Brand new Makai died on the water

Been a rough weekend. 2nd log strike in 3 outings but the purpose of this post is to talk about the boat quitting while underway.

Anyway, while pulling a boarder last night the boat shut off...like I turned the key off. Had power to everything except the ignition switch. Cycled the battery switch nothing. Turn the key backward to accessory...nothing. Turn it forward, nothing. Monkey around with wiring...nothing. I pulled the panel, unplugged the ignition switch, plug it back it (battery switch off), turn batteries back on...nothing but everything else still works.

No boats on the water at all, so I called a buddy who said he would be right there, lives 30 min away.

While waiting, tried 50 times before giving up and just waiting. My patience got the best of me and tried one more time and it fired up like nothing was wrong. Head straight to the ramp, got it on the trailer, turn it off. Tried turning it back on....nothing - same problem as on the water.

Pull it home, put it in the barn and cycle the key and it works again...what gives???? Bad ignition switch???

I wrote about the same in a different post about smacking my second log this weekend, but it was a lengthy post and a different topic so I decided to post another thread....

Safety switch, I've delt with this and was an easy fix. Found turning my seat it would hit the switch and knock the clip loose. Well lets hope it's an easy fix.

I thought about the safety switch but that would just prevent it from starting, not kill all power when the key is turned to accessory, right?

I pulled the lanyard off, and put back on 15 times and it didn’t solve the problem on the water. Only after sitting 30 minutes, untouched did it decide to work again

How many batteries do you have? If just 1 I’ve seen new batteries with dead cells do exactly what you are describing.


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2 batteries. Was running on both at the time. I tried everything on each battery and both after it died.

As those familiar know, when you turn the key backwards the stereo plays. When you cycle it forward to run the screen initializes and goes through it’s checks, the stereo also comes on. In any position I had the key, nothing came on. On a couple occasions, the stereo screen would flash on for a split second and go back off.

All other electrical devices on the boat worked just fine so clearly I had power

I don’t think you are supposed to run both batteries at the same time.

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Larry, I've seen that diagram and info and always wondered. The predominant advice is to run both, and switch to 1 or 2 while chillin'. Both my dealers have recommended this. Yet that's in the manual. Of course, some people will go with what you posted. I do that sometimes if I think about it, but mostly run both while underway. Never really understood that.

It’s interesting that most run in the position that SC doesn’t recommend.

Not sure what the advantage is to run both batteries.


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That makes sense. I have been using one battery but was under the impression the alternator was charging both at the same time, even if I was using 1. But now I stand corrected. Only the battery being used is being charged. Hence, it seems that we should switch to use battery one or 2 every other outing to ensure both always remained juiced.

I alternate battery 1 and 2 each time we go out and plug in smart charger after each outing.

Smart charger charges both batteries so each battery is fully charged at each launch.


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