My new hobby is looking for a "cheap" offshore boat, finding one somewhere online (ebay/boat trader), posting the link here and finding out (from people who know) that the deal is not so good. So far anyway!
Find an engine guy to do the rebuilds plan for that expense and go after it!!
Find out what transmissions it has. The Borg-Warner's would be preferred over the Merc II transmissions. BUT, don't let that sway you too much, that's mild power in front of a very beefy drive system.
Oh yeah... what's wrong with it? Just the cheap lettering on the hull sides.