I'll keep it in the back of my mind while investigating this. I did find the crushed wire in the steering chain/sprocket, but it was a heavier than the wires that melted. It was probably 14-16 gauge. The melted wires were all thinner. What that also tells me is that I should fuse the thinner wires, and that I shouldn't fire things up again until the broken heavier wire is fixed.

Thanks Steve.

PS -- just thinking, fusing all the thinner black wires on the boat is impractical, and would add a huge number of failure points. Hmmm.