I have an 11' Whaler. I bought a 18 hp Nissan outboard. It was tiller
and I had it comverted to steering. Now if I touch the steering wheel
and the neutral throttle or the wheel and the kill switch on the motor,
I get a shock. This is only if the motor is running. It has an
electric starter, and a pull starter.

I am female and know very little about electricity. I have friends
helping me, and we tried grounding the steering to the neutal post on
the battery to ground it. STill shocks me.

Any ideas appreciated

Jean

Jean Alexander wrote:
I have an 11' Whaler. I bought a 18 hp Nissan outboard. It was tiller
and I had it comverted to steering. Now if I touch the steering wheel
and the neutral throttle or the wheel and the kill switch on the motor,
I get a shock. This is only if the motor is running. It has an
electric starter, and a pull starter.

Are you getting a high voltage shock? Like you would get from touching
a spark plug lead? If so, it may be that that the kill switch works by
grounding the spark plug and is finding you to be a better path to
ground than the part it is mounted on. That could be because your motor
is not grounded.

I am female and know very little about electricity. I have friends
helping me, and we tried grounding the steering to the neutal post on
the battery to ground it. STill shocks me.

Take a battery jumper cable and try grounding the motor to the battery.
That would be from any convenient metal part on the motor to the
negative post on the battery if it is a negative ground system. If that
makes the problem go away then run a permanent ground wire from the
engine to the battery. If possible, ground the motor via a reinforcing
plate or something that stays on the boat when you remove the motor.

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA (jackerbes at adelphia dot net)
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine dot com)

Will give this to the person working on my boat. He did put a volt
meter on it and found it flucuated in voltage for the shocks. It is
more than a mild shock but not deadly. We did try grounding from the
steeering hub (?) to the battery post and that did nothing. Right now
the kill switch on the engine works, but the kill switch on the key
ignition doesn't. Will see him this morning and see if this solution works.

Thank you.

Jack Erbes wrote:
Jean Alexander wrote:

I have an 11' Whaler. I bought a 18 hp Nissan outboard. It was
tiller and I had it comverted to steering. Now if I touch the
steering wheel and the neutral throttle or the wheel and the kill
switch on the motor, I get a shock. This is only if the motor is
running. It has an electric starter, and a pull starter.


Are you getting a high voltage shock? Like you would get from touching
a spark plug lead? If so, it may be that that the kill switch works by
grounding the spark plug and is finding you to be a better path to
ground than the part it is mounted on. That could be because your motor
is not grounded.

I am female and know very little about electricity. I have friends
helping me, and we tried grounding the steering to the neutal post on
the battery to ground it. STill shocks me.


Take a battery jumper cable and try grounding the motor to the battery.
That would be from any convenient metal part on the motor to the
negative post on the battery if it is a negative ground system. If that
makes the problem go away then run a permanent ground wire from the
engine to the battery. If possible, ground the motor via a reinforcing
plate or something that stays on the boat when you remove the motor.

Jack