Engine Breaker (50amp) trips... why?

[lay-a-wake]

A couple of weeks ago we had our boat out (07' 20V) and it ran perfectly all day until the very end. At one point in the day a wave snuck up on us and came over the front of the boat, it was a lot of water, but nothing extreme in my opinion. The boat continued to run just fine for hours past that. Late in the day we hooked up a tube and started cruising back to boat ramp when the boat just shut down! Gauges froze and it wouldn’t do anything. Turned out the engine breaker (red reset button) had tripped. i chalked it up to the water that got in the boat cuz i don’t know any better. Fast forward to this past weekend... Surfed for a couple hours straight , cruised around a bit, hooked up the tube, and next thing you know the breaker popped again, but this time no water had come in the boat. After a few minutes i pushed it to reset and continued on our way... it popped again. Waited, reset it, and we pulled of the water. My question is what causes that breaker to trip? I’m not convinced that tubing is the cause... oh and all gauges look good when it happens (temp, oil, volts, etc.)

Thanks in advance for any advice or just taking the time to read!

[ericinmich]

What caused it? Something shorting out and/or drawing more than 50amps. I realize that you know this... just stating the obvious. I don't think anyone could do anything more than guess why. Welcome to the world of debugging 12v automotive (boat) systems. Intermittent problems are a bitch. You could start by disconnecting things and running to see if it goes away. The problem is that how do you know if that isolated the problem or it just hasn't struck again.

I have an '09Ve, where is the red reset button in case I have a problem?

[lay-a-wake]

I have an '09Ve, where is the red reset button in case I have a problem?

Im not sure what years got which motors... but mine is the 5.7L Marine Power. All I have to do is take the beauty cover off of the top and you cant miss the red button on the wiring harness. Its a little bigger than a pencil eraser and has a "50" written on it. Even with a different motor, I have been told they are always real easy to find.

[boatwakes]

When the engine breaker pops for no apparent reason, it's usually due to the power wire routing from the breaker to the alternator or starter. Follow the 10 gauge red wires on both sides of the breaker and no doubt you'll find a portion of wire stressed up against the block somewhere. It's important to inspect every inch of wire in order to find the location it rubbed through. Once you've found it you can relieve the stress on the wire and wrap it in electrical tape at that point or cut it and use a waterproof butt splice connector to reseal. Fortunately, you'll only have to examine a few feet of wire. Let us know what you find.

[lay-a-wake]

When the engine breaker pops for no apparent reason, it's usually due to the power wire routing from the breaker to the alternator or starter. Follow the 10 gauge red wires on both sides of the breaker and no doubt you'll find a portion of wire stressed up against the block somewhere. It's important to inspect every inch of wire in order to find the location it rubbed through. Once you've found it you can relieve the stress on the wire and wrap it in electrical tape at that point or cut it and use a waterproof butt splice connector to reseal. Fortunately, you'll only have to examine a few feet of wire. Let us know what you find.

Awesome! I wasnt planning on getting the boat of storage until this weekend, but i may just have to sneak over there and check it out before then. thanks for the tip!

[lay-a-wake]

Got a chance to look into the issue i was having.... turned out one of the wires leading up to the breaker switch (red button) was simply loose. I had chased wires before going to the lake and somehow didnt catch the loose one. Once at the lake the breaker switch popped again and thats when i found the loose wire. Tightened it up and that seemed to have fixed it.