NBC Channel 4, Washington D.C., aired a series of stories on boat design defects on 16 August 2017.
Ryan Batchelder clipped from NBC Channel 4 image
The series focuses on:
Two families: (1) family of Ryan Batchelder, 7 year old boy killed by a boat propeller in Georgia in 2014, and (2) family of Niki Bell, struck by a boat propeller in California in 2006 at age 22.
The two accidents, both individuals were washed overboard
The two boat builders involved (Malibu and MasterCraft)
The lack of Federal Regulation of the boating industry
Court documents and comments by experts
NBC4 chose to release the story in a number of segments throughout the day with the tagline, “Small Craft Advisory” instead of as a free standing documentary.
Small Craft Advisory graphic by NBC4
They did a nice job of interviewing people and supplying several videos to support their findings.
While it likely made a lot of sense if you watched their various news programs dispersed throughout the day, it is challenging to try to recreate that experience from their website, Facebook page, or app.
Therefore we organized links to the various segments below. Read More →
Large outboard motors lined up at 2014 Tulsa Boat Show.
The boating industry has been plagued with certain boat propeller safety hazards / issues for decades, some for over a century. While progress have been made on many fronts, some problems remain perpetual / eternal. Some solutions that have been applied have failed, others have wilted on the shelves for a variety of reasons.
Some Perpetual Boating Safety /Propeller Accident Scenarios
As a result of the issues described above, and more, we have been left with a number of PERPETUAL / ETERNAL boating safety / propeller safety accident scenarios including:
Participants in towed sports being run over by the boat propeller after they fell from the skis/board/tube/inflatable and the operator returned to pick them up
Unmanned outboard powered boats go in the Circle of Death
Children bow ride pontoon boats underway, fall between the pontoons, and are struck by the propeller
Operators reversing houseboats from beaches with swimmers in the water behind them
Boat operator and others being ejected from a bass boat
Bass boats strike submerged objects, their outboard motors break off, and flip into the vessel with their propeller still running
Inflatable PFDs not inflating or being cut and deflated by propellers if they do
Boaters not wearing their life jackets and if they do, they increase their likelihood of being entrapped on the propeller or being struck by the propeller in a Circle of Death accident
Entrapped on open boat propellers
Coaching, escort, and safety boats used with youth sailing, open water swimming, rowing, crewing, sculling, canoeing, wake surfing (with a sail), and other similar activities often in an amateur racing format are striking people in the water with their propellers. For example, the July 2017 Long Island New York accident
Those reboarding the boat at the swim ladder are sucked into the propeller
Divers and snorkelers being ran over by boat propellers and sometimes struck by the propeller of their own dive charter boat
PWC riders interacting with the wake of boat or trying to spray those on board are stuck by the propeller
Outboard motor starts in gear (typically involves rope started tiller steered outboards), one or more persons are ejected and struck by the propeller, can also happen with stern drives
Someone jumped into the water unbeknownst to the operator OR just at the moment the operator was going to reverse the boat
A quick look at the list shows several of those accident scenarios are interrelated, and most of them are tied to issues listed below (People Hazards, Water Hazards, Industry Positions, Media Reluctance, Existing Boat Designs), and all go back to the basic principles of propellers (rotating and sharp).
How the Propeller Accident Scenarios Listed Above Became Perpetual
Engineering Tools Provide Solutions to Long Standing Boat Propeller Safety Issues
Two ostriches with heads in sand
The boating industry repeatedly just sticks it head in the sand regarding long standing propeller safety issues. We suggest its time to go back to the drawing board on Perpetual boat propeller accident scenarios, like the Perpetual Propeller Accident Scenarios identified in a related post. Effective, practical, economical solutions need to be identified, tested, commercialized, and deployed.
Plenty new solutions remain to be discovered. Some effective, practical, economical solutions have long rejected by the boating industry. New materials and technologies are constantly placing more tools in our tool belt. One resource often overlooked, are solutions to similar problems in other industries.
