Kevin,

I could really use some of your wiring wizardry.

I have have a 2009 Centurion Avalanche. I put it up for winter and everything was working fine. I charged and installed the boat batteries after winter. All of the switches work, horn, stereo, pump, etc. I go to bump the key and I get nothing. The boat is still on the trailer and before I drag it to the lake I wanted to ensure that power was getting to the starter.

I made sure that the batteries are fully charged, boat battery switch is in the on position, emergency kill switch is in place, boat is in neutral…and I get nothing when I bump the key. I pulled the fuse behind the ignition switch and it looked fine.

The boat has dual batteries. The boat dealer added an marine battery switch last year as the batteries were draining even though the battery switch was turned to the off position.

The boat on has forty hours on it. After working in a confined space and pulling my hair out, I could use some expert advice.

Thanks,

Tommy

Hi Tommy,

If the instruments have power when you turn on the key, then I would check the neutral safety switch. Based on Standard Boat Wiring Colors, follow the yellow/red wire from the starter post on the key switch to the neutral safety switch in the shifter control.

If the key switch has no power, I would check the breaker on the engine that feeds power to the ignition.

If you use a voltmeter or a test light, you will be able to find the problem. It may be something as simple as wiggle the shifter a little or replacing the starter solenoid.

Hope this helps,

Kevin

Kevin,

I’m in the boat now with even less hair.

The ignition in the on position does nothing as well as the start position.

It appears that power isn’t getting to the switch. The fuse leading up to the switch looks good. I have also been playing with the shift lever to find the sweet spot, no luck.

Trying to locate the breaker on the engine.

Thanks for all of your advice, hopefully I can get on the lake today.

Tommy

Kevin,

You the man!!! It was the engine breaker.

Tommy

Kevin,

I have a 1987 Sea Ray Sorrento S-19 with a 4.3 Liter OMC Stern Drive - with less than 400 hours on the motor.

I just put the boat in the water this weekend – and experienced a slight electrical shock when touching the shifter handle after starting the engine. Given that they are slight shocks I am thinking it may be the ignition switch.

I’ve looked at the boat’s wiring as much as I could see and didn’t see anything that would suggest a short. It all looked in good shape. I also reconnected the boat battery wiring and that didnt work. 

Fuses? Ignition switch? Any thoughts?!

Thank you!

Larry

Hi Larry,

It is probably not your boat’s ignition switch.

The starter circuit goes through the shifter, but not the ignition. Since your problem is still occurring after the engine has started, I would look at connections on the engine.

Your boat motor has a shift interrupter circuit that basically connects your ignition coil to the shift cable. When operating properly, the shift interrupter will momentarily ground the coil during shifting. When not functioning properly, crazy things happen.

The shift interrupter should be on the starboard side of the engine and will have a shift cable connected to it. Chase the wiring from the negative side of the ignition coil to the interrupter to find your problem.

Good luck,

Kevin

Kevin,

Thanks for all of your great boat wiring advice.

Last year when I purchased my boat, a 2006 Centurion Enzo, I had the a Perfect Pass installed. To do so, as is common practice with these boats at least, the gauge which is essentially a blank with some power run to it for lights I would assume, is removed and the Perfect Pass gauge is installed in that location.

Well the marine electrical installer apparently took those four hot wires and taped them together and stuffed them back in the dash. Couple of times last year while we were out, I could occasionally smell what I knew was an electrical fire, but thought that it was my switches that I run my ballast pumps through. I was not using a relay and the pumps pulled just about as many amps as the switch was rated to handle. I just assumed that the switches were failing.

As boating season approaches, I have been spending some time cleaning up the horrible marine wire runs from the Perfect Pass install and in doing so I came across the source of what I am pretty sure is the source of my fire smell. It appears that the wiring wore through the tap or the tape came off and the wire was contacting the metal brackets that holds the gauge into the dash panel. You can be the judge by looking at the attached pictures.

Anyways, my question is what do I do with these wires and how do I properly and safely dress them to prevent a future catastrophe. Unfortunately pulling a fuse doesn’t seem to be an answer because all to the gauges seem to be off the same power run.

Thanks.

Mike

Hi Mike,

The best solution would be to trace the wires back to their source and remove them completely. The main one to remove would be the purple, in standard boat wiring colors, this is the ignition power lead.

If you simply tape them up again, the same problem will eventually happen again.

Happy boating,

Kevin