Yamaha Electrical Fire - My Tale of Woe

Joined
Feb 20, 2002
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15
Last night while driving down the road about a half mile from my house a guy pulled up beside me and yelled "Your boat's smoking"! I jumped out of my truck and, sure enough, my 1995 40hp Yamaha was on fire. I had just put a new battery cable on it and, evidently, caused a short. Some wiring burned on the power head and there was smoke coming from the shaft. There is a small hole in the shaft where you can see a rod running down to the lower unit. There was fire coming from this hole and the rod was glowing bright red. I put the fire out with my extinguisher and aborted my flounder gigging trip. The damage on the power head is obvious but here is where I need some help: What was burning in the shaft and what damage to you think was caused? It was only a small fire but was evidently very hot since the rod in the shaft was glowing. Are there seals or gaskets in there? Any advice would be greatly appreciated
 
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