Purchasing of used boat, with picture.

[ag4ever]

Nothing a can of spray paint and WD-40 can't solve. Wire brush the manifolds, paint them, and spray the entire engine down with WD-40.

Then sell it to the next sucker.

Just Kidding, I would keep looking.

[HBSkier]

It looks like excessive moisture during storage which can happen if it is put away wet, or if it was moored on the water a lot. If the engine is like that then I would be suspect of the wiring, steering cable, interior, etc due to excessive moisture. The best boat to find is one that was kept in a garage and trailered to the lake, rather than kept at the lake. Even if it is on a lift it will be subject to the elements a bit, but if it floats it will definitely collect moisture and look like that.

I agree it looks like it was put away wet - like they only pulled the plug once a year...

I run my boat in salt and it doesn't look like that. You'd see localized corrosion around the gasket between the riser and manifold. Most of that rust looks like is just on the surface. That trailer (if original) sure isn't salty.

One thing I don't get is the heavy oxidation on all things plastic around the engine. Even the 3" exhaust hoses look 'sunburned' and loose on the stb side. It looks like it's been sitting in the sun for a year. For how good the interior looks, I doubt they left the engine cover open long enough to cause this. Maybe they blew an engine and replaced it with one sitting on a pallet out-back-uh-thuh-dealer.