So I recently bought a used boat. It's a Sea Ray so some may call it
"previously owned." Whatever. I had to do a little work to it, mostly
aesthetic like clean wax, shine, etc. Some of it mechanical, like the
coupler brake master cylinder needed replacing and the brakes bled. Some
of it is optional, the skeg has a small ding and one blade of the prop
is slightly bent, although vibration is minimal. All in all, I made a
good deal and I am happy to do these few things.

So what is the point? A couple weekends ago we were pulling out and
noticed a family (Man, Woman, and their Mom and Dad) putting over, but
having probs.Their outdrive would not go down. So I ambled over there
and asked if they needed anything. Big Boy had the engine room open and
was sort of poking at what appeared to be the tilt/trim pump. It was not
working. The engine was running (thank God for small favors) so I shut
it off and asked him to stand on the outdrive. That has helped with
other boats in the past. I flipped the switch to "on" and trimmed down.
No dice. I also noticed that the voltmeter did not deflect. No current
to the pump. Their day is done. Tried to crank it back up. The motor
barely turned.

Used boats can be cool. They can be one of boatings better investments
and hold the promise of realizing good results from a little effort. But
you have to do you homework. These folks didn't. Come to find out they
had just picked it up, had obviously not given it more tha a cursory
look-see, and now they are looking at work on their starting/electrical
system, right along with significant chalking, big time cleanup, and
some vinyl repair. After the get juice to the pump, maybe it will all
work fine. Yeah, right. I have luck like that too.....

You have to do your homework.