MacGregorSailors.com

the 26x we bought several weeks ago had been sitting for what my guess is 4 years, maybe more of less, not sure...anyway the motor just got out of the shop with only a fluid change, tune up and water pump and impeller.
I kept thinking of the possibilities that could go wrong with a low hours and ignored motor...water inside, carb shot, pistons and the like all messed up...etc...

So, lucky me.

You didn't say what type of motor you had. Now would be a good time to investigate whether the previous owner had picked the right prop to reach the correct rpm's at full throttle.

We had a similar experience when we bought our 96X in 2007. We had been thinking about a Mac for years, but just couldn't afford one. One of my wife's friends had told her that they had a boat they wanted to get rid of, but she didn't have any details on it as she never liked the boat. One day we were camping at a Marina/Campground and walking by the dry storage, we noticed a 26X in sorry shape with lichen all over it and the foresail in tatters. On a whim, we asked the office if the boat was owned by my wife's friend and it was! Anyway, we negotiated to buy if for a song. Many hours of sweat equity and a new Genny really shined the boat up.

Now for the engine: It was a 1999 Mercury Mariner with only 50 hours of time on it. BUT, it had not been in the water since the year it was bought. We enlisted the assistance of a marine engine expert and he checked the fluids and mechanics and said, "let's get some water and fuel and start her up." One turn of the key and the engine purred!!! We actually didn't do any further work on the engine until the original break-in period was done when we replaced the impeller and did the routine stuff. 3.5 years later, still running great, though the carbs required periodic cleaning.

I couldn't be happier with this boat.