New guy here. My father has had this Formula since the late 80s' Grew up on the lake with it, but now it's seen better days. I have talked him into letting me have it for now, and it needs a lot of work. Gelcoat is faded pretty bad, it has a broken side window, it's missing carpet (I think it had carpet). Needs lots of tlc since it's just been sitting since the mid 90s. Where do I start with getting parts (like the window). The motor was good the last time he fired it, but it's been awhile so I will have to take a look at that once I pick it up.

Is there anything I should be worried about with it sitting so long? Don't know how much gas was in it when he last used it, so that's my first concern.

I would be worried about water in the engine and exhaust if where the boat was had cold winters (I'm from Chicago and I bought a boat with two cracked blocks and didn't know!!). Check the oil to make sure its not milk-shaked and go from there. Check the oil in the outdrive. Was the boat covered? Was the plug left out during storage if outside?

First things First. Get it running and driving. Start using it and enjoying it. Then do the rest as time and money permit.

That sounds like a plan.

You will create a lot more work for yourself by trying to start it with the gas that's in it. It will not run no matter what people tell you, the gas has broken down and will not adequately combust. I would start by completely draining the tank and then adding a couple of fresh gallons in and draining that out too. Then remove the carb and clean it up (remove the bowels and flush new clean gas) and then reassemble with new gaskets. And if you can drain the gas lines do that too. You need to get ALL the gas out of it before adding fresh fuel and trying to start it. I'd also add some Seafoam fuel treatment when putting in the fresh gas just to help it clean itself up once it fires. If it were me I'd also replace spark plugs, wires and any standard non-electronic ignition parts. Check the oil as recommended above for signs of water and make sure the battery is super hot. Then hook up the water and try and get it fired up. If it fires, I'd have one person watching the engine for leaks and another manning the helm watching water temp and oil pressure. I'd only run it for a minute then shut it down and look at the oil again for signs of water. If you get that far with no issues, you might be in business. I have started lots of old machinery this way and the key is to get all the old fuel out of the way and have a hot battery that can spin it fast to get it to fire.

Was planning on draining the fuel, just worried about how much he left in there. It's got a 74 gallon tank I think...