I know people that have run them out of the water for a brief period with no issues. IIRC, impeller is always going on that boat and the lever just controls the buckets.can those things be run out of the water to see if they're okay?
the engine part I'm comfortable checking out
but the jet drive I have no idea what to look for or if the boat needs to be in the water
I've played around in newer versions of that boat (210 and 230hp). Personally I really dislike how those boats handle as you have to unlearn everything but people that have never driven boats love them. I will admit that it is really hard to do anything to get you in trouble. We tried to upset it and you can get a decent amount of water coming through the seam in the hull but nothing unexpected happens no matter how idiotic your control inputs are. The only thing you can do to really cause excitement is to throw it in reverse at full speed. The nose will dive, the boat submarines, then it pops up, drains itself and keeps going. The stop is pretty abrupt though.
It looks like that one may have 130hp which is marginal, but for the price isn't a problem. Even over 200hp they don't feel fast.