Hours on a challenger

[Boatlife]

Looking to buy a challenger for the first time. How many hours is a lot on a 2009 season challenger 180 boat? Thanks for your help!

 

[JPass]

There's a lot of factors that come into play when answering that question. The answers can be quite subjective as well. Some things to consider:

Length of boating season
Good maintenance history (preferably with documentation)
Overall condition of boat
Negotiating power (typically low hour toys are listed at higher prices and have less wiggle room when haggling)

If all things were equal aside from hours, I'd personally take a higher hour boat over a super low mileage boat in most cases as I'd be worried about issues from having a boat sit for long periods of time.

If you have any links to any particular boats you're looking at, feel free to share.

 

[delonnelj]

An avid boater with a good sized pool will run the engines about 30 hours a year. So 300 or so is about right for that boat. It'll be fine up to 1200 hours. If you change the oil every 40 hours.

 

[rcookr1]

I would never touch a seadoo with over 300 hours

 

[incognito2428]

If all depends on maintenance. I’ve seen them with 50 hours that look like crap and are in need of some new parts and I’ve seen them with 200 hours that look brand new. It all depends how it was taken care of.

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

I wont speculate on a 4-tec except to say they should be capable of considerably more than a few hundred hours by a wide margin.

I'd definitely check the compression and do at least a 30 minute water test if I was paying a turn-key price for a running boat.

Lack of, or incorrect maintenance, salt water operation, poor storage conditions and other types of general neglect can shorten their life dramatically.