Re: Jumpstarting
Jump starting a marine engine is no different than jump starting a car or truck. However, let's understand what happened to cause the problem. Chances are if the battery just "went dead" as most operators would contend, they weren't paying attention to the voltmeter or ampmeter on their vessel. Chances are one or more of the following happened. 1) Battery simply went to battery heaven (its shot), 2) Alternator quit and operator didn't notice the voltmeter dropping, 3) accessories ran too long with engine off, 4) other electrical malfunction. In any of these scenarios (except for #3) chances are that even if the engine did start by jumping, it won't stay running because there is simply not enough juice in the dead battery to keep it going. Besides, an alternator failure would not put juice back into it. If an engine will not turn over by jumping, chances are the battery is simply shot. It will not take a charge and cannot be jumped. What needs to happen in that scenario is to remove the positive cable from the dead battery, then connect the positive jumper to the removed cable. However, this must be done with another available battery (trolling motor or jump start unit for example). If the engine still doesn't crank, there is another electrical problem.
