Oh yeah... I forgot to mention... all the battery cables I've made up had crimped and soldered ends... you may have corrosion inside the cable where the end is crimped on... that is the reason for the hot connection.

I had the exact problem on my Excalibur Kaama Cat.. Burnt up 3 starters before I realized how hot the battery cables were getting. They looked fine on the outsides, but were corroded and very "blued" on the insides. About $50 in new cables plus new Perko switches makes the old girl spin over like the spark plugs were removed. Well, the new mega torque reverse mount starters helped too.