PropellerSafety.com

Archive for Boating Safety

Wear Your Life Jacket to Work Day inspires life jacket use

We created a series of Artificial Intelligence (AI) images to encourage boaters to wear life jackets. Several real and imaginary characters, as well as The Statue of Liberty were used. Several boats are in the images. New boaters or existing boaters not currently always wearing a life jacket are our intended audience for these AI […]

The Leash at the 2024 Bassmaster Classic on Grand Lake

We saw The Leash on several boats at the 2024 Bassmaster Classic on Grand Lake in Grove Oklahoma in March 2024. The photos below show The Leash in action at the Bassmaster Classic. Jamie Hartman Jamie Hartman was running The Leash on a Nitro Z21XL Pro powered by a Mercury outboard. He pulled out early […]

Boating Safety Messages, Images, & Videos

We pulled a few basic boating safety materials together. We hope these images and videos will assist recreational boaters in becoming more prepared and to make safer choices. Very basic boating safety points include: Take a Boating Safety Course Wear a life jacket when you are on the water Always attach your kill switch lanyard […]

Expose on boat propeller accident propels Arizona to action

Every weekend on Lake Pleasant led to a major boating accident for several weeks this summer (2023). Some of these Maracopa County, Arizona accident were boat propeller strikes. A local media outlet, Arizona’s Family released a great video on November 15th, 2023. The video uses one boat propeller accident as an introduction to talking more […]

Batchelder vs. Malibu: Monitoring Post Sale Safety

The $200 million dollar verdict in Batchelder vs. Malibu Boats was reaffirmed July 18, 2022. One reason for such a large verdict was Malibu’s lack of a Post Sale Safety Monitoring system in which they actively sought out accidents involving their boats and addressed Post Sale safety issues. An order by the Judge denied the […]

Yamaha Patent Application: Propeller Status Indicator Lights

Back in April 2014, Brunswick was issued U.S. Patent 8,803,711 for what eventually became Mercury’s Moving Propeller Alert device. It uses several LED lights to display a rotating pattern when the propeller is turning and the boat is stationary or barely underway. Mercury has on online brochure. Now, in 2022, Yamaha’s U.S. Patent for a […]

Ethan’s Story: Importance of engine cut-off switches

Ethan Issacs’ family created a great video about their wonderful son, Ethan, who is no longer with us. Ethan lost his life because a youth sailing coach failed to attach their boat engine kill switch lanyard. In the video, the local Sarasota Florida police department recounts that day. (See our initial coverage of the accident.) […]

Prevent Unauthorized Operation of Rental Boats Invention

Our invention eliminates / stops / prevents unauthorized individuals from operating rental boats during the rental period, sometimes called nonauthorized operation The disclosure below of our invention to Prevent Non-Authorized Operation of Rental Boats was posted on February 8, 2022. We will make no changes to the text below the line following this paragraph except […]

Fell Marine wins Sea Tow National Boating Industry Safety Award

Fell Marine, manufacturer of the MOB+ wireless lanyard kill switch, received the National Boating Industry Safety Award sponsored by Sea Tow Foundation in the Top Gear & Equipment Manufacturer category for 2020. PropellerSafety would like to thank Sea Tow for sponsoring these awards and especially for recognizing the impact a for profit firm, such as […]

OSCAR detects floating debris: avoid log strikes

The origins of OSCAR, a collision avoidance system for boats from Austria, unfolded when Raphael Biancale, a European automotive engineer and founder of the BSB Group, was returning from a 6 month sailing trip in 2013. He searched for ways a sailor could safely navigate at night. His work on intelligent systems for automobiles led […]