If the coil melted wouldn't that pop a fuse somewhere? The CG seems to be more of a coincidence.

Did they pull your landyard off and not put it back on,

Also is that how fast it always cranks? That seems really slow and can see that being why it wont start. Might be time for a starter,battery cables, etc.

Have the battery load tested. I had the exact same problem and took me several hours to figure it out.

You have to ground the spark plug threads for there to be any significant spark. The plug lying on wood will not work.

So, a kind of funny story when I was younger.

My boat didn't start after marine patrol got on it !

Story goes:

I came back from getting food/ ice cream with friends.

Boat cranked and cranked. No start. Great ! Pop the hatch and see the coil wire was missing ! WTF ?

Spend a little time to figure out how Iam gonna mcgyver it to get home (abot 20 miles by water) and at the same time wonder how the freek the coil wire disappeared.Only other boat at dock's is a Marine Patrol boat.

Marine Patrol comes walking down. Asks what issue is, I tell'm, they giggled and showed me my coil wire. What !

Turns out a friends friend that was with us,got lazy from being drunk or whatever and took a golf cart near docks to go get food.

So.....I make the kid (few yrs older than me) apologize , patrol still not impressed, and walk back off with my coil wire. Looked like they went to go get food or ice cream by direction they walked off.

I am not calling my parents !!!! And I'm pissed.

I make everyone walk away,leave me alone so I can rig up something...and I did.

I took the Marine Patrol's coil wire.

1) They stole from me.
2) They may take a bit to figure out why their motor didn't start.
3) They obviously where holding a spare coil wire.

More to this story when I ran into them later (not that day)...but it went well. They called me something like smart and creative and how many early teenagers know how to work on things ? LOL !

It has a new starter, new starter solenoid, new plugs, new plug wires, and new ignition coil. The battery is probably 3 years old now.

I will take the advice and have my battery load tested. This video had a jumper pack on the battery, but doesnt sound too much slower than normal (if I recall).

I may just spring for a new battery, test the plugs with a proper ground, and report back. I was mostly concerned with the 11.3V at the ignition coil and thought maybe that drop is causing it not to fire correctly.

LOL.....Great story!

Padraig

You had me at what I would have done near the beginning. I wouldn't have thought twice about it.

To the OP, here is a trouble shooting guide from Mercruiser on the Tbolt IV:

http://www.ebasicpower.com/faq/MERCSB92-11.htm

Thanks for the link. I went to West Marine and ended up buying a new battery. I figured it couldnt hurt and one less thing to let me down down the road. Put her in and it fired up.

I checked the voltage when running and its only 12.6-12.7 (aka the new battery voltage). My alternator I replaced in late July of last year must be fried. I emailed iboats for a warranty claim, but the alternator must have killed my other battery. It was running at 14.0 volts two weeks ago so thats a bit strange.