1976 Tique battery goes dead with key off

Hi i have a 76 Tique with a 302 in it. i stored it indoors covered over the winter and last week i went and put the battery in it and got it running, the next day i went out and the battery was dead, so i put a brand new battery in and it does the same thing so obviously there is a bad ground or something pulling juice with the key off. i had no problems with it at all last year before it was put away. where do i start looking? no mice got in it and no wires are broke. I do notice the voltage meter moves to zero when i turn the key, is that normal? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

With a drain that large I'm guessing when you connect or disconnect the negative lead you may see a few small sparks. Not many things on the boat that aren't obvious (blower, bilge pump, lights, radio) draw enough juice to pull down a battery overnight. Do the load test as Pete suggests, once your meter is hooked up (definitely read some directions first so you don't fry the meter) you can pull fuses and see if you can locate which circuit is pulling juice. Not hard to do.

Bencruizen76 wrote: I'm thinking possibly a bad ignition switch, with the key off i took a test light and there is power to the alternator still. whats your thoughts?

Here's a wiring diagram that's accurate for a 76 PCM Ford engine



What wire has power with the key OFF?

see next post down

Jeff,
Were you able to confirm the drain was the alternator? We'd love to hear back from you. It's always great to find out if we were able to help out.