O28 saildrive non-start solved!

[wlcoxe]

On Sunday, my oldest son and I trouble-shot and solved the problem of my speed/depth display not working on my O28. There were some corroded connector contacts in the power line, which we bypassed, and all was well. On Monday, the Admiral and I bent on the sails and decided it would be nice to reward ourselves with a sail to the mouth of the river and back, BUT... Absolutely nothing from the engine. Lots of voltage, not even a click from the solenoid. Tuesday, my friend and I did some troubleshooting and came upon the gol-darndest thing I ever did see-one of the fuses (5 amp mini), instead of indicating a dead short or dead open, had resistance readings all over the place. Essentially, it was breaking down under load, which is why the gas tank level indicator was sporadic, as well. This was after trouble-shooting the ignition switch, cleaning corrosion (how did THAT happen) off the leads in the starting circuit, and like that. Fortunately, a spare fuse was available (just like the boat, which is fully functional. now), we replaced it, and everything is hunky-dory. Just wondering if anyone else has ever seen a fuse act like that?
Bill Coxe, O28 (avail)/O40, New London, CT