Does this seem correct/possible?

Well at the beginning of last season i pulled my boat of out storage and started it before taking it to the lake. It fired right up and ran, i turned it off took it to the lake and got out and realized i suddenly has no power. I noticed the main fuse was blown. Replaced it fired it up, drove to the dock to pull my truck off the ramp, went to start it again and the fuse was blown. I finally noticed that as soon as i turned the key it would blow the main fuse. I took it to my local repair guy and he found that there was a short in the tachometer causing it to blow the fuse. He unplugged the system check style tach on my 1997 evinrude 90 hp SPL and i didnt feel i would pay the 180 for a new tach so i have been running the boat without it. My question is whether this seems accurate, that the short is indeed in the tach because i am getting ready to sell the boat and would like to fix it beforehand. He said he checked the harness and narrowed it down to the tach but before i order a it want to make sure this is a possible/likely cause before u buy?

Also, does anyone know if this model of motor is VRO? There is no oil tank and i have always mixed the gas but just want to make sure im not mixing when not necessary.

Re: Does this seem correct/possible?

keep mixing the gas. if he unplugged the tach and the short went away..seems like thats a sure bet that its the tach.

Re: Does this seem correct/possible?

Ok, thanks i trusted him he does good work i just wanted a second opinion of course.

Re: Does this seem correct/possible?

Not sure just how your tach was wired. Most outboard electrical systems have a simple 20 amp fuse in the harness. That system designed to run the engine. It is also not designed to have additional accessores run off of the key switch, such as a bilge, radio, lights, horn, etc. If the tach is the only parasitic drain on the engine, I would think the engine would run it without any problem. An exception might be if the tach has a dead short in it.