Boat Motor problem- advice??

[3Roosters]

So I had the better half out with me pontooning on a calm,(our little lake) sunny Labor Day afternoon yesterday. Putzing around the lake looking at the different cabins, lakeshore and such. Had our 2 dogs on board as well. Didn't even fish..The plan was just to putz around for a few hours before heading home.
1995 Mariner 40Hp was running fine..and..well..its been running well all summer as a matter of fact, although cold starting at times after a few weeks of non use tried my patience at times!
Anyhow..after about45 minutes of putzing around the lake..the motor just quit..no sputtering no nutting. I knew I wasn't out of gas. I turned around to see the motor smoking from under the cowling..not smoke from the motor running etc..this was like...the motor is on fire smoke. I grabbed my fire extinguisher( please check yours frequently) and was going to use on motor if I saw flames..to our luck..the cowling was smothering whatever fire there was. I had the wife call one of our lake neighbors to come tow us to our dock, about a 10 minute boat ride, while I continued to monitor the smoking outboard, hoping we didn't have to abandon ship with the dogs if the situation became worse. Thankfully, the smoking motor was becoming less and less smoky and when neighbor showed up, he pulled us to our dock.
I pulled off the cowling and if I can get this pic to upload..this is what happened on the inside. Electrical short of some. Question I have is...any of you have experience with this...is this somewhat repairable without costing an arm and leg? I mean..it is a 1995. Or take a hit on a trade in on a new one?
I did try to start motor once back at dock..nutting...flywheel does turn however..Lower unit is fine..JUST this electrical issue..I think.
Thanks for listening.

 

[701FishSlayer]

Well, gotta identify why she got hot. Might be a gonner in the making. A motor that old isn't worth pumping tons of money into it. But, you may luck out and it's an easy fix. I'm sure somebody will chime in with some valuable input rather than my ramble. On the up n up, better it happened at the end of the year rather than the beginning of summer.

 

[eyexer]

electrical short probably caught the plastic on fire. I'd take off some of the parts to be able to get a good look at the harness. you can buy used harness's on ebay or places like twin city outboard in MN, etc. looks like the engine ecm/cdi box is what shorted so you'll need that too. probably not a big deal. once you get it fixed take the tracker decal off and you'll probably be alright;:;rofl

 

[Ericb]

Have you looked what's behind that plastic covet? Looks like somthing may have been arching to that bolt.

 

[3Roosters]

Update on my issue. My backyard mechanic took a look at it and said just the voltage regulator needs replacing...about $100 part fix plus his labor..whohoooooooo.. I was expecting to put this thing in the outboard motor graveyard. According to him, he said this brand of motor and Merc's have this voltage regulator issue. He also said something about maybe the fuse failed. No clue..I just boat and fish.

 

[red eyed devil]

worked on a motor recently that had a bad voltage regulator i think the new one was $60. U should check the stator windings to make sure they r ok before running with new regulator. Yes early 2000 mercs r prone to regulator failures

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also check and charge ur starting battery b4 going back out the regulator plays 2 roles one is charging the battery