The Ignition- Riverside Marina

I finally dropped Double Dee off at her new home, the  Riverside Marina in Portland, CT. We parked her right at the entrance, still on the trailer. 

Jeff and I soon discovered we were about a month ahead of the boating season which starts May 1st depending on the weather and the Connecticut River.  However, Karen at the Marina said the weather was good so the docks would be going in a couple of weeks ahead of schedule.  We figured that would give us two or three weeks to work on the boat.

Jeff and I took our first close look at Double Dee by going through all the gear and testing everything. We quickly discovered nothing works on her and there's only one cleat.  We also have to scrape off the NY registration tag and number and put on the new CT boat registration number and tag.  The boat did come with life jackets, a depth finder and a grill but the depth finder sensor had broken off the back off the boat.  After replacing a few bulbs and cleaning the contacts the dock lights worked, the red and green navigation lights on the bow worked and the white light on the stern worked.  We also figured out how the switches operate.  The first switch on the left controls the Navigation lights.  Up for all three - Red, Green and White which would be used at night.  Down for anchoring at night- the white Stern light only.  The second switch turned the Dock Lights on and off.    The next three switches did nothing that we could see but I knew I'd be using one of them to wire the three the blue led light sticks to.  The radio didn't work and there weren't any speakers on the boat - which made the wheels turn in my mind and I remembered that my old car stereo with a subwoofer and amplifiers was still in my garage. . .

The next thing to do was try the motor before we launched her.  Double Dee came with a 2002 Yamaha 60.  The model number  on the sticker was worn off but I was able to figure out thanks to the internet that the motor was a 2002 Yamaha 60TRLA. 
It is a 2 cycle motor  so it takes gas and 2 cycle oil in a tank at the top of the motor.  To start it out of the water I would need water and a hose. The nearest water outlet was several hundred yards away and we didn't have a long enough hose.  I was a little anxious to get the motor running and figure out how it ran.  My first attempt at starting the motor was a fail.  I put in the key turned it and nothing.  I checked the batteries and they were from 2007.  I had them checked at an auto parts store and they failed the charge test so I bought two new ones.  I brought them back and still nothing.  I went down to speak to the mechanic at the marina -  He said the ignition system on a boat is simple but the trick is diagnosing the problem.  So I bought three new spark plugs and had him order the repair guide for the motor.
I checked some of the basic components and everything looked good.  It seemed to be the switch so I googled how to check the ignition switch on a Yamaha and found out if you touch the brown wire to the yellow the motor should turn over.  .  .  I did and the motor rumbled to life.  Since I had no water I shut it off immediately and decided we'd need to bring it back to my house to work on the motor a little more.  I should have listened to myself in this video, bit the bullet and just ordered a new ignition switch for $140, but being a bit of a hacker I instead wired one the extra switches to the starter. . .  A wise mechanic months later gave me my new repair mantra  "If you find a problem  - fix it!"