Newbie...ignition problems

[fnpgirl]

My husband and I are first time boaters. We bought a 2007 Sea Ray 185 sport 3.0L yesterday. When my husband took it out on the lake with the dealer we bought it from, it started up on the first time and had no problems. Took it out this morning after filling it up with gas. Noticed it did not start immediately like a couple days before. Ran it around the lake a few times. Pulled a wakeboarder a few times. Then out of no where, the key wont turn over. Nav lights worked and trim raised and lowered fine. So my brother who is more experienced looked under the steering wheel where the electrical wires are. Found out the #15 fuse was blown for the ignition. There were a few extras in the glove compartment and replaced it and started well after. Took it off the water and was going to call the dealer tomorrow. Wondering is this common for 185s or was it just our unlucky day and happened to blow? Had no clue we should keep extras in the boat. Any help or suggestions would be great.

Also does anyone know if a seat cushion from a 2008 or newer would fit in the front of the bow or probably need it custom made?

 

[Lazy Daze]

Not really a "common thing", but it could happen on any boat (not model-specific). Unless it starts happening again, mark it down as a fluke. But, I would take a look at electrical connections to make sure they're clean and tight. Take a look at anything you can see under the dash and look at the battery cables, too.

This is pretty easy to do - but I would advise to start with the battery cables and remove the negative lead and LEAVE IT OFF while you do your other checking/cleaning/re-tightening. Leaving the negative lead off will ensure that you don't create sparks or cause any shorts somewhere else. All you need to do, now, is to remove one connection at a time (so you don't misplace connections) , hit it with a small wire brush and reattach. If you want to get fancy, add a little "dielectric grease" (available at just about any auto or marine store) to the connection after you're done and it will help to keep corrosion away.

At a bare minimum, at least go through any connection you can see (under the dash and the battery cables) and tighten it. It's still a good idea to remove the negative lead.

You have a carb'd engine (no fuel injection), so sometimes the first start of the day (cold engine) will be a bit harder, in comparison to when the engine is warm. Even with fuel injection, a cold engine will often start differently than when it's warm. When the dealer took you out, it was likely a warm engine as they may have run it before you showed up to make sure everything was in order.

The seat cushion will fit.

Good luck and welcome aboard!

 

[New Bob]

We had the same problem on our new 195 4.3tks. The ignition fuse blew every time we turn the key. It turned out that the wiring harness under the dash was grounding out on one of the screw terminals. We shoved the wire bundle out of the way of the terminals, reinserted another fuse and haven't experienced the problem since (3 years ago).