Crazy high generator hours: any ideas why?

[Nic Homan]

Knock off the price of installing a new generator.

[leehaefele]

With any ex moorings boat, you need to hire your own surveyor. Get recommendations, and avoid the broker for recommendations. 2 years in charter is the wear and tear of a circumnavigation. Think about it, cruisers sail a small time, then go ashore a lot. Charter boats are go go go every day typically with all bunks filled. Stuff gets worn out, and YOU do not want the bill for it after the sale. Moorings also does slap dash repairs, like fixing dock damage and cracks around fittings with gel coat only. I still own my 99 Leopard 38, purchased Dec 2005, but there was a lot of work needed that the local surveyor did not notice. The hidden dock damage continued to reappear for several years, the craftsmen that fixed them said the Moorings repairs were “criminal”. Especially check hatches for leaks with a hose. New hatches are $800 + labor each.

[billcrowley]

Many good answers here: high genset hours from spending its life in the tropics where A/C is used heavily. With half its life left, you can expect many more years of service life if not used constantly, as it was in charter. Low engine hours because it’s a sailboat, chartered by sailors, who didn’t need to run the drive engines to charge house batteries because the genset was doing that job. Oil analysis on all three engines, plus the transmissions, would be a good investment, and provide a useful base for future mechanical maintenance.

[jimellifritt]

Originally Posted by will_q

Hello folks,

We are looking to buy our first boat, an ex-Moorings 2018 Leopard 40, currently in Florida, that was based in Belize until last year. The engines have low 700s hours and the boat was presented as lightly used due, largely, to location and Covid travel restrictions. The price seems good and the survey from last year showed only minor issues (since repaired) and above average condition.

The puzzler is that the generator hours were sky high at almost 5,400 hours when released from Moorings last year. I am no math whiz, but that would seem to come out to an average of about 20 hours per week of generator use, 52 weeks a year for 5 years straight. It seems odd.

There was no indication of a generator ‘swap’ (ie that Moorings swapped in an old generator into this boat). It almost seems as if someone used the boat as a houseboat for 5 years, unconnected to shore power for some reason. If this is right, I am not certain what impact 5 years of full time use might have on the boat systems.

I inquired with the broker as to the reasons behind the high generator use and there was no information obtainable. He says that he is not concerned and that the boat has good bones.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what might explain such high genset use or come across something similar previously?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks all

I am sure it was a charter. Just means you will need to budget some repairs dollars. If it is what you want and it's a great deal live your dream. You should budget 10% towards repair so you are not defeated with the thought of not being able to repair stuff as needed.

[Bill_Giles]

It could merely be an error. If the system was powered down but not switched off then the clock could have been still ticking.

[woff]

Check out "travel sketch" on YouTube before buying a Leopard.

[aqfishing]

Not going to bother! If you watch what youtube has to say about various brands then there won’t be anything to buy! Except maybe a yacht that will be hull no 1 from an unknown new builder…and good luck with that!

[mountaindweller]

Originally Posted by woff

Check out "travel sketch" on YouTube before buying a Leopard.

I wouldn't let a couple of whiney YouTubers influence my decision. Leopards have over 8 million nm of documented ocean crossings and you see them at anchorages world wide. I can give you the name of a delivery skipper with 300,000nm and 52 Atlantic Crossings from Cape Town, mostly on Leopards. I'll take his word over a couple of social influencers with a very poor following any day.

[aqfishing]

Originally Posted by mountaindweller

I wouldn't let a couple of whiney YouTubers influence my decision. Leopards have over 8 million nm of documented ocean crossings and you see them at anchorages world wide. I can give you the name of a delivery skipper with 300,000nm and 52 Atlantic Crossings from Cape Town, mostly on Leopards. I'll take his word over a couple of social influencers with a very poor following any day.

Amen!

[KP44]

Originally Posted by Fuss

well, i would tell the broker that you want to talk to the owner….

