Fire on board!

This was the biggest of two today, was having a good time but when I was heading down the river I started to smell something burning. And then I saw smoke from the back of the boat....The burning smell was electrical and then I lost all electrical power. Thank goodness the motor was still running, I got back to the boat ramp, loaded the boat and took a look. The hot battery cable and terminal was fried, it also fried the battery.

[Travis C.]

That's kinda like getting sick at the doctor's office right?

Good thing all that water was around if needed.

[Catch & Release]

I had something similar happen like that the other day, what did you find out that caused it? the positive cable from the motor was extremely hot, so hot that it melted the battery terminal.

[agelesssone]

Generally it's a loose or bad (corroded) connection that causes electrics to overheat.

[lupanfreitag]

I had a similar incident when I was barreling down the river and I notice the trolling motor head was smoldering. A wire had frayed and was arching off on the metal shaft (an old motor). The scary part was the battery was too hot to touch due to the short. I unhooked the battery just to be safe--the wing nuts melted to the top of the battery.

Luckily they old girl is still afloat. We fished for a while longer then headed in. Hard to bank with with the outboard.