What I have a 2006 Starcraft Seastar 2000 deck boat with a Mercury 235 HP 4.3 litre IO engine.
What happened: I was pulling some teenagers tubing, going fairly fast and whipping them (sharp turns back and fourth). I made a pretty hard turn in one direction, then quickly back in the other direction and all of a sudden I got about a half second of audible alarms and then just "nothing". By the time I started pulling back the throttle, the boat already seemed to be slowing on its own and by the time I got the throttle back to neutral - the motor had shut off. The boat seemed to have been running well 3-4 hours to this point.
Once the motor shut itself off (above), I got nothing upon turning the key to try to re-start it. No gauge movement on the "needles", no attempt to turn anything over, no nothing (couldn't even turn on engine compartment blower or bilge)! But! I could still raise and lower the engine normally. I did hit the circuit breaker re-set red button, but that made no difference. I did check the battery cables at the battery - looked good. I did turn on and off my 1/both/2 battery selector and to different positions. I did engage the shifter into forward, reverse, and neutral and it does appear to me that it is returning to neutral properly. Even when I turn the key to ACC little things like my "fish finder" won't turn on. However, with the key in the OFF position, I am able to turn on my head/docking lights, "cabin" lights and running lights.
Fortunately, the day was near its end and I have gotten the boat out of the water and looked for a loose or disconnected cable. I am assuming it is electrical related (is it wrong of me to assume that?), but not sure what all I should check. What would cause the boat while running to spit out a less than 1 second alarm and then shut off? If it were a mechanical problem, wouldn't the turning key still give me something?
I do have a volt meter, but I must warn that I am anything BUT exceedingly handy when it comes to engine repair. I can't get the boat into the shop for at least 2 weeks due to their backlog and was hoping to use it again this coming weekend.
Grateful to any recommendations or solutions anybody has had with similar situations. Thanks, sincerely, Chris
What happened: I was pulling some teenagers tubing, going fairly fast and whipping them (sharp turns back and fourth). I made a pretty hard turn in one direction, then quickly back in the other direction and all of a sudden I got about a half second of audible alarms and then just "nothing". By the time I started pulling back the throttle, the boat already seemed to be slowing on its own and by the time I got the throttle back to neutral - the motor had shut off. The boat seemed to have been running well 3-4 hours to this point.
Once the motor shut itself off (above), I got nothing upon turning the key to try to re-start it. No gauge movement on the "needles", no attempt to turn anything over, no nothing (couldn't even turn on engine compartment blower or bilge)! But! I could still raise and lower the engine normally. I did hit the circuit breaker re-set red button, but that made no difference. I did check the battery cables at the battery - looked good. I did turn on and off my 1/both/2 battery selector and to different positions. I did engage the shifter into forward, reverse, and neutral and it does appear to me that it is returning to neutral properly. Even when I turn the key to ACC little things like my "fish finder" won't turn on. However, with the key in the OFF position, I am able to turn on my head/docking lights, "cabin" lights and running lights.
Fortunately, the day was near its end and I have gotten the boat out of the water and looked for a loose or disconnected cable. I am assuming it is electrical related (is it wrong of me to assume that?), but not sure what all I should check. What would cause the boat while running to spit out a less than 1 second alarm and then shut off? If it were a mechanical problem, wouldn't the turning key still give me something?
I do have a volt meter, but I must warn that I am anything BUT exceedingly handy when it comes to engine repair. I can't get the boat into the shop for at least 2 weeks due to their backlog and was hoping to use it again this coming weekend.
Grateful to any recommendations or solutions anybody has had with similar situations. Thanks, sincerely, Chris
