Eaton Beiver
Member
I was at my marine mechanics shop last weekend, dealing with my old inboard. He was pulling the engine from an ’09 Glastron, because it needed a new starter, and one of the bolts had sheared off. Why did an ’09 boat need a starter, and why did the bolt shear off? 
Interesting Story. Boat belongs to Grampa. (I don’t know him) He let granddaughter drive it on the 4’th of July weekend. She actually used the kill-switch lanyard, as instructed. She clipped it to her swimsuit. She drove maybe ½ mile from the cottage and went swimming. She forgot about the lanyard, which came unclipped when she left the helm. Time to return to the cottage, and the boat won’t start, because the kill-switch gizzy is not in place. (She forgot about it, and it was dangling from her swimsuit). She discovered that if you put the engine in drive, and crank the starter, the motor actually fires and runs as long as …… you keep cranking the starter. (Long story short: it somehow overrides the kill switch, but only while actually cranking the starter). So she crank-start-ran the boat ½ mile home. Well, almost home. The starter became hotter than the sun, and nearly caught on fire. It actually go so hot, the mounting bolts became annealed, and soft. That’s why they sheared off when trying to replace the starter. So the engine was being pulled, to get the sheared bolts out. All because the kill-switch gizzy was not in place. And most ironically, as he’s telling me the story, I note that the boat has…..a……a….trolling motor on the bow. Which could have taken the boat the ½ mile home. D’Oh! That’s one expensive Kill Switch. I’m almost glad my Dinosaur ’71 inboard has no safety features like that.
Interesting Story. Boat belongs to Grampa. (I don’t know him) He let granddaughter drive it on the 4’th of July weekend. She actually used the kill-switch lanyard, as instructed. She clipped it to her swimsuit. She drove maybe ½ mile from the cottage and went swimming. She forgot about the lanyard, which came unclipped when she left the helm. Time to return to the cottage, and the boat won’t start, because the kill-switch gizzy is not in place. (She forgot about it, and it was dangling from her swimsuit). She discovered that if you put the engine in drive, and crank the starter, the motor actually fires and runs as long as …… you keep cranking the starter. (Long story short: it somehow overrides the kill switch, but only while actually cranking the starter). So she crank-start-ran the boat ½ mile home. Well, almost home. The starter became hotter than the sun, and nearly caught on fire. It actually go so hot, the mounting bolts became annealed, and soft. That’s why they sheared off when trying to replace the starter. So the engine was being pulled, to get the sheared bolts out. All because the kill-switch gizzy was not in place. And most ironically, as he’s telling me the story, I note that the boat has…..a……a….trolling motor on the bow. Which could have taken the boat the ½ mile home. D’Oh! That’s one expensive Kill Switch. I’m almost glad my Dinosaur ’71 inboard has no safety features like that.