Thanks for all that. On the bilge blower, I'm one of those who always opens the engine box and sniffs for gas fumes too. The boat seems real sound, has fresh seating, although that bimini top is pretty seedy. There's a number of semi-repaired chips in the gel coat up near the bow, just above the rub rail. Nothing awful. I think they're from hauling in an anchor/chain. There's an anchor roller installed up there now.
I believe it comes with a depth finder and a VHF, although VHF use in my area is zip.
I've owned OMC drives but never a Mercruiser. Would you know, is the one in the picture an Alpha one? I understand the bellows are an important item, and also read here that the internal boot in the outdrive is another. The drive seems to be tilted up but not all that far. If this is one of those where you have a tilt position and also a trailering position I'll need to make sure that works.
Anyway, thanks for the info. If the weather holds up, I'll go for a ride next week and then check the bilge for water, as well as checking drive oil, stringers, transom, bellows, maybe compression check, and tilt mechanism. We're starting our monsoon season here, when we normally get a lot of rain from the south. We need the rain but it could delay the test run.
Norm