In my quest for a used go fast boat I always see engines advertised as being recently "Re-Freshed".

What exactly does that mean?

I'm not a big motor head, so the more I understand the more intelligent I can be when dealing with the seller.

Also, an engine run in south Florida compared to an engine run in lake/brakish water.... will refresh mean different things?

Re-freshed is another term for rebuilt.
Like pre-owned insted of used.
Just more politically correct.

As for south Fl. vs lake use, there's no differecne in "re-fresh".
For any purchase of a boat used in salt I'd look hard at the exhaust manifolds and the outside of the block for signs of corrosion. You can't tell how corroded the water passages of the block are without disassembly.

As Iggy said, refreshed means rebuilt. This can have different meanings for different people....sometimes a "refresh" can be a valve job and piston rings....sometimes it can mean a total teardown with all new goodies internally. Be sure to get a list of the "refreshed" items.

And definitely take a hard, close look at those that have been in salt!!!

Not to everybody. If it was rebuilt, then say it was rebuilt. Freshened to me, means that the motor was torn down and the specs were checked. What generally happens is that the engine is believed to be sound, but to avoid problems we want to be sure. Everything was in tollerance so it was put back together using new bearings, rings, gaskets, springs, lifters, etc. I believe the valves, pistons, crank, rods and cam are reused. Notice that the engine was not bored-a critical element to a rebuild.

Refreshened means nothing!
Couple winters ago... I went with a friend to check out this older Formula with twin Fresh small blocks. It was winter so we didn't run the boat. The guy had reciepts.
So my friend beat the guy down on the price, and took the boat home.
He's an auto mechanic... so he rolled it into the shop to fire 'em up.. Not gonna happen. Yeah, the motors were rebuilt, but it looked like the kids at a local Jr. high school did the bore jobs.
The motors were junk.
Good thing Ed is a mechanic. he tore into it and had 'em broken down in 3 days. They had to be bored to 377 in, but they run great now...
This would have cost the rest of us well more than 10k...

Get the reciepts, test run the boat, have it surveyed by your mechanic, and talk to the engine builder. It may cost you a couple beans for the survey, but it's worth it in the long run.

"Fresh Power" to me means- an engine built with a fresh bore, new pistons, ground or polished crank, resized rods, rebalance, etc, . At least $3000.00 cost, as good as Factory or better tolerances.

"Rebuilt" to me means the old pistons were used, cylinders honed, new rings, bearings & seals, etc. A 1000.00 cost.. loose tolerances, but close to spec...ie: the minimum required

Big difference in longevity & power.

That's why my for sale Formula says "Fresh Power" rather than "rebuilt"...
if I can't do it right, I don't do it!!

Hmmmm....interesting. Because "Rebuilt" to me means everything is either new, machined, or within spec. Guess the buyer-seller-builder had better have the same understanding of the terms used!

It depends if you are buying or selling.