Average annual engine hours

[ANTREVELL]

Bavaria Cruiser  33   2014 

I am waiting to see the outcome of the insurance assessors comments regarding the damage done when the boat was lifted on the saildrive .
It has bent the engine backplate. I digress . I am asking for a new engine as it has only done 550 hours . The engineer cannot guarantee any work without completely dismantling and crack testing .
I am told by the yard owner my engine hours are excessive . He tells me 30hours annually is the average .
I am surprised by the 30hours for a season .I would have assumed my annual hours would have been more normal. I would be interested to learn the average hours on this forum.
Regards Tony Revell   Pegatha. 

[JEN-et-ROSS]

Sorry to hear of your damage.
We've also had issues with loss adjusters and we're forced to fight our corner ( a large rock broke free from the hillside behind our cradled yacht one winter and took out the rudder and steering. ..! )
Our average is about 100 hrs annually over a total period of about 8-12 weeks.
30 hours does seem very low, so are they seriously suggesting that an 'average' 18 year old engine has only done 550 hours?

[Symphony]

100-150 hours is common in typical UK weekend sailor use. So 550 in 4 years is not high. My charter boat in Greece did roughly that in each year (around 20 weeks a year).

Surely hours are irrelevant if the damage you are claiming for was caused by their negligence rather than wear?

I think you may struggle with getting a new engine unless your engineer can put together a strong case for believing that there is serious internal damage.

I was involved in a similar claim when engines (also Volvo but big 250hp ones) where the insurer would only pay for rebuilds after they commissioned a partial stripdown of one and were convinced they could be rebuilt - even though they were nearly new and only done less than 200 hours.

Presumably you are claiming for a new saildrive, in which case the cost will be well over 50% of a new engine and drive, so perhaps you need a quote to show there is little difference between this and a strip down and inspection of the engine. Even if they don't agree to 100% the salvage valuee of the existing unit will probably make up the difference.

[Yngmar]

I am told by the yard owner my engine hours are excessive . He tells me 30hours annually is the average .

Either they only work on boats that are used for one weekend a year (feasible in some marinas we've seen, where many never move at all), or ... he's full of it.

We did 251 hours this year, 182 last, although the year before that probably just around 30, because of the big refit. That's still 154 a year if averaged though.

[Jeff Jones]

for a longer term average,

when I bought my B34 2000 it was 15 years old and had 1580hrs on the clock then - VP MD2030.

I bought it from Suffolk Yacht Harbour where it had been for the 5year previous and was used a fair bit, prior on the south coast from new.

so that's a rough average of 100hrs a year.

best of luck...I hope this helps

[WAArete]

I'm sort of new here. Where do you keep your boat? On the East coast, we really motored. However, over here in the PNW, motoring has jumped 3-4 times that. My boat had low hours, that was before I had a Captain run it north from San Diego to WA. So, many events and lifestyle dictates hours, IMHO....

[Salty]

“ ... he's full of it.”

He sure as hell is. He might be a marina manager, but that doesn’t make him an authority on the subject. To be an authority he would have to have records and input from a large number of boat owners across a wide spectrum of users with similar boats to that of yours.

I’d call his bluff and ask for evidence to support his assertion, because that’s the one thing hasn’t got. At best he’s repeating hearsay from one or two owners, though more likely he’s being leaned on by someone higher up.

Most boats and presumably yours, have “Lift here” markers, and the person controlling the aft lifting strop as well as the person in charge of the hoist got things very wrong that day. For an average fin keeled boat the height of the fore and aft strops where they are shackled to the hoisting blocks will be somewhat similar. If there was a marked difference as would happen with one going under your saildrive, a competent hoist operator should have noticed it. They didn’t !!

[PEA-JAY]

Hi,

I average 100 - 125 hours every season. I hope you have a satisfactory outcome.

Good luck!

Raph - SY Pea-Jay

[Ricd]

From new in full first season my engine hours were 95 hours.

[GeoffV]

I average 125 - 200 per year.

30 hrs is stupidly low!

[elias]

I think that average annual hours is a discussion that shouldn’t involve the insurance
The spirit of insurance is to return you to the previous situation before the accident . So give them a quote of a used engine and drive with the same more or less hours and ask them to pay you . You don’t want to make money of it neither to have a profit of having a new engine . I think you just want your boat back in shape as before

[Escapade]

My boat is vintage 1997 and has 1050 hrs in total but it was little used for the last few years. Last season I did approx. 90 hours.
Atb
Oliver

[Symphony]

Are you claiming on your own insurance? or claiming against the boatyard?

It is important to know which as the rules of engagement are different.

If you claim on your own insurance what you get paid is governed by your policy and then your insurer will claim against the yard's insurer. So you may well have a term in your insurance that limits the payment on a new for old basis - that is they may only pay up to 70% of a new engine because that is what it says in your contract.

However if you are claiming direct against the boatyard no such limits exist as you are claiming under the law of Tort rather than Contract. So, for example if you can show that the engine is damaged beyond economic repair they must pay for a replacement. You may also claim for loss of use if you can show for example you were not able to go on a holiday that you had booked they are obliged in principle to compensate you for the loss of use.

The downside of this is that you have to fight them (and their insurers) yourself, so claiming on your insurance passes the fight to them as they will recover their costs from the third party. It is not always clear cut which is the better way to go, and much depends on the attitude of your insurer to meeting your claim.

[Salty]

Going on from the points that Symphony has raised, presumably if you claim on your own insurance there could be another down side in that despite that the incident was not your fault, you will have made a claim.

Hopefully your current insurer would take into account that it was not your fault when determining your next years premium, but they are not always that benevolent, and an alternative insurer might want a higher premium.

[IslandAlchemy]

Our engine has done 4500hrs in 15 years.  So average 300hrs/yr.

[ANTREVELL]

Thanks to everyone who has replied . As you say the hours are irrelevant. Assessor did not turn up as arranged now booked for next Monday.
Will have to wait and see. If hassle I do not think I will have any choice but to engage my insurance company.
As the backplate is bent my engineer says he would need to completely dismantle to crack test the engine. the cost of dismantling etc would be horrendous. If the insurance  can guarantee the engine  then I have no problem but if not I feel a new engine and gearbox is the only answer.

Regards Tony Revell