PropellerSafety.com

Archive for Propeller Guards – Page 5

Madi Abeid: Young Girl Writes Profound Article on Propeller Guard Issues

Madi Abeid published, “Boat Propeller Guards: A Smart Choice” in a March 18, 2013 special issue of the Cape Cod Times. She was drawn to the topic after her sister was struck by a boat propeller in July 2012. Madi notes that if a guard had been installed her sister would not have spent most […]

Propeller Guards Required by U.S. Masters Swimming Open Water Events

U.S. Masters Swimming (USMS) was facing skyrocketing insurance costs for open water swimming events. Costs have risen so high that many members would no longer be able to compete. As a part of the changes, boats will now be required to have propeller guards. Nadine Day, USMS President, says the increased insurance premium was mostly […]

Mitigating Boat Propeller Injuries & Fatalities Chart

Propeller guards on the market in early 2013 are not the optimal solution for all recreational boats and applications. In addition to propeller guards several other propeller safety devices and approaches can mitigate (reduce the frequency and severity) of boat propeller accidents. We created a chart to illustrate these approaches and their relationships to one […]

USCG Propeller Safety Regulations Timeline / History

Since the mid 1990’s the United States Coast Guard has published several notices concerning proposed regulations involving propeller guards & other propeller safety devices, and requested public input on those proposals. While much of the focus has been on propeller guards, other propeller safety devices have also been discussed. Among them are swim ladder interlock […]

Yamaha Possible Coverup of Propeller Guard Documents Exposed

In March 2012 Yamaha announced a new stainless steel propeller guard for outboards on flood rescue boats in the UK and made several statements about how great it was, how well it performed, and even how prop guards were necessary when people were in the water near the boat. About October we became aware of […]

Propeller Guards Increase Cross Sectional Area And Thus Increase Risk of Injury?

Is the Additional Cross Sectional Area of a Propeller Guard a Significant Hazard or is the Industry Grasping at Straws? The boating industry has long cited the increased cross sectional area of propeller guards vs. the cross sectional area of an open propeller as an added risk. They say the increased area would result in […]

Australian Military Fined for Not Using Propeller Guards

Back in February 2010, Oliver Minchin, a 19 year old military cadet at the Australian Defence Force Academy was participating with other cadets in fast water insertion training (jumping in while underway at speed) from a Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) on Lake Burrinjuck. Minchin was severely struck by the propeller. His father, a well known […]

Boating Industy Has a Double Standard When it Comes to Testing Propeller Guards

The boating industry promotes one standard for testing propeller guards in court cases or when evaluating propeller guards proposed by those outside the boating industry, and a different standard when their own propeller guards are being tested. They want to test your guards trimmed full under at speed with the same propeller used on the […]

Licensing Propeller Safety Technologies That Are Part of Industry Standards / Regulations: Similar Case Heads to Court

A case currently before U.S. District Court in Seattle may have bearing on the licensing of propeller guards and other propeller safety technologies. In the past, some have said that swim ladder switches such at Keith Jackson / MariTech’s Prop Stopper could not be included in any USCG propeller safety regulation because they are a […]

Yamaha Removed All References to its New Propeller Guard From its Website

Yamaha erased everything ever written about their Yamaha UK Pro Flood Rescue Outboard stainless steel propeller guards from their website. We first noticed it was all gone on November 8, 2012. Last month (October 2012) we wrote three stories on Yamaha’s new stainless steel propeller guard for their rescue outboards: Yamaha Offers Propeller Guards on […]