We hope the tools below aid all those addressing long standing boat propeller safety issues.
The Safety Hierarchy
The Safety Hierarchy defines the sequence of steps used by product design engineers and safety professionals to prevent injuries once specific hazards are identified. In its simplest version the process is to identify the hazards of use, potential misuse, and of the environment in which the product is to be used.
Then: 1. Design,
2. Guard, and
3. Warn.
When a hazard is identified, the best thing to do is to design out the hazard. By removing the hazard the danger no longer exits.
If it is not feasible to design out the hazard, the next best step is to guard against the hazard. Guards are physical barriers between people and the hazard. People that cannot come in contact with the hazard cannot be injured by it.
If guarding is not practical, the next best step is to warn of the hazard. Warnings require numerous actions of the person being warned to be effective. As a result, warnings are much less effective than designing out the hazard or the use of guards. Thus warnings are last step in the safety hierarchy as it is presented in its most basic form.
The three step Safety Hierarchy above is often presented with two more steps:
4. Training
5. Personal protective equipment (PPE)
Training and personal protective equipment are often used in manufacturing operations where someone has administrative control over the workers. Factory employees receive training /instruction, and protective equipment (such as eye shields, hearing protection, gloves, steel toed boots, respirators). Read More →
The Leash, a tether for large outboard motors, entered the market in early 2016. They especially focus on preventing bass boat outboard motors from entering the boat after striking a floating, submerged, or fixed object.
Their patent application was filed 22 December 2015 and published 18 months later on 22 June 2017 by the U.S. Patent Office as Publication Number US2017/0174303 A1.
Roy John Grohler of Kentucky is the inventor. The patent is assigned to The Leash Tether LLC. of Kentucky.
In December 2013 we published a report, Approaches to Prevent Outboard Motors From Flipping Into Boats After Striking Floating or Submerged Objects in which we identified several ways to prevent outboard motors from breaking off and flipping into boats after striking submerged objects. One of those was was active trim control (see pages 33-34 of our report) by using a magnetic fluid in the trim (tilt) cylinder and using position feedback (how far is the rod extended) during a log strike to adjust how much resistance the cylinder is applying to the upward swinging of the outboard. While the impacts are not as severe, the same approach is used for shocks on several cars.
Magnetic fluids are sometimes called Magneto-Rheological (MR) fluids. Also sometimes spelled as magnetorheological fluids. They change viscosity based on the presence of a magnetic field and upon its intensity.
Active control brings the ability to respond faster than existing systems and limit pressure overshoot today’s relief valves. It also provides the opportunity to measure the magnitude of the collision as it is occurring and then select the best way to respond or possibly to select one of several preprogramed ways to respond. One program could allow the outboard to rise up over the object before maximum resistance is applied (called trailover).
MR fluids are also currently used in some high end, rough water vessel chairs to dampen vibrations (protect your back in very rough water) for the U.S. Navy.
In January 2015, Brunswick filed a patent on this active trim cylinder approach that includes some interesting comments.
Brunswick’s patent, U.S. Patent 9,290,252 was issued 22 March 2016.
Delph Magneride image PropellerSafety.com posted with our discussion of using MagnetoRheolopical fluids in trim systems in 2013.
We have previously written extensively on log strike testing, the variables involved, and more specifically on trying to prevent outboard motors from breaking off and entering boats after striking floating or submerged objects.
This installment focuses purely on durability testing of prototype outboards. It does NOT address the issue of outboard motors breaking off and flipping into boats, the need to make sure production outboards maintain the same durability, production quality control issues, design changes, or other issues. It purely focuses on developing a test stand and a test protocol to test a single prototype outboard motor for durability in striking floating or submerged objects.
Note – the Asian outboard manufacturers tend to refer to log strike testing by the phrase, driftwood testing.
Note – Log strike testing is DANGEROUS, please read the DISCLAIMER at the bottom of this post.
