help w/Sailing Program's power boat! won't start

60hp outboard mercury on a 17 foot boston whaler... it's our support boat for friday night races, kids summer lessons, the high school sailing team... etc etc... so the boat is pretty important to our program.

boat sat in the water about 3-4 days a week due to the sailing programs.
saturday mornings it'd come out and get really cleaned up well, motor flushed, etc.
absolutely no signs of any issues....

then one monday it wouldn't start.
no one knew how old the battery was... looked pretty old (it was in a waterproof box).
autozone said the battery was dead, so we bought a new 800cca marine batt.

still no start and I have no clue what to check.
bilge pump works.
when you turn the key you get a slight click, and the tach gague bumps down for a second.
BUT the trim buttons on the motor and throttle don't even work.

i don't know where to look for fuses or relays, etc....

any advice is much appreciated!
thanks ya'll....
-Rob.
fleetcaptain@osyc.com
how old is the whaler and the motor? when you get the click it could mean that there is a bad connection somewhere are all the wires connected to the battery? also the battery might be dead, the last battery i bought it was dead and had to be charged over night, so try jump starting it and see if it turnsover.
good luck
optikid
Sounds like you have a bad connection at the battery, or the battery switch. Fuses for the engine controls will be on the motor, check your connections first though. If you did not clean them before you replaced the battery(ies) lightly sand the cables down till fresh copper can be seen.

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Greenville SC

Offering sails and other go fast parts for A-class catamarans
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I agree it sounds like a bad connection, no doubt. Even if you are "sure" there is some other problem, I would take all the connections to your battery (both the battery end and wherever they connect at the other end) and clean them very good. When you put them back together, coat them with dielectric grease to prevent it happening in the future.

--arthur

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