Come Monday!
Cadet
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2008
- Messages
- 6
I'm sure I'm not the first person this has happened to, but, well, hopefully I'm the last!
We bought a boat about a week ago (had test drive and I do trust the guy we bought it from... yes even now) and took her out on the water for the first time yesterday. It's a 17' 1984 Cobia with a 140hp mercruiser sterndrive I/O. I don't know the exact type of engine or the serial # and it looks like Ghostbusters outside so I'm not going out to check it. I think my question is general enough but I will supply serial number if necessary.
Yeah, so back to yesterday... It didn't go to well!
The short story is... It didn't start. I have never owned a boat before and never been around one much either, but I have always wanted one and am eager to learn all about them. So, I racked my brain for what stupid thing I wasn't thinking about doing. I had hooked up the battery (the trim worked before I tried to start it). I though I had done everything right!
First thing I did was call the guy we bought the boat from. Of course I had missed something stupid. When I hooked up the wires to the battery, I only did one (the one that powers the trim) because I only saw one. ugh! Once I did, it still wouldn't start! It would click when the ignition was turned but not turn over at all. The guy we bought the boat from said we could try jumpstarting it but he didn't sound too optimistic. Nevertheless, there was a boat just getting launched and they were nice! As this other boat was coming over to try to jump it, we kept trying and it did start to turn over a little bit. I gave it gas but couldnt get it going. One time right before we hooked up the cables, it started to start again, and then kept trying to start even when I wasn't turning the key. I even pulled the key out and it kept trying to start!. It kept getting weaker and weaker and then did finally stop.
Jumpstarting didn't work at all (but thank you wherever you are... I hope you cought many big fish because of the karma you earned by trying to help!). We got the boat out ok and I tested the battery today and it held at 10 volts. So the battery is fine, I guess. My next thought would be the starter, but once again, I don't know about boats yet, so I'm not going to guess.
I don't know if a diagnosis can be made from the info I provided, but please, any help would be appreciated. This is my first post on here, obviously, though probably not my last.
Thank you again.
- Eric
We bought a boat about a week ago (had test drive and I do trust the guy we bought it from... yes even now) and took her out on the water for the first time yesterday. It's a 17' 1984 Cobia with a 140hp mercruiser sterndrive I/O. I don't know the exact type of engine or the serial # and it looks like Ghostbusters outside so I'm not going out to check it. I think my question is general enough but I will supply serial number if necessary.
Yeah, so back to yesterday... It didn't go to well!
The short story is... It didn't start. I have never owned a boat before and never been around one much either, but I have always wanted one and am eager to learn all about them. So, I racked my brain for what stupid thing I wasn't thinking about doing. I had hooked up the battery (the trim worked before I tried to start it). I though I had done everything right!
First thing I did was call the guy we bought the boat from. Of course I had missed something stupid. When I hooked up the wires to the battery, I only did one (the one that powers the trim) because I only saw one. ugh! Once I did, it still wouldn't start! It would click when the ignition was turned but not turn over at all. The guy we bought the boat from said we could try jumpstarting it but he didn't sound too optimistic. Nevertheless, there was a boat just getting launched and they were nice! As this other boat was coming over to try to jump it, we kept trying and it did start to turn over a little bit. I gave it gas but couldnt get it going. One time right before we hooked up the cables, it started to start again, and then kept trying to start even when I wasn't turning the key. I even pulled the key out and it kept trying to start!. It kept getting weaker and weaker and then did finally stop.
Jumpstarting didn't work at all (but thank you wherever you are... I hope you cought many big fish because of the karma you earned by trying to help!). We got the boat out ok and I tested the battery today and it held at 10 volts. So the battery is fine, I guess. My next thought would be the starter, but once again, I don't know about boats yet, so I'm not going to guess.
I don't know if a diagnosis can be made from the info I provided, but please, any help would be appreciated. This is my first post on here, obviously, though probably not my last.
Thank you again.
- Eric
