Yeah , there is a neutral safety switch in the controller to prevent starting while in gear. Yours appears to be toast.
And Fyi , the prop will usually spin a little even in neutral when running it in the driveway .
With the engine off , can you spin the prop by hand or is there resistance ?
Thanks. I figured it out finally. I’m used the outboard control boxes with neutral being in the 12 o’clock position. On this boat 10:30-11:00 o’clock is neutral. I held the key in the start position, plugs removed and grounded to the block. Slowly moved the throttle forward and the starter worked. I felt a click and realized I was a little presumptuous.
Before doing any of this I could not spin the prop. It would only move the amount the ball gear setup would allow. Now that I actually found neutral, I can easily spin it in either direction.
now on to the next issue of the trim and tilt not working. I toggle the tilt in/out and only get clicking. I push the trim button on the throttle and again, only clicking. I have noticed the pretty much every wire connection that has a nut, ie; coil, starter solenoid, tilt solenoid etc, is very corroded. That will be step 1. If that doesn’t fix it I’ll try jump the power and bypass the relay momentarily.
even if I have to put a few hundred into the boat it’ll still be worth it. I only paid $500 for it on a roller trailer and so far I’m pretty impressed with the shape it is in.
