Vandalism or Not

[pigstickr]

3 weeks ago I went to pick up my bass boat from my gated community storage area. After hooking my boat to my truck I noticed my motor was trimmed all the way up, to the point that it was touching the boat and the prop was pointing straight up. I tried to trim it down but it wouldnt move. I took it to my house and took the cover off the motor. The wiring inside was melted and fused together. I have taken it in and had the repairs estimated at $1200.00. Now here is my question. Doesnt a mariner 150 have a fuse to prevent the wires getting overloaded and melt? I have never heard of a motor just trimming itself all the up to the point it would damage itself. I am trying to get my insurance to cover it under vandalism, but since there was no witnesses I may be out of luck. I am guessing what happened is while one of my neighbors was hooking up his boat or camper his kids were playing with the trim switch on the motor and made this happen. Is it possible this happened without human interference or do you think someone did this? I am a new guy to the site. Love it. Check it every day. Any advise would be appreciated.
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[UTBASS]

Now how many times is there witnesses to vandalism? They should cover it!
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[Theekillerbee]

First off, let me welcome you to the site. Secondly, too bad about your electrical. Electricity is a funny thing, even the smallest short can cause a big problem. Heck it can even bring down a large plane. I would think it would be more likely human error, however you cannot rule out a small short. I guess the only way to tell would be to fingerprint the switch...barring any chance you wiped them off when you tried to adjust the motor. I think until you had some serious proof, you might get stuck with the bill.
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[Paddler]

My power tilt/trim switch has shorted on me a couple of times, water got into it. I was once called by the manager of the motel we were staying at to tell me my boat was "making noise". The short could I suppose, melt your wiring.

It is unlikely to be vandalism, as they would have to press the button forever to do what happened. Also, they would have probably focused their attention elsewhere.
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[FlyingFish]

I agree with TheeKillerBee about small shorts reaking havoc. In fact a good friend of mine was killed when the autopilot in his plane trimmed full foreward uncommanded, broke part of the tail off and down it all went.

Hope your insurance helps you out. Good luck[]
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