Jay, as others have suggested, the "ticking" is caused by low
voltage/amperage to the starting circuit.
A question however - does your boatowners manual really direct you to
"put the lower unit in a bucket of water"? A flushing attachment for
your garden hose would be far simpler.

Good luck and good boating,
Jim

wrote:
After leaving the outboard motor sitting for one year, I try to start
it today, and all I hear is tick,tick,tick... (and this is not the
sound of pistons moving around). What has gone wrong?
snip
I have followed the instruction in the boatowner manual to start the
motor (put the motor upright, put the lower unit in a bucket of water,
turn on the battery switch, check the kill switch, hand squeeze the
fuel pump ball to hard, hold down the throttle button, turn the
throttle-lever up all the way and then move it back to 1/4 throttle,
turn the power switch and hold it down to start), and I have tried this
for a couple times in two days. All I heard was tick,tick,tick...