How many engine hours per year?

Irish Rover

Irish Rover

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I took delivery of my new-to-me boat in Preveza at the beginning of April some 9 months ago and I was surprised when I checked my engine hours log today. I have put up 240 hours on each engine. At least 95% of my motoring is done on a single engine so I'm estimating I've done around 465 hours in 9 months. I've also kept a log of my diesel usage and I reckon I've used a total of 1,680 liters. I didn't keep a log of miles traveled but I generally motor around 7Kn so it's probably somewhere just south of 3,200. It was my honeymoon year with this boat so I imagine I won't do as many hours in my second season but, then again, why not?
 
I would say that's higher than average hours .
Not quite sure how you manage to keep up the 7 knots but well done. I do a lot of slow running due to speed restrictions but don't run on one engine as my steering is powered off the starboard engine only.

As a group of 4 we flew into Preveza and chartered a yacht for a week in early October. My friend has his day skipper and now doing yachtmaster. It was my first sailing experience . I loved it but my chief officer is not keen .We did see some motor boats but they were very much in the minority. We made 7 knots under sail on one or two occasions - 41ft Bavaria .
If you are content with going slow am surprised you don't have a yacht - but then my chief officer would agree with your choice of a motor boat.

My friend is looking at buying a yacht but frightened of buying in the Ionian - which is a shame . are there taxes to pay in Greece on buying/owning a yacht or motorboat ? - sorry to steal your thread .
 
Irish Rover said:
I took delivery of my new-to-me boat in Preveza at the beginning of April some 9 months ago and I was surprised when I checked my engine hours log today. I have put up 240 hours on each engine. At least 95% of my motoring is done on a single engine so I'm estimating I've done around 465 hours in 9 months. I've also kept a log of my diesel usage and I reckon I've used a total of 1,680 liters. I didn't keep a log of miles traveled but I generally motor around 7Kn so it's probably somewhere just south of 3,200. It was my honeymoon year with this boat so I imagine I won't do as many hours in my second season but, then again, why not?
Click to expand...

For my last season (on an 11m sailing boat) it's 2,600NM and 147 engine hours @ approx 2 litres diesel per hour. This represents about 30% of my sailing time at an average of 5.5kts. I'm always surprised how high the engine hours are, although in recent years I have been spending extended periods at anchor which does necessitate running the engine every now and then to charge the batteries, and I did spend two days motoring through the Kiel Canal last season.
 
MartynG said:
I would say that's higher than average hours .
Not quite sure how you manage to keep up the 7 knots but well done. I do a lot of slow running due to speed restrictions but don't run on one engine as my steering is powered off the starboard engine only.

As a group of 4 we flew into Preveza and chartered a yacht for a week in early October. My friend has his day skipper and now doing yachtmaster. It was my first sailing experience . I loved it but my chief officer is not keen .We did see some motor boats but they were very much in the minority. We made 7 knots under sail on one or two occasions - 41ft Bavaria .
If you are content with going slow am surprised you don't have a yacht - but then my chief officer would agree with your choice of a motor boat.

My friend is looking at buying a yacht but frightened of buying in the Ionian - which is a shame . are there taxes to pay in Greece on buying/owning a yacht or motorboat ? - sorry to steal your thread .
Click to expand...
I was never much of a sailor. I had fast sports boats for a good number of years when business meant I could only snatch a few hours or at best a weekend away and always at short notice. I'm enjoying the slower pace and my wife and daughter are delighted with the extra space the catamaran gives us. It's unbelievably easy to maneuver as well so single handing is not a problem.
As regards your friend I don't see any reason why he should be frightened about buying in the Ionian or indeed the Aegean where I'm based. There is always a big selection available for sale and there are good bargains to be had. Your friend needs to keep his head about him and do his research. If he's not very experienced he'd do well to get help from someone who is and I'd always advise having a survey done. I used an excellent surveyor in Lefkas called Kevan Whittle. Beware of the yacht brokers in that area. I had a bad experience with Williams and Smithells and there's a not very encouraging thread about Network Yacht Brokers as well.
There's lots of information on the forum about taxes in Greece such as http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?490283-Greek-Cruising-Tax-update-from-the-CA/page29.
He needs to check the VAT status of any boats he's looking at as well.
There are others on the forum much more knowledgeable than me and they are very generous with information and advice. Your friend would be well advised to post any specific questions he may have on the forum and he'll be well advised by our resident experts.
 
Mine has some phantom hours.....

The tacos seem to run when the keys are on.

I typically turn the engines off form the fly. At anchor I only notice the fans running when i am in the water. I then holler at the kids to turn off the switches.

