My boat sat on the hard for 20 years. The coolant was drained from the engines and the fuel tanks were pumped dry. The two main engines started easily and one generator only took a mechanic a couple of hours to get purring like a kitten. The big 15 kw took a couple of boat bucks for a few new parts and it too runs like a champ.

I thought I would be good with my tanks because the boat was only run for eight or ten years before it was put into storage. How dirty could they be? Well, I'm sitting here in Oyster Bay, Long Island waiting for the yard to drain my tanks of 200 gallons of diesel and scrub them out, I've learned that crud accumulates in tanks over time. Unless the tanks were drained and thoroughly cleaned when put on the hard, figure on doing it when you buy a used boat. Factor it into the purchase price, and do it.