engine hours?

[brassedoff]

We travel, on average, 1000 hours per year and always have done. That's probably a little above average for a private boat, but would be a little below average for a hire boat.

 

That sound like a few good days out cruising

[Canalwatcher]

We have put on 2970 hours in 8 years (371 hours per year average )during which we have travelled 5020 miles and operated 3534 locks, 2667 hours were used travelling and the remainder (303 hrs) whilst moored. Since adding Solar panels the hours moored per year have been very much reduced compared with earlier years.

 

Mick

[David Mack]

Our engine is about 80 years old. No idea how many hours it has done. It was rebuilt about 15 years ago, and is still running fine.

[Cheshire cat]

The Nanni engine in our shared boat will be 10 years old at Christmas. It does 1100 hours a year. It is showing no signs of old age whereas the slightly younger BMC it replaced was totally knackered.

 

As others have said, its all about how much abuse the engine gets. In the case of the BMC we had several split hoses causing various over heating episodes.

[ditchcrawler]

We travel, on average, 1000 hours per year and always have done. That's probably a little above average for a private boat, but would be a little below average for a hire boat.

Same here

[cuthound]

I do a pretty even mix of motorway and normal road driving, and according to the in car computers of my last 3 cars, my average speed is about 30mph. So say 1000 hours equals 30mph.

 

The 2 share boats I used got pretty intensive useage, averaging 1100-1200 hours per year.

 

The first, which had a 1.4 Mitsubishi based engine, needed a new engine after 9,000 hours (say 270,000 miles).

 

The second had a Turkish built BMC 1.8 engine, and needed a new engine after a somewhat surprising (given the poor base engine) 14,000 hours (say 420,000 miles).

 

When I was working I put in a lot of standby generators with diesel engines to replace older ones. Most of the ones we ones we replaced needed rebuilds after about 8,000 hours, but then diesels work a lot harder in a standby Genny than they do in a narrowboat.

 

With regard to wear, I was told that 90% of the wear takes place whilst the engine is warming up. I can easily believe this, as very low mileage cars tend to be a lot of trouble in later years, (because all the mileage took place during the warming up period) but high mileage ex-company cars can go on for ever because most of the mileage is done at normal operating temperature.

Edited July 31, 2015 by cuthound

[guelrose]

Our BMC 1.8 is now on just over 12000 hours in 26 years. Servicing as per the Thorneycroft manual every 200 hours...

[J R ALSOP]

My Bukh 2G105 is 36 years old, never had a spanner on it only for fuel and old filters, starts before the button hits the bottom, does not smoke or use oil. As Tina Turner say "Simply the best".

[Neil2]

My Bukh 2G105 is 36 years old, never had a spanner on it only for fuel and old filters, starts before the button hits the bottom, does not smoke or use oil. As Tina Turner say "Simply the best".

 

Likewise I have a 26 year old Bukh with almost 6,000 hours on it. Everything original except a couple of hoses I had to replace. This is, of course, dangerous talk...

[john6767]

We bought our NB at 5 years old and had done 750 hours, and was little used. In the last 5 years we have done another 1800 hours. Usage varies renormously I would say

[Tony Brooks]

Likewise, a 24 year old Bukh with goodness knows how many hours on the clock with the first 10 years in hire fleets. Burns virtually no oil although it smokes bit at low speed (poor combustion). Since I have had it I have only done routine maintenance, 1 injector set overhaul and change the valve stem oil seals (trying to stop the smoke). However I doubt we are comparing like with like. A BMC is not the same as a Kubota or Mitsubishi based engine and none of the are the same as Bukh. I do not think it is possible to give a reliable answer to the OP apart from many, many years if it is maintained as it should be. If there is evidence that the engine has been maintained well when the boat has been bought then its life is not something to worry about, although the ready availability of spares may be (ref Kingfisher and maybe Shanks in the longer term).