A 21 May, 2012 Yamaha UK press release titled “Professional and Commercial Users Now Powered by Yamaha in the UK” includes Yamaha’s small outboards for swift water applications. Among the small outboard’s accessories are “a new design of propeller guard, shaped to give greatest strength, with minimum water-flow disturbance to the propeller giving maximum performance […]
Stop Propeller Injuries Now (SPIN) – an Advocate for Boat Propeller Safety PropellerSafety.com is proud announce that as of yesterday (26 September 2012) we now hosting the SPIN (Stop Propeller Injuries Now) web site. Per their site, “SPIN actively promotes boating safety issues, specifically the need to protect the public from accidents and fatalities from […]
The boating industry has been pretty successful in defending propeller injury cases when the plaintiff presents a traditional propeller guard (ring or cage type guard) as the exemplar, example of how the defendant could have prevented the accident. This post reviews those defenses, reviews how some modern day products are challenging those defenses, and how […]
William E. Coxe III was boating in Beaufort County, South Carolina, with a companion on January 31, 2009 in his 18 foot Hewes Redfisher built by Maverick Boat Company. As they returned to the CC Haigh Jr. Boat Landing, Mr. Coxe dropped off his companion to go get his truck and boat trailer. Mr. Coxe […]
Adrian Todd was 14 years old when he was struck in the face by a boat propeller on April 21, 2008 at Refuge Bay in New South Wales (NSW) Australia. His cheekbone was crushed, his left eye socket was damaged, his left cheek was severely lacerated, his nose and upper lip were cut in half, […]
Several years ago, a UK firm tried to commercialize a ringed propeller from Australia called RingProp. The propeller was said to be safer than traditional propellers because human limbs could not easily enter between the blades. When the propeller was spinning it created a shroud around the blades. Efforts to develop RingProp were spread over […]
Guy Taylor received U.S. Patent 8,257,121 for a “Boat Propeller Shield” on September 4, 2012. His 3PO Propeller Shield automatically swings up from his hexagonal shaped Navigator guard when underway to reduce drag. The shield automatically falls down to protect people behind the boat when the boat is at rest or backing up.
U.S. Patent 8,240,609 “System and Method for Reducing Viscous Force Between a Fluid and a Surface” invented by Parazzoli, Tanielian, and Greegor (three Boeing researchers), was issued on August 14, 2012. Boeing’s drag reduction patent may hold promise for reducing the drag of conventional cage type or ring type propeller guards. Viscous drag (the fluid […]
A common defense used by the boating industry in propeller injury cases and in propeller guard discussions is their claim that no boat builder ever sold boats with guards on them, offered propeller guards as an option, or sold propeller guards OR at least not guards that were intended to protect people. We just encountered […]
Houseboat Propeller Regulation Proposed and Withdrawn by USCG: Analysis by PGIC
History of Boat Propeller Safety
Mitigating Boat Propeller Injuries & Fatalities Chart
Four Volume Review of the Boating Industry’s Boat Propeller Guard Product Liability Defense