I found a local (to the boat location) surveyor through this forum and he did an inspection AND sea trial.
I think the money was well worth it!

There are a million things that won’t show up on a compression gauge or a maintenance record. Unless you know this boat, you might want to make the seller prove its worth your cash. In my opinion 20K is top value for that boat and it will likely still be there when the temps come up. Good luck either way.

Thanks to all of you for the advise.
At this moment I have elected to back away until I see 5 years of history of maintenance and participated in a sea trial...after I've had it properly surveyed and Mechanically inspected.
My belief is that the boat is probably just fine, but that no one in their right mind would buy it with the economy of info that i have.
The weather will break soon, and if it is meant to be the boat will still be there, and I'll go thru it in the correct steps to be comfortable.

MEANWHILE....Maybe I should start looking at a similar era 272 SR-1? or maybe a 292 SR-1 Who says my first boat shouldn't be FAST and have twins?

I actually HAD TWINS one before in my life, in college, it was a first (and last)..... and they were FAST too...:)......

Hummmmm......