Went out on Saturday and after 30mins or so what I assume is an alarm (I'm new to boating and not heard the alarm before) started sounding from the console. It wasn't very clear, sounding like static at first and changing in volume up and down.
Other than the sound, the engine seemed to run fine. Tell tail was good, and oil topped up.
One thing I did notice was if I turned the wheel half turn to the right the noise reduced, and came back when turn left. While cruising the sound became more constant but still faded out now and then. Made it back after a few hours fishing no problems. When I got home and flushed the engine with the cowl off, there was no alarm.
Here's what I think was the problem but just want to run it by you folks before going to a workshop...
I had the stator replaced recently (been a rough start to boating). The mechanic told me the oil indicator float was faulty and had sunk to the bottom of the indicator tube - you could see it sitting there. He also pointed to wires running at the base of the engine on the right hand side (under the cowl) that was corroded and disconnected at a joiner halfway along. The impression I got was these were related. He said at the time he could fix these but I was just picking up the boat after the stator repair and because he said it wasn't an issue so long as I kept the oil topped up I left it.
Do you think that wire is shorting and causing the alarm? To me this could explain why the alarm changes when the wheel is turned. It also looked like there was a bit of water around the wires.