PropellerSafety.com

Archive for March 2012

Propeller Guard Test Protocol Rough Draft Released by ABYC / CED for Public Comment

Effectiveness of Propeller Guards About 2006 the U.S. Coast Guard began consulting and contracting with some experts to produce a test protocol for propeller guards. The American Boat and Yachting Council (ABYC) and CED Investigative Technologies are now finalizing that process for USCG. CED Investigative Technologies is a forensic engineering and accident reconstruction firm specializing […]

Lawrence E. “Larry” Thibault Obituary

We just became aware of the passing of Dr. Lawrence “Larry” Thibault back on September 10, 2011. He was well know as a biomechanics expert witness for the plaintiffs in propeller strike cases. Dr. Thibault, a former Chairman of the School of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania, and founded Biomechanics, Inc. at Exton Pennsylvania. […]

Yale and MIT Release Study of Human Sensing Methods

A paper by Thiago Teixeira and Andreas Savvides from Yale and Gershon Dublon of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology surveys methods used to detect the presence of humans. This work could be very useful for those designing virtual propeller guards (propeller guarding technologies based on sensors). The paper, A Survey of Human-Sensing: Methods for Detecting […]

Guard Technologies Category Launched

Prior to mid 2011 we captured technologies with potential applications to virtual propeller guards (sensor based guards) or to conventional boat propeller guards on our Technologies page, now titled Prop Guard Technologies

Boat or Boat Motor Struck Submerged Dredge Pipe: Exemplar Boat Accidents

The Storm Lake Iowa Laass v. Brunswick case has focused attention on boats and marine drives striking submerged or floating dredge pipes / dredge lines. In the Storm Lake accident, a ten year old boy, David Paul McFarlin was killed on May 31, 2010. A 175 HP Mercury outboard struck a submerged dredge pipe, flipped […]

Propeller Warning Labels Seen at the 2012 Tulsa Boat Show

We attended the 2012 Tulsa Boat Show on Saturday morning February 4, 2012. While still getting used to my new digital camera, Lora and I walked around and shot photos of propeller warning decals. I am well aware there is quite a bit of variety in propeller warning decals, but found an even broader selection […]