Watersnake Switch Failure

My Watersnake 24lb has two switches; hi / lo speed and forward and reverse. Friday when I went out for a fish the motor wouldn't start in forward, and reverse only after flicking the switch back and forth a couple of times.

When I got home I stripped the switch down to find that the contact points had been arcing and carbonned up badly, plus there was a lot of that green grunge stuff that you get on brass fittings when they corrode. Now, I KNOW that I have never had the control box of the motor wet, so why the corrosion? And the arcing I can perhaps explain away with a faulty switch to start with.

Anyway, I am waiting to hear back from Jarvis Walker about a replacement switch under warranty, as the motor was only bought in December. I tried cleaning the points, but no joy. I also tried to buy a new switch, but can't find the right size. I am hoping JW will come through, otherwise I will have to make some modifications. But a warning, the switches are definitely NOT a marine grade, or even a moisture resistant grade. Rome for improvement JW.

As a retired EE, I can confirm that "green grunge stuff" is caused by moisture.
After you receive the replacement switch, consider applying dielectric grease on the points and I would ask Water Snake about adding a capacitor to reduce the arcing across the points....just like a capacitor is used on the "old car distributors" to reduce arcing in the points...prior to electronic ignition.......maybe they have a fix, but have not published it????

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Dr.SteelheadCatcher
Warrenton, OR

My first motor for my TI was an Island Hopper 2hp 4 stroke that I mounted to the boat when I first got the boat (not a salt water motor, it was half the price of a Honda or Yamaha). The motor was my emergency backup motor and was only used a few times during the 3 1/2 yrs I had it on the boat (which I take out every weekend year round). I kept a bag over the head of the motor so it wouldn't get wet. When I did use the motor I was always careful to rinse it off well, but if I didn't take the bag off I would just rinse around the bag without removing the bag. Big mistake.... All the metal in the motor rusted and disintigrated over time. It appears just the moisture near salt water seems to corrode most metals and wires (the wires and connectors turn green and build up with white or green muck), all this was under all the cowlings where I know no salt water ever got in. In retrospect the worst thing I did was keeping a bag over the motor head. I'm just imagining here but I suspect the same thing would happen to the electronics inside a fresh water trolling motor. Even if salt water never touches inside and the outside of the motor is faithfully rinsed off after every use.
I'm just guessing here but this is probably why salt water trolling motors cost double/triple what fresh water trolling motors cost (and I always thought they were just charging $200 dollars more for that stupid $2 dollar zinc anode and white paint vs black (lol)). Maybe there is something to that salt water stuff, and must be a reason it's way more expensive.
Anymore anytime I take any of my stuff even near salt water I faithfully rinse everything off and dry it all with fans in my garage as soon as I get home, ( Including my whole car (but thats another story)).
At our house in Key West which is just off Duval and Us1 (no where near the water) we have a giant tree in the back yard, whenever a big storm comes with wind all the leaves on the tree die and fall off (into the pool of course), anything metal or electronics outside (like all the pool electronics) gets caked with green slime and only lasts a couple years. We don't get any of that at our Sarasota house which is about 3 miles from the ocean (wierd stuff).
All lessons learned living near the Ocean
FE

The guys at JW have been fantastic, and the new switch arrived yesterday. One week!

Many thanks to JW.

Interesting comment FE. I live about 1.5km as the crow flies from the ocean. They say the salt spray can travel much farther than that. I think I probably need to wash my car mor often too. And while I am sure the sea air is good for the health, it would be better if there wasn't a sewage processing plant in between. Every afternoon when the seabreeze comes in all we can smell is. ..... That's when it's time to put the kayak on the water and take my nose west of the smell.