This is an old post, but a really good point. I had trouble with my windlass not always responding to the switches. I also had trouble with the Yanmar electric stop not working. I never put together that these issues might be related and spent a lot of time going through all the electrical connections in the switches, rebuilt the reversing solenoid, and every connection in each system. Finally, found that the ground to the engine block (in an engine I had carefully installed ten years ago) was ridiculously corroded and was the source of all my electrical problems. Nigel Calder starts his trouble shooting efforts with suggesting you check this. Had I done that, I would have saved myself an enormous amount of work and frustration. Occam's razor. I found the same problem on another boat I have: the basic ground to the engine was corroded. This makes sense if you think about it because current is going through this connection just about all the time and the opportunity for corrosion is there and will screw lots of things up. FWIW. Check your grounds first.
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