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Went to the boat today.  Checked the battery connections.  Appear tight but I think I'm going to get new cables anyway.  They aren't the best cables.  Read an older post about the glow plugs.  The owner had to push glowplugs for 45 sec, try engine, push glowplugs for 45 sec, try engine, push glowplugs for 45 sec, try engine then it would start.  Figured I would give that a try.  On my forth try it started right up.  The poster ended up replacing the glow plugs which did the trick.  I think I'll try that and the solenoid fix and see how I make out.

Did not hook up the house bank yet.  I needed to pick up a strap to tie the batteries down.  I have 2 Group 31 deep cycle flooded house batteries.  Brand new, just bought last week.

Thanks Ron.

This gives me a place to start at least.  I haven't had a chance to play around with the engine at all since I've bought her.  I've been too busy fixing everything else.  I'm hoping to get down this weekend for a while to poke around and get more familiar with the engine.  If I can't get it going, I'm going to call the marina mechanic and have him take a look.

I was hoping it would start up then I could start do some maintenance items one at a time.  Figured if I do one maintenance item at a time and the engine doesn't start then I would know it was something I just did.

Boat was put in the water today so I ran down for a few minutes to make sure there were no leaks.

Figured while I was there I would try to start the engine.  Never had a diesel before.  Previous boat had an Atomic 4.  Had the boat delivered last year and there was no problem with the engine.  Before I put it away I ran the engine to winterize it.  Had trouble cranking over but I knew the batteries were at the end of their life.  Eventually started and was able to winterize.

Bought new batteries 2 weeks ago.

Hooked up the engine battery.  Turned the key, alarm came on, pushed glowplug button for 30-40 seconds.  Pushed the start button.  Engine doesn't sound like it's cranking correctly.  Cranking sounds slow.  Pushed glowplug for 1 minute, tried again, same thing.  Tried again, same thing.
Went back down below.  Smelled a burning smell near the battery.  Didn't see any smoke or anything burnt.  Pulled the engine cover off.  No burning smell near the engine.

Checked the battery cables.  The positive connection at the battery terminal was very hot to the touch.  Never experienced that before.  Is that normal?  I brought home the manual to read tonight.  Flipped quickly through the troubleshooting pages near the back but didn't see anything.

Reading some of the engine posts here maybe it's a fuel issue but seems more like electrical.  Not sure what the engine cranking sound should be.  I'm expecting a typical fast engine cranking sound.

Any ideas?

They are $38-$47 each at Catalina Direct.  Depends on size.  If you can buff out the dullness, let us know how you did it.  You can't see anything out of any of mine.

I don't think you can clean them.  Replacement lenses are available at catalinadirect.com.

Ron
Are you talking about this style finish washer for the screws?

Greg
We used Epifanes Gloss Clear Varnish.  I think 5 or 6 coats.   Thinned the Epifanes with 25% thinner I think.  My father did the work for me but I'm pretty sure that's how he did it. 

Sanded and re-finished the teak/holly sole this winter.  Should be re-installing in a few weeks.  Does it need to be screwed down or can I just lay the panels in their spots.  When I pulled them, the PO didn't have any of them screwed in.

Can you pull the pan off to paint or epoxy it?    If you can't pull it off, maybe the rubberized tool coating stuff you can get at Home Depot.  The kind you stick the handles of your tools in and it puts a rubber coating on them. 

When I was labeling the wiring, I would print out a little extra blank label then wrap the label around the wire (on the short side of the label) and stick both sides of the label together.   Not sure if you get my meaning.  If you held the wire up, the label would be sticking out the side like a flag.
On larger wiring like the battery cables, I would attach the label the long way on the cable (like Mainesail showed in his thread) then I would wrap each end of the label in elec. tape.  That should ensure the labels don't fall off.

If the yellow stains are rust/tannin.  MaryKate On/Off works really well.  I use the gel.  Wipe on with a brush, wait a little while then hose off.

Here is a picture of my relocated holding tank vent.  Same idea as Steve but mine turn aft vs. foward.  I also relocated the water tank vent to just above the hanging locker in the v-berth.  Came up in the boxed in area where the water tank fill comes down on the starboard side.

Would this bracket also work on the M25?

Are there different style anchor rollers for different style anchors?  My old boat didn't have an anchor roller.  My '86 C-34 has a short double roller.  The boat came with a danforth anchor.  Haven't had a chance to look at it all too closely but it doesn't appear the anchor could stay in the roller while sailing without hitting the bow.  If I kept the danforth, do I need a danforth style anchor roller?