This post is not meant as a “pick one” offering. It is more of buffet from which manufacturers new to log strike testing consider picking some things if they like them and bring some of their own ideas to the table as well to create something that works for them at the stage they are now in.
On Water Log Strike Testing
Most major outboard manufacturers now have a log strike test procedure in place for durability testing of outboard motors. Some still perform on water testing by running flat bottomed boats over floating logs.
Log strike testing news clip. Corpus Christie Caller-Times. 30 April 1960. Page 6D.
Three boys in a sailing class at Centerport Yacht Club on the north side of Long Island, New York were out sailing in Northport Harbor Tuesday afternoon 18 July, 2017. Their boat was capsized on purpose as part of a man overboard exercise. Two of the boys stayed with the sailboat. The third boy was picked up by an 18 year old sailing instructor on a RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat).
When the boat operator began to gradually accelerate the boat, the boy fell overboard and was fatally injured by the propeller.
Details are still sketchy, but some accounts say his life jacket was entrapped in the propeller and he was struck in the chest by the propeller.
The 18 year old instructor was able to get the boy back in the boat and performed CPR on him.
One news report mentioned the yacht club instructors were all trained in CPR.
The injured boy, from Northport, was taken to Huntington Hospital where he died. The boy killed was later identified as Ryan John Weiss of Greenlawn, New York.
Propeller guards are sometimes used to prevent youth sailing propeller accidents such as this one. We talk further about their use near the bottom of this post.
The instructed that performed CPR on the boy suffered shock and was taken to the hospital.
The boat was a Zodiac powered by a Yamaha outboard motor.
Centerport Yacht Club RIB involved in the accident An Associated Press image
Ten people were onboard a 21 foot Ski Nautique on Lake Gage in Steuben County Indiana about 7:15pm Saturday July 15, 2017. Dominique Effinger a 20 year old female was operating the boat. The boat took a hard turn and all ten people on board were ejected.
The unmanned boat went into the Circle of Death at an estimated 30 mph with ten people in the water.
A quote from the Journal Gazette perhaps best describes the chaos.
Journal Gazette
16 July 2016
“Several seriously injured people were taken to shore by local citizens’ boats so EMS and fire units could tend to the injuries, the statement said. It said two people were flown to Parkview Regional Medical Center in Fort Wayne with injuries including a skull fracture and a partial lower-arm amputation. Others less seriously hurt were taken to Cameron Memorial Community Hospital in Angola.
Conservation Officer Jake Carlile launched a Department of Natural Resources patrol boat as county sheriff’s deputies urged residents to move their boats and clear the area, the statement said. It said the unmanned 21-foot Ski Nautique motorboat was coming closer to boats and docks with each circle.
Carlile threw a rope from the patrol boat to entangle the motorboat’s propeller, the statement said. It said the boat then struck a dock and changed direction, striking the back of the patrol boat and disabling the patrol boat’s motor.
The rope slowed the motorboat, the statement said, and Carlile used a nearby personal watercraft to jump onto the runaway boat while both were in motion. He then brought the motorboat to a stop.”
U.S Coast Guard has released a Public Service Announcement (PSA) reenacting the June 1994 accident on Table Rock Lake in Missouri that maimed Phyllis Kopyto and claimed the lives of her husband Bob Kopytko and of their fishing guide, Paul Brundridge. Phyllis speaks over the reenactment video.
The National Safe Boating Council (NSBC) “Get Connected” campaign, funded by a U.S. Coast Guard grant, encourages boat operators to connect the kill switch / engine stop switch.
The purpose of connecting the kill switch lanyard / engine stop switch or using a virtual lanyard is to cause the boat to stop if the operator is ejected. Unmanned outboard motor boats underway tend to circle in the Circle of Death, repeatedly striking striking those in the water with the propeller.
In some instances stern drive or outboard powered boats can just run on down the lake leaving those in the water with no chance of reboarding and no visual indicator to others of their presence in the water. They may drown or be run over by other vessels.
We found one of NSBC images particularly striking and will comment on it below.
