towing with outboard motor...WARNING

[CapnBazza]

Originally Posted by BugzyCan

That lanyard idea, while it works, is not very convenient. It seems to me a better solution would be a wireless remote attached to your life vest, that would kill the motor as soon as it got wet, or if you pushed a button.

And look, here is one. https://buy.fellmarine.com/

Great, so now you’re in the water, the engine is dead and your wife is searching for the paddles so she can get to you.

[IslandHopper]

Originally Posted by CapnBazza

Great, so now you’re in the water, the engine is dead and your wife is searching for the paddles so she can get to you.

So i'm assuming it's beyond your wifes capability to push the override button, or wait the 6 seconds for the system to automatically activate the Override Mode.....

After 6 seconds, the system automatically activates Override Mode. In Override Mode any passenger or crew on board can restart the engine without the need
to interact with the MOB+ system. This allows for a quick recovery of
the missing person in the water and enhances safety.

[Chotu]

So yeah. I clip it to my belt loop or waist.

Easy to reach things still.

Never took the chance to operate without it.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by BugzyCan

Do you often go out in a dingy in rough water naked? I would probably pull my rain jacket down to cover the button, that is sitting on my wrist, or inside my jacket around my neck, to keep water off it, knowing it will stop my motor.

It's called adaptability.

You ignored the issue. It can be a calm clear day and a boat wake gets you...and yes I've had it happen more than once and it's usually in a busy channel where a dead motor is not a good thing.

Not neked but yeah on a warm day, I have wound up out in the rain in just shorts on a number of occasions.

Plus in a down pour, unless it's a real truly waterproof raincoat, expect the motor to get wonky cutting out as the switch gets intermittently wet...in the real world such a system would be bypassed by a lot of cruisers...which means it won't work when it's really needed.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by IslandHopper

So i'm assuming it's beyond your wifes capability to push the override button, or wait the 6 seconds for the system to automatically activate the Override Mode.....

That's great, the motor just died with a big motor cruiser bearing down.

1 one thousand.
2 one thousand.
3 one thousand.
...crunch.

(now wait for the off base comment about you shouldn't be near other boats)

No an electronic wireless system is a horrible idea on a small dingy.

[SaltyMetals]

Jim, i agree with many things you say in this forum for a few years but my 4hp outboard for my tender has a killcord and we use it.

Maybe a lot of the others in this thread are powerboat owners who have different views on this subject.

Andrew

[IslandHopper]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

That's great, the motor just died with a big motor cruiser bearing down.

1 one thousand.
2 one thousand.
3 one thousand.
...crunch.

(now wait for the off base comment about you shouldn't be near other boats)

No an electronic wireless system is a horrible idea on a small dingy.

So is that the same big cruiser thats just run over the mob?? your stretching the limits of credibility again sport! seriously some people have got nothing better to do than poke holes in anything and everything....

[CassidyNZ]

What’s a kill cord? Just kidding. But I got my O/B second hand, never had a cord, I’ve never bought one and use the button on the tiller arm to stop the engine. Once again, maybe just sheer luck but in decades of boat ownership I honestly can’t remember coming even close to falling out of a dingy. Primary reason why I get so irritated when bureaucrats insist I wear a life jacket when moving between shore and boat.

My O/B has no return spring on the twist throttle. It stays where it is set and will run all day long at that setting.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by IslandHopper

So is that the same big cruiser thats just run over the mob?? your stretching the limits of credibility again sport! seriously some people have got nothing better to do than poke holes in anything and everything....

Thank you for being predictable (see my prior comment for how)

[DavidMRea]

Can't believe you'd not want to use the lanyard!

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...-nick-milligan

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by DavidMRea

Can't believe you'd not want to use the lanyard!

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...-nick-milligan

And a genuine one at that. Cheap imported ones started appearing in the UK a decade ago which don't have the cord inside the red plastic coil. Result after a couple of years the red plastic cover starts to break up and fails



Pete

[jtsailjt]

I’ve had small boats and dinghy’s all my life (Im 62) and have only clipped on the kill lanyard when it’s very rough or very foggy, probably only a few dozen times in total. Not saying mine is best practice but it’s what I do. 95% of my time in the dinghy is in a harbor where I could easily swim to shore or another boat. On very foggy Maine summer nights I worry about hitting my head on a bowsprit that I don’t see, so clip on to the kill switch and have even donned a life jacket a few times in those conditions. A few times when I had to venture further afield in my RIB and it’s been rough, I’ve clipped onto the kill switch and also sat in the bottom of the RIB with my back braced against one side and my feet the other. Unless the dinghy flips, I’m staying inside. But some good friends of mine always clip into their kill switch and wear their automatically inflating life vests every time they get in their dinghy even to visit us on our boat in calm conditions on the mooring closest to them, about 75’ away. Different strokes....

I think a lot of our boating habits are formed early on our time on the water. For about my first 30 years I didn’t even have outboards equipped with kill switches and for much of that time there was no such thing, at least to my knowledge. So I guess I’m using the same rationale as my grandmother that I used to get frustrated with her about when she refused to wear seatbelts. For the first 50 years of her driving or riding in a car, there was no such thing as a seatbelt so she saw them as an unnecessary encumbrance, while I just accept them as part of getting seated in a car and never fail to wear mine.

[Martkimwat]

When I did my Powerboat level 2 and safety boat training, the instructor who is highly qualified and even instructs for the Royal Navy, told us to put the kill cord around our right thigh. it keeps it away from the steering, allows both hands to be free (one on the wheel, the other always on the throttle) and allows for a reasonable range of movement. I believe it is standard RYA practice. Also, regarding towing with a dinghy, particularly if towing a much larger vessel, we were taught to use the alongside tow, which allows for much more manoeuvrability than line astern towing which is only for use in open water and using a long towing rope. The important thing with the alongside tow is to have the stern of the towing boat, behind the line of the towed boats stern. Allows for easy turning. Use bow and stern breast ropes and two springs. I've used it in anger a few times and it works a treat. I also concur that I've never come across and outboard of any size, old or new that had a spring return throttle.

[Hardhead]

Originally Posted by DavidMRea

Can't believe you'd not want to use the lanyard!

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...-nick-milligan

That's the bottom line, right there. It's called an accident because no one ever thinks it will happen to them...

[ramblinrod]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

That's great, the motor just died with a big motor cruiser bearing down.

1 one thousand.
2 one thousand.
3 one thousand.
...crunch.

(now wait for the off base comment about you shouldn't be near other boats)

No an electronic wireless system is a horrible idea on a small dingy.

Ummmm, if the MOB (hard to see a small head in the water at the best of times) is near the stopped dinghy, isn't the big bearing down motor cruiser more likely to see the MOB, evade, and avoid the crunch (which could actually be the MOBs head crushing like a water melon.

Are we more worried about the person or the dinghy here?