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Archive for propeller – Page 4

Kill Switch / Engine Cut-Off Switch Proposed Rulemaking Comments Sought by USCG

The United States Coast Guard (USCG) published an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Regulations) in the Federal Register on June 8, 2011. The proposal is titled, Installation and Use of Engine Cut-Off Switches on Recreational Vessels. As part of the proposal, the Coast Guard also published a Preventable Fatalities and Injuries Report listing boating accidents […]

Hydrodynamics of Propeller Accidents Part 2 – Right Whale Collision Research

Following up on Hydrodynamics of Propeller Accidents Part 1, we now share some research work that looks very applicable to future hydrodynamic studies of human body / swimmer / man overboard interactions with boats, drives, propellers, and propeller guards. We recently came across some hydrodynamic studies of whale interactions with ships, ship hulls, and ship […]

Hydrodynamics of Propeller Accidents – Part 1 the History

Little research has been done surrounding the hydromechanics of people / swimmers/ man overboard encounters with propellers or propeller guards. We will now explore this field, some of the opportunities it presents, and some recent research that looks very applicable to studying the hydrodynamics of human / boat / propeller / propeller guard interactions. We […]

U.S. Coast Guard 2010 BARD Unreported Propeller Accidents: Carla Faul Pontoon Boat Propeller Accident in Florida

The boating industry continues to claim almost all boat propeller accidents are reported in BARD. They base their claims on the United States Coast Guard’s claims that the more serious a boating accident is, the more likely it is to be reported. The industry says propeller injury accidents are very serious and therefore they must […]

Florida Propeller Accidents Missing From U.S. Coast Guard 2010 Boating Accident Report Database (BARD)

As mentioned in our previous review of propeller accident reporting in USCG’s BARD 2010 database, 7 of the 10 propeller accidents we found news media reports for that were not listed in BARD occurred in the State of Florida. That got us wondering if something might be different with their reporting criteria, their boating accident […]

U.S. Coast Guard 2010 Boating Accident Report Database (BARD) Left Out Many Propeller Accidents

The boating industry continues to claim that all or almost all recreational boat propeller accidents are captured in BARD, the United States Coast Guard’s Boating Accident Report Database. This post proves that to be untrue. USCG receives boating accident reports from the states and from Coast Guard accident reports on fatal boating accidents that occur […]

Litigation Testing Continues in Testing of Propeller Guards by Mercury Marine / Brunswick

Litigation Testing of propeller safety devices was defined by Stephen Bolden, author of Motorboat Propeller Injury Accidents, as “…manufacturers, in performing litigation testing, are not concerned with gathering information for the purpose of redesigning or improving a guard; rather, they are concerned with simply reporting on whatever propeller guard deficiencies they are able to demonstrate […]

Brunswick Misled Two Federal Courts on Frequency of Propeller Accidents

Brunswick requested a rehearing of the Jacob Brochtrup v. Mercury Marine and Sea Ray propeller injury case before the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on June 10, 2011. Mercury Marine and Sea Ray are both divisions of Brunswick. On page three of Brunswick’s formal request for a rehearing, Brunswick faults Brochtrup for not providing […]

Does the Risk-Utility Test Exception for Simple Tools Apply to Boat Propellers?

In mid 2011, Brunswick requested a rehearing of their appeal of the Jacob Brochtrup propeller injury case in front of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Brunswick feels the original court (U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas, Austin) did not force Brochtrup to prove the design of their boat was unreasonably dangerous under […]