would it be silly to have console steering and no E-start?

[971500]

Hello, I have got a 16 foot boat with a 05 mercury 25hp bigfoot on it. I would like to add console steering and electric start to it someday. The last time I look, mercury doesn't offer a e-start kit for my outboard. so i thought of going ahead and putting a steering wheel in it and slowly gather the parts needed for electric start. would there be any down side to doing that. I just seeing it being more a inconvenience than anything

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: would it be silly to have console steering and no E-start?

none at all. I have pull-start on my 13' whaler; have since 1964. Nice not to have the weight.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: would it be silly to have console steering and no E-start?

Welcome aboard.

I started boating that way. No one when I was younger had all the fancy goodies...... if I had a penny for every time I pulled the starter cord .......... I would have allot of money.

No electric start and go with LED lights and you will save yourself money and about 75 lbs of battery! Less wiring....less headaches.

 

[Frank Acampora]

Re: would it be silly to have console steering and no E-start?

Not silly at all and not really all that inconvenient either.

My second boat was a 13 foot Starcraft closed deck hull with dashboard steering. Due to lake restriction I only had a 5 HP Evinrude on the back. Put it in neutral, move to stern and start the engine, move forward into captains seat, use remote controls to put it in gear and control speed. No biggie at all.

Really, for how few times you start the engine, it probably won't matter.

 

[Lion hunter]

Re: would it be silly to have console steering and no E-start?

The only thing I would add would be a kill switch at the console. A toggle and some wire should get you in business. I wouldn't think it would be to inconvienent not having e-start but you want to be able to shut it down quick.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: would it be silly to have console steering and no E-start?

another thing about pull-starts: for me and my sisters, and now for our children: you are old enough to drive the boat when you are big enough to pull start it. There is a little more to this than the obvious: if you are strong enough to pull start, you can handle the docking, anchoring, tilting, pushing off the sandbar, paddling when it won't start, etc.--all that stuff that boating entails.

It scares me on my river when I see the 90 pound teenagers driving good sized-boats just because they are strong enough to turn a key.