For 17 years of rot going through it, until now the only thing this boats needed to start is a change of oil and a brief cleaning of the spark plugs, sometime a new starter and oil filter. The starter motors have had more problems than the engine, weve currently got 3 on a cycle of use - fix - store - use again. A modern engine would need yearly if not quarterly maintenance.

Hows about we close an argument Im bound to lose and discuss more pressing matters, such as: does anyone know how to unstick some epoxy resin?

Anyways, keep in mind my old mantra: If it aint broke dont fix it.

Modern ones are just as capable of taking abuse without problems, if not more so.

no they arent, not in a boat they arent.  in a car where they are relatively protected they are fine, but in boat where they are actually living in hostile conditions they fail hard.  Modern engines just tend to electrical fault for fun, because the ECU etc just get fried due to how wet they get.  The smaller 2-stroke outboards are maintenance heavy regardless of what you do (I always liked the Yamaha 4 strokes due to more control and less hard work), but for an inboard motor you want something easier to fix, that doesnt rely on having to be taken into a workshop to fix it.  

And hopefully now we can subject it to a few more years of abuse