I only ran mine about 2 seasons but was very happy with them once I had the carbs dialed in by a pro. Straight from Merc/Holley the carbs were garbage, for starters the jetting wasn't even close, the 2 engines were about 10 steps off from each other. My carb guy said all holley's need tuning new so no surprises there.
In my case the boat was repowered from 525's so any engine with less torque would not have worked with my drives. I ended up with a very nice setup that ran quickly at lower rpms so it was quiet and efficient as well. The new owners reported back after a solid year with zero issues so that was great to hear as well.
If you're after the torque and can work with the lower rpm I'd say go for it. If you're looking at them as a base engine to build that seems reasonable as well. Good luck