No battery power

Guys - I strongly think you have a bad cell in the battery. This happened to us last week at Table Rock Lake. After a few hours on the lake of skiing I was about to pull another skier and the boat would not start. Just a whimper of a click. I thought the starter was hung up. I tapped on it but no luck. Back at the dock I jumped the battery but same thing, just a click. Pulled the starter and jumped it directly to a known good battery and she spun up just fine. So I checked the ground and cables - all good. After pulling the starter off a few more times and even trying another battery I just about pulled all of my hair out! Then my wife said, maybe I should just take the original battery out and try the battery out of the truck. Of course I said, what difference would that make, we are jumping from a known good battery. She said, maybe there is something wrong with the battery in the boat. So, I really hated to admit to my wife that this may be a good idea. So when she left, I tried it. (I did not want to give her the satisfaction that it may work!) Yes guys it worked! A cell failed while on the lake and would suck any life out of any other battery. Also you WILL find when this happens that you will see 12 volts with a meter, but not enough amps to even honk the horn. This was the first time a battery ever failed while using it. The battery was about 3 years old. So expect the unexpected. It DOES happen. By the way, I did thank my wife she saved the vacation! :-)

Hope this helps.

Bret C
Neodesha, KS

1990 Correct Craft Ford 351

I swapped out the solenoid, and no change. Then the ignition switch, no change. So then RE-CHECKED each of the battery terminals and sure enough, had some corrosion that I had overlooked on the negative ground to the engine case. Cleaned it up good and we're up and running.

Ignition key OFF, above items are powered.

Upon further investigation, my solenoid has a pretty good crack in it, and and one wire on the cold pole came right off. Going to replace that now...and I'll get an ignition key also....

Oh, I forgot to mention, all my hot-battery items are inop: bilge, nav lights, horn and blower. On my boat, all those items are hot-wired. That would seem to rule out the ignition switch?

Your positive battery cable (probably) goes from your battery to the starter solenoid. They usually then pull a #10 or so and then go back to the dash.

I would take the cover off of your circuit breaker (on the engine) and find the solenoid. One side goes to the battery and the other to the starter. There should be a third wire on it....that is hooked to your key switch. Jump the positive battery to that third wire and see what happens. Report back.

yep, breaker is good. Terminals are clean. No corrosion, although the negative side is slightly loose, I did tighten it up. A slightly smaller connector likely wouldn't hurt, but can't imagine why I'm not getting voltage at the ignition key???

12.8 volts, both places. Can't seem to short across the solenoid either. Battery took a charge but for only 15 minutes or so, then the charger reported full. I don't suspect the battery as much.

Do you have a volt meter? Get a reading on the battery and the load side of the circuit beaker.