Sam M. and his pregnant wife were participating in a small bass tournament in Indiana in May 2024.

They were in a Phoenix bass boat powered by a 200 horsepower Mercury Marine Pro XS outboard motor.

While running down the lake, they struck a dredge pipe that was not there two days earlier during practice fishing.

When they struck the dredge pipe, the outboard motor flipped up, the piston rod exited the tilt cylinder, and the large outboard crashed down into the rear deck of the Phoenix boat.

They believe The Leash prevented the outboard motor from coming on into the boat, averting serious injuries to those on board.

Sam’s father reported The Leash saved his son, his daughter-in-law, and his unborn grandchild.

The Failure

As mentioned above, the drive swang up with enough force to break the piston off the tilt cylinder piston. This allowed the drive to over rotate and crash into the rear deck.

A photo of the drive is below. The position of the tilt cylinder without it’s cylinder rod is marked.

The Leash accident in 2024. Mercury Pro XS 200 struck dredge pipe and pulled tilt cylinder apart.

How to Get The Leash

The Leash is available from Precision Sonar. The Leash prevented this family’s Mercury Marine outboard motor from entering his Phoenix bass boat and killing or maiming him and his pregnant wife.

Thanks to Precision Sonar for posting information on this accident.

Some Other Saves Involving The Leash

We encourage you to visit another Precision Sonar Facebook post on a similar accident in 2023. We covered the 2023 accident at The Leash Saves Bass Angler From Outboard Motor/

Mike Wilkins emotionally tells of a save during High School bass fishing tournament in the YouTube video below.

More Information on The Leash

Rex Chambers and his fishing partner were injured in 2014 when they struck a submerged log. The 250 horsepower Mercury outboard motor broke off, and flipped into the boat still under power.

Rex’s fishing partner on that day, Danny Pettus, back in 2014 posted a 10 year anniversary post about their accident on Danny Pettus Fishing on May 4, 2024.

Rex was later a proponent for The Leash as seen in this video.