Picked up the boat today after bringing it to a local (Hour an a half away) dealer to repair a cam sensor. They pulled ity out and the cam sensor was literally broken and wedged at the top, and the shaft almost fell inside the engine. If that happened the motor would have required to have been pulled out and would have suffered major damage. I questioned how the engine even ran with the sensor busted up like that. They didn't know how. I'll get some pics and post. I guess it's uncommon for something like this to happen. I hope so.

(2005 Merc 525)

Lucky Lucky man ..............buy a loto Ticket ....

Most likely the computer has a fail safe/limp home mode in it, so when the sensor went bad it allowed you to keep going. It should have been a noticeable drop in power.

While I don't have any experience with a 525 Merc, I can tell you what happens on cars. The cam sensor only starts the firing order. It tells the ECU when #1 cylinder is coming up to TDC. Then the crank sensor gets the firing order going. So, while it is not possible to start a motor with no cam sensor, it is posiible to run a motor with no cam sensor. Is it possible that the sensor broke after this last start-up?