starter question

[Capt. Lou]

A month ago i was partying on boat listening to radio for several hours. I went to start boat to charge batteries and boat didn't start. Assuming batteries were dead i went and got charger and charged batteries. still no start! so i put tester on and realized batteries were fine. I cleaned connections on battery and bam it started. last week went fishing for 12 hours. stopped to unload fish and no start! engine and engine compartment was pretty warm. Smacked starter with harpoon and bam started!. got boat home and checked next day and it started. Am i safe to assume that this is a starter issue? i thought maybe it was because the engine room was so hot but because i had the prior issue i am leaning more towards just replacing starter. thoughts?

 

[bluefin650]

I would double check the connections on the battery and the starter before I would replace. Not positive, But I think you could have the starter bench tested to determine if it is bad.

 

[offshore31]

had a similar problem. like bluefin said, check all connections first. especially the grounds. also check your batt cable connections. before you replace the batts, bench test the starter.

i replaced a set of batts, and later found it was the starter. burned hand teaches best.

 

[BillD]

A month ago i was partying on boat listening to radio for several hours. I went to start boat to charge batteries and boat didn't start. Assuming batteries were dead i went and got charger and charged batteries. still no start! so i put tester on and realized batteries were fine. I cleaned connections on battery and bam it started. last week went fishing for 12 hours. stopped to unload fish and no start! engine and engine compartment was pretty warm. Smacked starter with harpoon and bam started!. got boat home and checked next day and it started. Am i safe to assume that this is a starter issue? i thought maybe it was because the engine room was so hot but because i had the prior issue i am leaning more towards just replacing starter. thoughts?

There's nothing like getting an "old starter" that is starting to "act up" rebuilt.
Not that much $dough$ for easy starting peace of mind.

Check all the connections 1st as suggested. Bring a hammer along. If it keeps acting up or you end up being towed, change out the starter.