Boat won't start

[maxpower220]

Well, nothing like missing the Memorial Day weekend skiing after a drive to the lake. Dropped the boat into the water and the starter clicks once. Everything else works and the battery was replaced in Mar '12. Drive home and dropped the starter. Take it to 2 auto parts stores to test it out, both stores confirm that the starter is bad. The bendix gear comes out, but doesn't spin. The stock starters that the stores had were different in diameter and a smaller bendix gear. So, I'll wait until the local MC dealer is open on Tues to get the new starter. If he doesn't have one, I will look at having this one rebuilt or skidim.

Hope everyone else is having fun.

[mmandley]

Wow sorry to hear that bro. We arnt boating this weekend, temps are low 60s and cloudy, some of my other NW brothern are boating but we are doing other things instead.

Went on a nice 200 mile motorcycle ride yesterday, working around the house today. I got the guys poker night tonight, and then off tues wed.

Best part about today is i refinanced my truck to 3.35% so im saving a little coin on interest LOL

[moombadaze]

Paul, what lake did you go to? I thought you were on the water in Cory lake isle's

[wolfeman131]

Sorry the day didn't go as planned, especially for you. Thanks for your service to our country!

I'm surprised that it failed already.

[maxpower220]

My boat has been off of the lift for about 7 weeks now as the water level is well below what is needed. We tried the ramp last week, but due to the steep angle at the top and the angle being shallow lower, the bottom of the trailer cage was scraping and we didn't push it. There is enough water to ski in the lake (for now), but we need the rain.

We drove to Thonotosassa, glad we didn't go to Tarpon or Chain of Lakes, as they are well over an hour away.

It rained on Monday, so we didn't miss out on too much.

[moombadaze]

We were tempted to try Tarpon on sunday morning but my kido really is kinda freaked about that lake and the gators.

We also thought about heading north to the Harris chain of lakes but if there low too then thats a 3 hrs round trip drive for nothin

Paul, are you going to be headed to Drews in July? Were headed up the 7th and staying for the week

[maxpower220]

I doubt it. I have a friend that is retiring from the Air Force at the end of July in Tenn, so I think we will be going north at that time.

[maxpower220]

Called the Moomba and the MC dealer, a starter is $189 from them. I then called a Starter/alternator rebuilder supply store. He quoted me $139. I debated about the two choices, as I like to save money and I like having "the right" equipment. I went to the rebuilder store and he looked at my starter, tested it, and discovered that the starter was fine, but the solenoid was cracked. He replaced it in about 5 min with a cost of $38.50 with tax.

The point is: the guys who work at the auto stores aren't always experts and may not understand who to operate the equipment. I am happy that I saved some money and I have the same starter.

[wolfeman131]

dang $40 part ruined what might have been a good day on the lake.

[Salyers]

Glad you got it fixed cheep! Sorry about your lost weekend!

[bkearney]

What is a "Starter/alternator rebuilder supply store"? I tried to find one and could not.

[WaterBullDawg1980]

I have a local guy who has a shop behind his house. He's about 75 years old and calls me "young fella". When my starter went bad, I took it to him and he had it rebuilt one back to me the next day for a very reasonable price.

I imagine that these types of shops are pretty similar. Small family owned places that may not have an internet presence. I found out about my guy from Atlanta Marine.

[ottawarider]

Hi I am having this same problem myself. Can anyone tell me where on the below picture I should be looking for said
starter? My best guess was the bottom left of the pic (aft and starboard corner of the v drive engine)

14648

14649

Many thanks in advance,

Brian

[bergermaister]

Find and follow your + battery cable and you'll find it under here.

14650

[WaterBullDawg1980]

If you are standing in my boat looking back at the engine it is on the bottom right side. The starter is a cylinder looking sucker with another cylinder looking sucker on top of it. It has two bolts that screw in from the bottom that you use to get it loose.

[ottawarider]

Find and follow your + battery cable and you'll find it under here.

14650


If you are standing in my boat looking back at the engine it is on the bottom right side. The starter is a cylinder looking sucker with another cylinder looking sucker on top of it. It has two bolts that screw in from the bottom that you use to get it loose.

Huge help guys! I managed to get the thing out. No idea what I thought was the starter before haha but I was looking in a completely different place... Off to get it checked and find out what's the problem. Again, huge thanks on those quick replys!

Brian

[WaterBullDawg1980]

Nice work. Usually a quick and easy fix. It's the tricky location of the bolts that make it difficult. Good luck!

[rdlangston13]

That really stinks about you Florida guys and needing rain. Seems like every time I have been to Florida all it did was rain. We are at full pull at our home lake but just not really sure how long that is going to last, the rain has been somewhat consistent this year which is much much better than what we had last summer.