2005 mercury 125 outboard Motor starting issues

by Bob Allen
(Geismar, La)

I had just replaced solenoid and starter on my 2005 mercury 125 outboard. I had taken it out twice before and no problems. On my third trip, I noticed that it was not as powerful as usual. I stopped the boat and looked back at my starting battery and the cables were hot so I disconnected everything and fished a couple of hours. Didn't think much of it at the time. Went to hook it back up to crank it and it would crank just by touching the wires to the battery! So I figured it would get me back to the launch. Boy was I wrong. Looked back and the battery cables were melting! I'm at a loss because I'm not a mechanic and especially not a mechanic that deals with electrical issues. If anyone can tell me what's going on I would really appreciate it.