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Barry , I have looked at a number of them and old boats suffer from poor maintenance , just what causes the rust from the closed cooling systems I,m not sure but it is a problem . Rust build up at the thermostats intake area and cooling system, and as a marine tech told me ,over heating is the number one cause of failure and replacement . I have seen this a number of times when I was looking for one. If I was going to buy one I would recommend taking the engine to a shop like yours for a complete check over and disassembly. Its the best money you can spend .