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Using the Emergency Starter Rope to start your Yamaha engine with a dead battery

Eagle 1

Eagle 1

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Has anyone every tried to start their Yamaha 150 HP engine (or any Yamaha outboard engine, for that matter) using the Emergency Starter Rope (while having a dead battery or very low battery because one failed to bring a portable battery jump starter along with them)?  

On 4-11-2014, I will finally take possession of my new 2014 Bennington 2375 GCW with a 150 HP Yamaha engine and I have purchased a "PEAK PERFORMANCE 900 Peak Amp Jump-Starter" to take onboard with me just in case I ever in the distant future inadvertently run down my battery while listening to music while sitting quietly in a cove on Kerr Lake, NC.  

I don't expect this will ever really happen (given the length of time that a well-charged battery takes to run down by just listing to music, etc., plus I'll never stay in one cove with the engine off for that long anyway, plus I could run the music straight from the battery jump-starter anyway). Still, I am the kind of person that likes to have an idea of what to do in a worst-case-scenario.  So that's why I bought the battery jump-starter mentioned above.

However, on page 6 of the jump-starter manual, it says that when jump starting a vehicle, connect the red (+) cable to the red (+) terminal on the battery, but do NOT connect the black (-) cable to the black (-) terminal on the battery.  (I've always connected the black cable to the black terminal when jumping car batteries and never had a problem, even when the car is supposedly negatively grounded.  But regardless, if I am correct, the pontoon boat is NOT negatively grounded and so I hope I could connect the black cable to the black battery terminal without any problems.)  

So, the first question is "Has anyone safely jump started their own boat's engine using a portable jump-starter and connected the black cable to the black battery terminal, despite the pamphlet's warning against this?"

Also, while reading the Yamaha engine manual about jump-starting the battery (and the manual does to directly address this question, for obvious reasons) I came across page 74 where it said "Emergency Starting Engine" and for number 6, it said, "Insert the knotted end of the emergency starter rope into the notch in the flywheel rotor and wind the rope several times around the flywheel........."

http://www.yamaha-motor.com/assets/service/manuals/1/LIT-18626-07-95_6E5-101496-Current_1792.pdf

I didn't even know that it was possible to start my outboard engine in a  dead-battery-emergency like I would ordinarily start a an older lawnmower engine.  So the second question is "Has anyone every had to start their engine this way?"  And the third question is, "Where is the Emergency Starter Rope stored...under the removable cowling with all the accompanying heat of the engine?"
 
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When I was growing up a friend of mine had a Harvey Davidson Sportster. He weighed 13 lbs and even after mastering the compression release couldn't kick start it.

I can't imagine how much pull is needed to start a 150. Have not even looked at my 70 to see how this would be done. Going to try Kerr one of these weekends. Driven over it plenty of times.
 
1. The rope should be in the bag with your manual.

2. The "battery" is for the electric starter. Remember your key must be "on" but these motors are like any of the smaller "manual" motors with a rope.

Only difference is you don't have a retractable one way pulley setup. You have a spare rope. Read the directions thoroughly and keep a set of small spare tools on the boat. I think mine takes a screwdriver or socket to remove the pulley cover.
 
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Also, I "think" the reason they never want you to connect to negative terminal is "sparking" and possibly a vapor fire. On cars it's best to connect to a grounded bracket or bolt. Most cars now provide a separate grounding point. Some cars (Cadillacs?) are not even supposed to be jumped dye to the complex electronics(at least few years back)

I'd contact your dealer just to verify his thoughts, but I personally would not feel uncomfortable using a jump box on my toon. (Actually I keep one on it)
 
guardrail22 said:
When I was growing up a friend of mine had a Harvey Davidson Sportster. He weighed 13 lbs and even after mastering the compression release couldn't kick start it.
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Well what do you expect?? He was only 13 lbs ..... :)
 
Batteries can give off hydrogen (explosive) so you don't want the last wire hookup to be near the battery so any spark won't ignite the hydrogen.  It's just a safety thing.
 
I would never have thought you could rope-pull through the compression on an engine that size.  Starting a lawn mower is not real hard, but your motor is 20x that size...
 
So where on the pontoon boat do you attach the final black (-) ground jumper cable (if not to the black (-) battery terminal?
 
kaydano said:
I would never have thought you could rope-pull through the compression on an engine that size. Starting a lawn mower is not real hard, but your motor is 20x that size...
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The pulley is fairly large. Same concept as a big steering wheel on old cars without power steering. Leverage. Remember too that you are spinning a big metal weight (flywheel) too so it helps overcome the compression.
 
I'd probably flag someone down for a tow before tearing my motor down to get access. We are on a small lake though.
 
Eagle 1 said:
So where on the pontoon boat do you attach the final black (-) ground jumper cable (if not to the black (-) battery terminal?
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If it were me ..... The battery. I've been wrenching on cars 34 years and never had a battery issue .... But that's just me (I'm now knocking on wood)If you are that concerned, add a ground cable extension lead and use that. Better yet, install a set of race car leads on rear panel and jump from that.

http://totalpower-racingbatteries.com/racingparts.php?id=233
 
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Here's a good video

 
Wow. Can you do that with a Mercury 150??? Definitely a nice emergency feature.
 
Wait, that's aYamaha 40...
 
When I was growing up, my dad owned a boat with a Johnson 35. It had NO electric start; it was always pull to start.

Boat rides were where I learned how to swear!
 
I'll bet one of you actually tries this, just be sure to report back :)
 
i have boosted a couple people on their boats with my booster. Check your booster pack, but I think most have a safety built in now. For mine, you make your connections with it off, an LED glows green if it's a good connection and proper polarity. THEN you turn it on, no chance for spark, therefore shouldn't be concerned with an explosion. You always need to be careful when boosting, a battery blew up on my dad when he was younger. Luckily he wasn't harmed at all. Someone asked him for a boost, he said sure, the guy had the cables already connected to the dead battery and my dad just hooked his up, then he needed a new battery and other stuff. So if I am giving someone a boost I'LL be the only one connecting cables. + of dead battery to + of charged battery - of charged battery to ground point on immobilized vehicle. In that order, everytime. 
 
goldnrod24 said:
When I was growing up, my dad owned a boat with a Johnson 35. It had NO electric start; it was always pull to start.

Boat rides were where I learned how to swear!
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That's funny, until I read your post I had completely forgotten that our boat when I was a kid had a Johnson 35 that pull started!  It had a little flip down door in the cowling where you accessed the pull rope.  No electric starter.  That motor was huge in size for a 35.  Maybe I was just smaller back then...

Still hopeful, but doubtful, that this can be done on a 150 Merc...  I may not have put a second battery in if I'd known it could do that (but maybe it can't).
 
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I had a 1968 25 hp evinrude that was only pull start until I sold it about 9 years ago. Started easily first pull every time. Of course that's much smaller that the ones being talked about now. Nowhere near the total compression in these bigger motors.
 
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