I Broke My Boat - Need Help

Howdy friends.  I broke my boat and hoping everybody can help me out because I am not mechanically inclined at all.  It's a mid-90's 30hp Johnson.  Here's what happened:

I launched my boat, started it up with no issue, and let it idle to warm up while I scurried around the boat getting a few other things ready.  In my movement, I buried the prop in the sand without realizing it.  As I advanced the throttle forward, I heard a "thunk" and the motor died.  Realizing what happened, I cleared the prop from the sand and turned the key... nothing happened.  Didn't try to crank or anything, might as well have unhooked it from the battery.  The ignition is the only thing I have connected to that battery, and everything else was still working fine.

Brought my boat home and looked it over.  All fuses I could fine appear to be in good shape.  All wiring as far as I can tell is still connected (there are a few wires that were obviously cut and I don't think they were in use since I've had the boat).  The throttle still moves and the lever on the motor reacts accordingly.  When the boat is in neutral, the propeller will still rotate.  When it's in gear, the prop still catches when I try to rotate it.

I opened the casing on the throttle and as far as I can tell everything looks fine in there, too.

A buddy of mine thought maybe something bent in the lower from the jolt, and it won't get out of gear, resulting in it not cranking.  I know these motors are relatively simple, but I'm not desperate enough yet to test my luck taking off the lower myself.

So with that, I'm out of ideas and looking for help.  Really don't want to have to take it in to spend a lot of money, and I'm worried it will cost more than the boat is worth.

Thanks in advance.  Maybe this will be the kick in the pants I need to get out on the kayak more.

For those that were kind enough to offer your input, thank you!  Here's the video of my boat dying, which was just the start of a day of "everything-going-wrong-itis"

Most motors with an electric start usually have a small fuse box attached to the block usually near the alternator. When you buried the prop in the sand you might have brown that fuse. Easy to locate just follow wire off the alternator back to the fuse box.

They do have a neutral safety switch on them so that the motor can not be started in gear. I believe located in the shifter / throttle control. Possibly just wasn't locked right into neutral. Glad to hear you got it running.

I appreciate the heads up.  

If one thing years in the HVAC trade has taught me, is that if you don’t find a failed part, loose connection, or something else obvious, the problem is likely to return. 

Over the years, I’ve been on no heat calls, and you get there and everything is working fine. It’s not always easy to diagnose a problem when everything appears to be working as it should - you don’t know which area you should be looking...  Conversely, when something isn’t working, you can start to troubleshoot....

My guess is that you have a loose / intermittent connection. Start with the easy stuff such as tightening the battery cables and move onto the starting components. You may even have something less obvious such as a dead or flat spot on your starter.

At the end of the day, if you didn’t find a smoking gun, it’ll likely show its face again at some point...

Voldie wins the day for me! I didn't actually do anything you said, but I pulled the cables from the plugs (left the plugs in), reconnected, and now it fires right up! Not sure what the issue was, but it's working now! Voldie, I owe you a couple two tree beers.

If you have a VOA meter you could check to see if you are getting voltage to the starter when the key is turned. Also you could remove the spark plugs and see if you can turn the motor by hand using the flywheel.

It's free and clear. Good thought though

Take your cover off and look at your starter gear it may be stuck at the fly weel.Take a brass punch and tap on the gear.