Marine: Boating, Sailing, PWC, GPS and Navigation - taking a boat out of retirement

i recently got a little boat that was negotiated in trade for work. this is my first motor boat so before i just fire it up and try my hand at boyancy i wanted to run it by folks with more of an expertise than myself. the motor, a '92 evenrude 40hp, appears to be in perfect condition. it hasn't been used in about 7 months and i'm not certain weather or not it could cause any damage to just fire it up and see if she goes. i've got the headphone-looking clamp that connects to a hose. it looks like it goes where the gills that are just above where the driveshaft connects with the propshaft. so i believe that i'm ready to give it a go.

my question(s) is, is there anything else that i can/should do before starting the motor?

is it possible to damage the machine if the gas has gone bad or varnished?




m.

That isn't that long to sit so I would give it a try. One thing I might do is drain the fuel out of the float bowls and pump some clean fuel through them with the primer bulb.