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I'm a boating newbie so please forgive ny ignorance on this. I bought the boat last year and it ran fine.

During the winter I took the battery out and stored it in the garage. I'm pretty sure that if the wiring to the battery terminals was in any way complicated, I would have made a note of it.

Anyway, the problem is that when I connect the wires to the positive terminal, the battery sparks when I turn the ignition on and nothing happens. From the photo you'll see that there are three wires which (I believe) should go to positive. The large red one, the black one (ending in a green cap) and the red one (ending in a black cap). If I just attach the large red one and the black one then the engine will start but I get no power for the engine trim or the bilge pump etc. If I just attach the red one, then that gives power to the trim etc but, obviously, won't start the engine. The problem occurs when the red one is attached along side the other two.

What am I doing wrong? I know it must be something simple and I feel an idiot for asking!

Thanks for any input.

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First of all, the small red wire with the yellow fuse holder and the small black wired with the black fuse holder should have absolutely nothing to do with starting the motor.

Sounds like it's time to get to know your wiring system.
You really need to find out where the other ends of those two small wires are attached.

Here is my guess.
The small red wire probably goes to a fuse/buss panel under the dash.
This gives power to all the accessories that are attached to that panel.

I have no idea about the black one and why anyone in the world would use a black color on the red terminal is beyond me. A red wire with fuse holder is available most anywhere and this should be changed out unless this actually goes to the negative terminal. But then, most negative wires are not fused.

The other guess would be that one of those small wires is shorted out somewhere and causing the spark.
Again, follow the wires and find out exactly where they go.

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Thanks Joe for the response - I do appreciate it.

So I followed the wiring back as far as I could and I found one of the wires had been chewed through - looks like I had a mouse or two over the winter. Things are now working as normal.

Thanks for the help.

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Great. Glad you found the problem and got it fixed.

The time to get to know your wiring is before it might be a life and death situation on the water.
So, now is the time.

Find out where all those small wires go and what they are connected to.
You will be glad you did at some point down the road.

The large red and black we know comes from the battery and goes directly to the motor. The motor harness then runs to the console and the key switch.
This is all part of the motor harness and starting function.

All the small wires are part of some kind of accessory like lights, bilge pump, radio, etc.
Normally, one small red wire and one small black wire run to the console fuse/buss panel for all your accessories. The small red wire, like the one in your photos with the yellow fuse holder, is fused or contains a circuit breaker for the entire accessory electrical system.

Good Luck and enjoy your Whaler and Welcome to WhalerCentral.

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Joe

I believe it is a violation of the NEC to fuse neg wires. I'm pretty sure this would apply in the marine environment. At the very best it would be terrible engineering.

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My apologies for not getting back to you before. Thanks again for your help and advice.