Not idea if this is normal - I would have assumed the engine should have been running!
 
jrudge said:
Mine has some phantom hours.....

The tacos seem to run when the key is on

Not idea if this is normal - I would have assumed the engine should have been running!
Click to expand...

yup, thats the normal situation with analogue meters, as soon as you turn key you activate meters and they start clocking up the hours.Engine does not need to be running.
 
Irish Rover said:
I took delivery of my new-to-me boat in Preveza at the beginning of April some 9 months ago and I was surprised when I checked my engine hours log today. I have put up 240 hours on each engine. At least 95% of my motoring is done on a single engine so I'm estimating I've done around 465 hours in 9 months. I've also kept a log of my diesel usage and I reckon I've used a total of 1,680 liters. I didn't keep a log of miles traveled but I generally motor around 7Kn so it's probably somewhere just south of 3,200. It was my honeymoon year with this boat so I imagine I won't do as many hours in my second season but, then again, why not?
Click to expand...

Yep - thats a lot of hours.
I have always thought that the average is about 100 hours per year.

On another point - running on one engine.
I've always shied away from running on one engine since I had a look at the shaft of the unpowered engine some 14 years ago.
There is a lot of power coming back up the unpowered shaft.
There are two main reasons that I don't run under a single engine.
1 - I think that my shaft seal on the unpowered shaft would overheat - coolant water is pumped from its engine.
2 - I don't know what the effect would be on the unpowered gearbox - how is the gearbox oil pump powered - definitely off the input side - but would it be powered from the shaft? - and the same argument for gearbox cooling.

We do a lot of low speed cruising but I always use both engines and run at a speed fractionally over the maximum hull displacement speed.
 
Hurricane said:
Yep - thats a lot of hours.
I have always thought that the average is about 100 hours per year.

On another point - running on one engine.
I've always shied away from running on one engine since I had a look at the shaft of the unpowered engine some 14 years ago.
There is a lot of power coming back up the unpowered shaft.
There are two main reasons that I don't run under a single engine.
1 - I think that my shaft seal on the unpowered shaft would overheat - coolant water is pumped from its engine.
2 - I don't know what the effect would be on the unpowered gearbox - how is the gearbox oil pump powered - definitely off the input side - but would it be powered from the shaft? - and the same argument for gearbox cooling.

We do a lot of low speed cruising but I always use both engines and run at a speed fractionally over the maximum hull displacement speed.
Click to expand...
This is my first twin engine boat and I’d never have considered running a twin powered boat on a single engine. However the previous owner who was an engineer assured me he had been doing it for 10 years and convinced me it was the right thing to do. So far no problems and hugely economical from a fuel and maintenance point of view.
 
oldgit said:
yup, thats the normal situation with analogue meters, as soon as you turn key you activate meters and they start clocking up the hours.Engine does not need to be running.
Click to expand...

They are technically digital ( in the tacho) but it is interesting that is normal.

I realised when the hours were well above what i could have done.

It can be significant. We were in a huge storm all night in Ibiza. The keys were on all night so I could start from flybridge. Inexplicably stupid design!
 
jrudge said:
The keys were on all night so I could start from flybridge. Inexplicably stupid design!
Click to expand...

I never put the keys in the flybridge helm and only take the keys out of the lower helm if working in the engine bay or if grandchildren are about . It has never been an issue .
 
MartynG said:
I never put the keys in the flybridge helm and only take the keys out of the lower helm if working in the engine bay or if grandchildren are about . It has never been an issue .
Click to expand...

The only keys are below. I can start from fly using start and stop buttons - but only if the ignition is on below ... which I now know chomps up hours!
 
jrudge said:
The only keys are below. I can start from fly using start and stop buttons - but only if the ignition is on below ... which I now know chomps up hours!
Click to expand...

I see.
I had considered fitting stop/start buttons to free up some space but you have provided a good reason to avoid that.
 
About 80 hrs majority at P cruise . @ about 80 % load to keep the engines sweet .Speed varied depending on prop hygiene and kg of the boat , sea state etc .
28 knots typical , so 30 mph as rough figure = 2400 miles less marina , some D speed , and some anchor manoeuvres .
Ballpark 2000 miles
 
jrudge said:
The keys were on all night so I could start from flybridge. Inexplicably stupid design!
Click to expand...
Blimey J, do you mean that you stayed up there on watch all night? :eek:

Ref. hour meters, even if I'm not 100% positive, I believe that the LCD hours within my VDO tachos do NOT start counting with the key contact alone.
And that's with engines which are not ECU-controlled, as I believe yours are.
So, yep, no excuse for such silly design, imho.
 
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