The hours on the genset say the boat is well-used, whatever a seller's agent might tell you.

What are the "repairs" you mentioned? Maybe the boat's engines were replaced with "hardly used" and the genset was still OK.
Extensive repairs point to extensive damage. Look at the wiring and look at electronics for signs of salt.

OR -- It is possible this boat was mostly sailed, instead of always motored (like most of these boats).
It might have been used full time for several years by someone who almost never went windward and enjoyed using the sails.

[lifeofreilly57]

When we were living aboard in the Caribbean charter generators could be annoying. Mostly run for air conditioning. Some charterers would leave them running while they went out for the day, which was really annoying.
I repaired a generator on a charter boat a cruiser had bought. The rear main seal was gone and oil spewed out in buckets, due to poor maintenance. That one required re-sleaving the rear main crank journal where the seal ran on it and using a different seal.
Usually a sign of poor maintenance.
Have it inspected by a certified generator tech with experience in that make generator.
Diesel generators are usually good fr 15000 hours'

[Icarus]

Originally Posted by will_q

Hello folks,

We are looking to buy our first boat, an ex-Moorings 2018 Leopard 40, currently in Florida, that was based in Belize until last year. The engines have low 700s hours and the boat was presented as lightly used due, largely, to location and Covid travel restrictions. The price seems good and the survey from last year showed only minor issues (since repaired) and above average condition.

The puzzler is that the generator hours were sky high at almost 5,400 hours when released from Moorings last year. I am no math whiz, but that would seem to come out to an average of about 20 hours per week of generator use, 52 weeks a year for 5 years straight. It seems odd.

There was no indication of a generator ‘swap’ (ie that Moorings swapped in an old generator into this boat). It almost seems as if someone used the boat as a houseboat for 5 years, unconnected to shore power for some reason. If this is right, I am not certain what impact 5 years of full time use might have on the boat systems.

I inquired with the broker as to the reasons behind the high generator use and there was no information obtainable. He says that he is not concerned and that the boat has good bones.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what might explain such high genset use or come across something similar previously?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks all

Run the air con, coffee makers, Tv, battery charger and so on..
The broker wouldn't have a clue why the generator has 5400 hours on the clock no use asking him.
Besides, why the concern, if the generator works ?

[geoffschultz]

As someone who is posting from Belize, and has cruised here for years, I can assure you that charter boats with AC leave the generator running all of the time. These numbers don't surprise me at all.

[will_q]

Thanks again to all for the great comments and advice. It is both humbling and super motivating to be able to draw on the expertise of such a great community!

[rabbi]

Originally Posted by Tin Tin

I have not heard of charter companies fudging engine hours. The boat is not normally owned by the charter company they just manage it on behalf of an owner. It is pretty important on a boat (and aircraft for example) to maintain accurate engine hours - to fudge them could lead to a big liability issue - there should be correspondence or a ships log, most service professionals state the engine hrs on the invoice, so should too the charter management company. If in doubt get an oil analysis done on the engines, surveyors often can organize this.

That is wishful thinking.
Large charter companies self-service the boats without any invoices or files.

Fun facts:
Just before Covid a complete Russian charter fleet was sold in Spain. IIRC about 4 Lagoon 380 and 3 Lagoon 400 built in 2013/2014 plus several bigger units.
I looked at all 380s and 400s and each had between 500 and 700hrs on the engines. All were totally worn & trashed inside and out, some with structural damage. Somehow the hour meters had no scratches while the engine panels looked used.
My offer fell through only because some other guy offered twice as much for two of these boats, including the one I was interested in. In hindsight I was lucky as the yard and the country were shut down for Covid just weeks later.

Right after Covid I visited a 2015 Lagoon 380 in charter in Croatia by some polish company. Less than 250hrs on the original engines. Engine hours would not increase while running the engines

So buyer beware

At least in the Med a charter cat sees around 500hrs a year, or about 20hrs per charter week. Much less has a certain smell.