electric start

[jamie fish]

hi guys i have a mariner 40 . 2 stroke.....pullstart my son has a hard time pulling it so i want to put electric start on it. how much work is this and how much would it cost me ...thanks,,,,

[Peter_C]

I converted my Evinrude. Paid $75 shipped for a starter motor off of Ebay, then bought a solenoid from my local marine store. Also bought a starter switch from them. Had the wiring necessary to put it all together.

There is a much bigger problem though and that is the ability to start the boat in gear. Since 90% of the time I am at the helm I don't consider it a big deal, but worry about other people. I would recommend adding the correct switches in for neutral.

[9D280]

Are you tiller or Remote opreration? - your remotes may already have that anti start in gear switch installed.

Finding the starter may not be too dificult. if it's a Yam based one, the Japanese manufacturers were rather good at not redesigning stuff for the sake of it, so there's a high chance you could get a starter from a 30 / 50 etc.

next Q - does it have battery charging? If not you may need to either rig up some solar charger, fit an alternator or take the battery out at the end of the day to charge it.

Those questions aside, your shopping iist will look a bit like this:
Absolutely necessary:
- Starter
- solenoid
- enough chunky cable to get from battery to engine
- at least same length of at least one core of smaller cable
- momentary switch (i.e pushbutton,or sprung toggle)

more than slightly useful:
- anti start in gear switch
- choke gubbins (unless your start switch is by the engine & you can pull the mech choke?)
. solenoid
. switch (another non latching), although if you get a boat keyswitch it might be built in
. single core of wire (same length as above)

Really quite useful:
- some method of charging the battery
. alternator & rectifier-regulator unit
. solar panel (usually come with regulator built in)



Have a look at online mirofiches - you may find there was a "tiller steer / electic start" option - my old Suz had space on the front panel for a keyswitch

[uncle al]

if the 40hp is the old 2 cyl 2 carb version you will need to look carefully at the parts purely because of age they stopped producing them about twenty years ago,if its the later 40hp 2cyl one carb you will just require the basics,when I worked for the merc/mar distributer I did one for a boat show a few years ago but it wasnt taken up by the distributer ,
1x starter plus fixing bolts/washers
1x regulater
1x a push starter button and necc wiring
if its a pull start you have in gear start protection, (just dont turn it over on the starter when in gear)
a battery
you can use the original stop switch
or strip an electric start system of another obm

[Peter_C]

Originally Posted by uncle al

if its a pull start you have in gear start protection, (just dont turn it over on the starter when in gear)

That is a mechanical no start device for in gear protection, but won't apply to electric start. The electric starter requires a neutral safety switch.


I did forgot I added in a rectifier/charge controller, long after adding in electric starting. My electronic load was such that my battery would get quite low by the end of a three day weekend. Leaving the GPS on for hours had a lot to do with the battery condition. Many engines already have the stator in place so look to see if there are two or three wires coming from around the flywheel that are not in use. That determines which rectifier you need, and I would recommend getting one that is a charge controller too, not just a rectifier. I bought one for a motorcycle off of Ebay for $15 used. If it ever fails I will just do the same thing again. You can buy them brand new for motorcycles and PWC's for around $100 US dollars. It does not have to be the one spec'ed for the engine, as that is probably really expensive.

Does this boat live on a trailer, or get taken apart each use?

[Mercury]

Originally Posted by jamie fish

hi guys i have a mariner 40 . 2 stroke.....pullstart my son has a hard time pulling it so i want to put electric start on it. how much work is this and how much would it cost me ...thanks,,,,

I did this conversion to my Brown band 50hp. 2 stroke merc, a few years back. According to the manual there were a couple of different ignition systems, so I had to get the right one. I scoured ebay for months and months until a scrapper came up with all the right bits ie. stator, rectifier, solenoid, starter, etc. Then just swopped all the bits. Works a treat.