After some extensive work from George and Alex, they were able to get the dingy running.

Prior to purchasing the boat we were able to only get the dingy to start by going directly to the starter positive terminal with a jumper cable. After some investigation we tracked down that the battery wires were so corroded that in the 6ft of cable, 12v was going one end, and only coming out the other end at 1 volt. The first thing was to replace the black and red cables from the battery into the outboard. We did that and were then able to start the motor by crossing the starter relay/ solenoid terminals with a screwdriver, thus effectively hot-wiring the outboard.

We then found that the remote control unit with the starter, shifter and tilt switch did nothing. After the boys unplugged that unit, several of the terminals just fell apart. We were about to locate a replacement part at a local shop. After replacing the shifter/starter unit it still didn’t start.

The boys continued to search and found another section of wire that was decayed and not conducting electricity. They replaced that part, along with an inline fuse compartment, and the engine starts and runs beautifully.

Once it was running, I was able to order replacement seats from the manufacturer, 21 years after the boat was manufactured.

Thanks Alex and George for getting the dingy running.