Andy'sDelight
Petty Officer 1st Class
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2010
- Messages
- 341
I rewired my boat this offseason and created a new dashboard. To do this I obviously had my console apart for most of the job. When I finally finished up and tested everything at home the engine wouldn't turn at all, and I realized that the main plug harness pulled apart a little from having the console opened and pulled away. Easy fix, secured the plug back together and it fired right up no problems.
Fast forward to last week I dropped it in the slip and took the Admiral for a nice 80 degree March day for Stripers. All systems go, electronics worked great, engine firing without issues it looked like my hard work really paid off. After multiple moves and a stop at a waterside restaurant for lunch shutting down and restarting the engine multiple times without issue, it was finally time to call it a day and head in. Turn the key....nothing. Check the kill switch, turn the key...nothing. Immediately I figure maybe the plug came loose and was thankful I brought my toolbox for this shakedown/fishing trip. Opened the dashboard and the console out on the water at anchor, took apart the plug, reconnected it...nothing. Checked all wiring...nothing. Started to think the plug might be bad from disconnecting and reconnecting it a couple times, started looking for my crimp connectors and shrinktube. Well, didn't pack those in the tool box and started trying to think of a way I could jerry rig the wire connections together before I cut them and keep them from touching each other and shorting out. Meanwhile the Admiral is trying to give her 2 cents the whole time. Finally she says "should the boat be in gear when you start it?" in her sweet little tone. I, thinking she means that I should try to start it while in gear, start my aggravated can't find an answer grumble tone "of course it shouldn't be started in gear grumble grumble rabble rabble, you want the boat to take off on us and throw us overboard grumble grumble rabble rabble!!??!!"......She patiently responds in her sweet tone "baby, I think the boat's in gear". I look over the now disconnected dash and console that I have all unbuttoned out at sea and see that, sure enough, boat was in gear. Put it in neutral, turn key, fires right up.
Now had I not had this issue at home my second thought after checking the kill switch would have been to see if it's in gear. But because it happened at home, I immediately threw out the obvious and went right to the most difficult thing to check. Worst part is if I had crimp connectors and shrink tubing I would have cut out the harness plug and directly wired all of the wires together for nothing. Moral of the story....ALWAYS check the simple things first even if there's evidence that the more complicated items might be at fault. Save yourself the embarrassment of having to put your entire console back together at sea while the Admiral is so sweetly telling you "I told you so". :facepalm:
Fast forward to last week I dropped it in the slip and took the Admiral for a nice 80 degree March day for Stripers. All systems go, electronics worked great, engine firing without issues it looked like my hard work really paid off. After multiple moves and a stop at a waterside restaurant for lunch shutting down and restarting the engine multiple times without issue, it was finally time to call it a day and head in. Turn the key....nothing. Check the kill switch, turn the key...nothing. Immediately I figure maybe the plug came loose and was thankful I brought my toolbox for this shakedown/fishing trip. Opened the dashboard and the console out on the water at anchor, took apart the plug, reconnected it...nothing. Checked all wiring...nothing. Started to think the plug might be bad from disconnecting and reconnecting it a couple times, started looking for my crimp connectors and shrinktube. Well, didn't pack those in the tool box and started trying to think of a way I could jerry rig the wire connections together before I cut them and keep them from touching each other and shorting out. Meanwhile the Admiral is trying to give her 2 cents the whole time. Finally she says "should the boat be in gear when you start it?" in her sweet little tone. I, thinking she means that I should try to start it while in gear, start my aggravated can't find an answer grumble tone "of course it shouldn't be started in gear grumble grumble rabble rabble, you want the boat to take off on us and throw us overboard grumble grumble rabble rabble!!??!!"......She patiently responds in her sweet tone "baby, I think the boat's in gear". I look over the now disconnected dash and console that I have all unbuttoned out at sea and see that, sure enough, boat was in gear. Put it in neutral, turn key, fires right up.
Now had I not had this issue at home my second thought after checking the kill switch would have been to see if it's in gear. But because it happened at home, I immediately threw out the obvious and went right to the most difficult thing to check. Worst part is if I had crimp connectors and shrink tubing I would have cut out the harness plug and directly wired all of the wires together for nothing. Moral of the story....ALWAYS check the simple things first even if there's evidence that the more complicated items might be at fault. Save yourself the embarrassment of having to put your entire console back together at sea while the Admiral is so sweetly telling you "I told you so". :facepalm:
