I am about to be the proud owner of a Carver 32' aft cabin 3207. Just had a look at it and... well, it shows the age but it seems pretty solid. My concern though is the engines... They look great! The bilge and engines are clean enough to eat off. However, the hours meter shows nearly 2,000 hours.

That's fishy. Something like that definitely makes me take a step back and say.. hold on.. what's going on here?

There is no documentation. Current owner is a dealer/broker.. previous owner never used it... What are the chances that the engines were rebuilt/replaced without changing the hours meters in the bridge? And this is just a great buy?

Or, what other signs should I look for that suggest the engine are at the end of the 1,500 hour expected lifespan for gasoline boat engines?