beware those push button start switches

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Don Lucas

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Jan 12, 2011
930
Hunter 410 full time cruiser
waited all week for memorial weekend to start. When to the boat Friday to get an early start Sat.

Started up Sat mooring and motored about 20 feet from my mooring ball when I smell smoke coming from the engine box. So back to the ball to find my started has fried (couldn't even touch it).

Bummed that the 3 day trip has ended already.

It checking the circuit etc afterward I find that the start button has stuck and it was still on. So the starter had current for like 10 minutes before I smelled it. While taking out the button it was just broke because it was so corroded.

So beware push buttons.
 
S

Saillife

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Apr 5, 2011
113
Hunter 34 Tilghman Island, Md
30 years ago I was out with my dad & a friend on his catalina 30. We're headed in and start the motor. Within a couple of minuets I see smoke coming out of the cabin. So like most people I yell fire! to my dad and he kills the engine thinking it's burning. Now on that catalina the engine started like a car. You turned the key to the far stop and once the engine started you let go and the key sprung to the run position. What had happened is the spring in the ignition had died and when he let go of the key it didn't spring to the run position. The smoke it turned out was from the starter motor burning up.... So there we are just outside of the yacht club marina with no motor. We're still under sail so we discuss how to get in and I push for sailing into the slip (an outside one). Now my dad, who I have the utmost respect for has always admitted I'm the better sailor ( I could take his 30k boat out without question but not his 8k car but, that's another story). It was an easy 10 knt wind and a beam reach. Dropped the jib and I just kept us far enough off the slips so that when we started our turn downwind we dropped the main and coasted right into the slip.

The kicker for this story is that we did this in front of the bar at the club. While we're at the dock storing stuff a couple of people come down and congratulate my dad on the job he did. Does he say "no that was my son. Taught him all he knows about sailing'? Noooooooo He says 'thank you very much'. After the third person I make a comment about his taking credit and he just smiles at me and says "I live here you don't". So, I guess I really haven't sailed into a slip yet.......
 
Stu Jackson

Stu Jackson

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Feb 26, 2004
22,775
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
One of the "handy" things on a Catalina Yacht is the cockpit panel, which includes a voltmeter (in the old day an ammeter, which everyone should have replaced by now). The gauge is a handy diagnostic check on the electrical system. Sorry this happened to you, but for others it might help - just check the voltmeter -- if it's way low after you release the button, something's wrong. Many folks also have made canvas covers for their cockpit panel, which keeps out some of the gunk that can get into pushbuttons. One of our skippers recommends using Radio Shack tuner cleaner.
 
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Don Lucas

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Jan 12, 2011
930
Hunter 410 full time cruiser
So replaced my starter and the push button switch on the panel that caused the problem.

The past days I was thinking it would be good to have a light that let me know the starter was engerized. Turns out the PB4310 panel on the boat already has this light. But I took the cover off and found it doesn't have a bulb and I don't think it even has had a bulb in the past.

So check your push buttons and the idiot light and save yourself a hassle an expensive.
 
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