I'm afraid to ask but it's for a friend whats a neglected 98 350 mag alpha on a blackjack mariah on a trailer worth? at least busted exhast manifolds and water in oil. it sat outside the last 2 years with the cover gone last year winterized wrong by owner.

5 ?

just take a piece of paper and start an estimate of parts and labor that its going to take to get the boat to where he is happy with it.

add it up. multiply it by 2 . look in the ads for that amount of money and see what you can buy for that much that is ALREADY the way you want it.

if there are 20 boats that qualify then that tells you what you need to know.

if there are no boats that are even close, then MAYBE its a project worth doing.