rare as most owners don't even use their boats 30 or 40 hours a year.

I would say if you keep the oil and lower unit gear lube changed yearly and you change fuel filters periodically, your engine might last you a lifetime.

My boat has a F150 Yamaha, and it's nice not to have to run it but 1/2 throttle for a normal cruise speed. I've been on smaller engine boats that require really throwing the throttle to them to maintain normal cruising speeds.

If you ever have the chance to upgrade your hull, go back with as large an engine as the boat is rated for. It'll provide a much more pleasurable boating experience.

[rancherlee]

With good maintenance, a lifetime for a recreational freshwater boater. A Barging company on our lake typically swaps out their engines @ 4000+ hours! (they put ~1000-1500 a year on them). The only engines they had issues with are G1 Etec 250's, they got a sweet hart deal to try them out, but both needed the powerheads replaced the first year. They replaced those after the first year with Suzuki 250's which they are planning on replacing at the end of this season, currently 4 years old and 4600+ hours with basic maintenance. This company has been around since the 70's and they managed to get 2000+ hours out of old Johnson/Evinrude V6 2 strokes too!

[Jake_Daddy]

I will throw you an outlire in the stats your collecting! There was a local crab boat around here, saltwater east Florida intracostal, that had a Suzuki with ~9000 hours on it and still running good when he repowered. When he was shopping for a new one the dealer who had sold him the motor and done the maintenance on it had contacted people up the ladder at Suzuki and they gave him a new motor, free of charge, so they could take his old one and study it.

Take this for what its worth but the info came from one of the techs that worked on the boat. I dont have any info on specifics but most of the crab boats around here are in the 24' range with a nice wide beam and large outboards on them, I would say 150hp and larger and Im sure they get worked pretty well.