Re: Question about hours.
Now, I don't know anything about inboards. But with outboards, they need to be run. When I look in the Yamaha manual and see on the maintenance schedule a column for "one year/100 hours" it tells me the manufacturer expects the typical use to be 100 hrs/year.
Our hunt club wore out a motor (OB) due to an underpitched prop. The mechanic said ours looked like the "commercial use" motors that last 2 years, at about 2000 a year I reckon. So as a buyer, I'd not want a 500+ per year motor, and maybe not a 3000 hour motor, either.
Like cats and cars, once they make it past a certain age, they last forever, so sometimes a real old motor running nicely is better than a middle-aged motor.
Since boats and their motors are better off being used, I would not touch a "low milage" boat (10 hours a year) because they are either lying or neglecting. An exception would be if they have a reasonable reliable explanation. And if it's a salt water boat (and maybe a hard winter boat, too, not my thing) they go to pieces sitting still, like how some women get road ugly on a long car ride.
So basically, except for extreme high use, high hours are not a problem, low hours can be, and middle range are irrelevant.
