A SEA STORY......

Ever have your boat's engine start all by itself in the middle of the night? We had finished a schooner race and were anchored at White's Cove, Catalina island. It was a misty night and I was snuggled cozy next to my wife when at about 0200 my 60 HP Petter diesel engine started on the other side of the bulkhead. I leaped from my bunk thinking one of the schooner guys was pulling a prank? I found no one aboard my boat, secured my engine and noted that the mist had turned into a light rain. Upon returning my bunk my wife asked, "are the schooner guys messing with us?" I told her "no, what had just happened couldn't happen again in a million years."

Just as I was climbing back into my bunk, the engine started again. I'll admit it, I was scared. I secured the engine a second time and also disconnected the battery wires from the starter. Upon climbing back into my bunk I told my wife that, "if that engine starts again, it's God that is messing with us?" The engine behaved itself the rest of the night. In the morning I studied all the engine's wiring and discovered that a new key ignition switch we had moved to a new location had been getting a steady stream of rain water on the back side of it and that the dampness had some how completed the circuit and started my engine. I moved the switch back to the old location and the engine never started by itself again..........