Sealine s.23 cautionary tale

[snappy]

I had an experience a couple of weeks ago which was irritating at the time but on sober reflection I now regard as a lucky escape. Allowing an hour or two to empty the clutter before having my 6 month old S23 craned out, I decided to fire up the engine first "just in case". As soon as the key was turned to the start position all the guages flatlined, despite fully charged batteries. I had had this problem once before when the boat was new and was advised to keep the key in the start position and waggle the morse lever back and forwards through neutral because it was probably a sticky interlock that prevents you from starting in gear. Previously this had worked a treat but this time no dice. As the boat was still under warranty I called the dealer who authorised me to get an engineer to check out the switch, and as luck would have it a very helpful electronics specialist came down to the boat straightaway.

What he found was that the push fit male/female connectors between the starter wiring and the Morse control wiring were of different sizes thus making only intermittent contact. A quick crimp with the plyers and we were off and made the lift on time, but afterwards I remembered having taken my 11 year old boy and his mate well out to sea and switching the engine off, never contemplating that it might not restart.

We did notify the dealers of the problem so that it could be reported, but as I have yet to see the marine equivalent of a vehicle recall notice I thought others might like to know. I should say that in every other respect the S 23 has been very impressive and seems to have been very well designed and put together.....

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[neale]

Before you turn the engine off it is always worth thinking through the consequences of it not starting again. New boat or old, sooner or later something will happen that stops the engine from starting.

This is especially important if you switch off without being connected to something, (pontoon, seabed, another boat), and you are in close proximity to something that could cause damage, (another boat, seabed, pontoon etc etc).

Don't be put off switching off, just have a plan in the back of your mind as to how you would sort it out. (seastart, VHF, Flares, Mobile, Aux engine etc etc.)

Neale

<hr width=100% size=1>When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading

 

[amf]

Is this the connection on the throttle itself or on the ignition switch? Would like to check it on our S23 before we go back in the water next year.

Only problem we've had with electrics was on a rather bumpy bit of an MBM cruise where both the oil pressure and revs started to read low. A re-crimp with pliers fixed that one too!



<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[snappy]

The connection was accessible behind the trim tab panel to the right of the steering wheel, so a little way away from the starter switch itself. Thanks for the tip about the other problem!

S

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[halcyon]

Was it a clear/whitish multi pin, or single spade type connector ?

Brian

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://link>www.kddpowercentre.com</A>

 

[DepSol]

What like a fire?

<hr width=100% size=1>Dom
watch this space