Drain and Starter

[Themanofsteel]

I have two questions.
1, what is the hole in the picture attached. Its at the back of the boat where the drain is.
2, my starter recently bent and jammed on the fly wheel. Is this not uncommon or is something out of alignment. Never happened before.

 

[Fed]

The gizmo in the picture looks like the base section of a bilge pump, can't help you with the bent shaft.

 

[Themanofsteel]

I figured it had something to do with the pump but that Bilge pump doesn't work. The previous owner installed his own pump back there. Is leaving that gizmo in place any harm?

 

[GA_Boater]

No harm leaving the old bilge pump base in place.

On the starter, were you trying to start the motor and it didn't start? Two things are used to drop the gear. A spring and once the motor starts and speed exceeds the starter speed, reverse force on the gear starts the drop and the spring completes the drop. A sticky, dirty or dry drive assembly can stop the drop and in some cases the rise of the gear. Try putting some light oil on the worm gear on the starter shaft.

 

[SkiDad]

Make sure the nut didn't come off top the starter. That spring, spacer and nut keeps the gear from going too high.

 

[Themanofsteel]

GA_Boater, yes. I tried to start but nothing. When I removed the cowl the starter gear and shaft were jammed on the fly wheel teeth. I used plyers to release it and saw the shaft on the starter was now bent.

So you think it might had gotten stuck and didn't go down? I also noticed something unusual. The spokes on the battery were really hot. Burned my finger.

 

[jerryjerry05]

The starter shaft bent because of too much torque and possible missing lower mounting bracket.
Pics of the starter and lower mounting bracket.
Did the motor run before?

Usually if it's bent straightening doesn't work.
The hot poles could be from a bad/ loose connection, bad cable, weak starter, low compression on 1 or more cyl.