Yup, Seen this before. Needs a new block, One I saw the guy replaced the head gasket, it lasted about a week. The block finished burning through about 1/8" groove.
One more thing to note is a bad diode in the alternator will cause a battery to go dead sitting. But that's not your issue, I think. A bad starter as stated will fail to crank when hot. You can install an acr, then both batts will charge no matter where you have the switch.
I've always been to grind all the way through the gel to just at the glass. If you don't the crack may come back. So I do it like that and have no issues.
I have to add, that looks like saltwater corrosion on top of the crack. I'd replace the motor before attempting to fix/spend money on that one. Just be sure the hull isn't rotted first.
Are you talking about the spring type choke that sits on the intake? It don't need a block-off plate. The spring sits in a recess but not through the surface. I may be wrong but a pic would help.
That don't look good. Sandbar is my thought also. A shop would cost more than you think. I'd wonder if there were hidden cracks in the glass under there from beaching it too much.
Heard about it a bit in ABYC class but haven't had a problem with it around here. Possibly when they first came out, they were not as good as they are now?
At this point it almost looks like it needs to be sandblasted or walnut shell blasted to see the extent of the damage. Patching just what you see now isn't the best route. Looks like someone coated it over before to get it looking better/stop leaking.
It might be just me, but Sierra cables have been an issue for me. Since I started using Quicksilver cables, they last longer. Sierra has improved most of their stuff over the years, but oem is for me.
Not sure if solar will keep up. I've seen a few at the marina, and if we have to move them sometimes the batts are low/dead. One has a wind charger propeller thing. It always is ok. Wind around here is fairly constant; cloud cover slows solar down a bit.
