The sudden loss of all power indicated a bad switch so I turned over the foot control and checked with a test light I always carry. Nothing at the switch! That told me to check the batteries. They were both good, or at least lit up the test light. By touching both post on the batteries I also made sure the test light was working.
My next step was to take the plug out of the front panel. I could not get to the wires so I had to take the cover off, and found the wires sealed to the contacts - something that I was glad to see, but I could not test there. That meant taking my knife and cutting a little insulation from each of the four wires so I could test them. One pair had power, the other did not!
I traced the wire back, getting my head inside my rod locker looking for a breaker or some problem. Nothing. When I got to the battery I saw the little rectangular boxes on the hot wires on both batteries. I had always assumed they were some kind of corrosion resistance device. The little box is about 1.5 inches long and 3/4 inch square. Two bolts stick up out of it and one has a metal fitting attached. That one screws to the battery terminal, the other screws to the hot wire going to the trolling motor.
That was the problem. I did not have power going through one of those and when I jumped across it my trolling motor worked!
The next day I took the little box to a auto parts store. The clerk said he had no idea what it was. I went to another parts store and the guy said it was a 40 amp circuit breaker. He did not have one but the third place I stopped did.
I have owned bass boats since 1974 and, now that I think back, at least two have had those circuit breakers on them. I never knew what they were until now! I can not believe I did not know.
This shows them importance of knowing your boat - and of carrying a test light with you. Without the light I would not have been able to get back to fishing that day because I would have thought it was a switch on my foot control. I did know enough to test and find out what the problem was, at least!
