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MerCruiser adds Bravo Four S forward facing drive

Brunswick’s Mercury MerCruiser announced a new Bravo Four S forward-facing drive 24 August 2020. The drive obviously targets Volvo Penta’s FWD drive’s success in the wake surfing market. Mercury paired the drive’s introduction with a new control system called Smart Tow controls that aids in creating specific waves for wakesurfing, wakeboarding, and other tow sports. […]

Mercury Marine 1st Mate virtual lanyard

Mercury Marine launched the 1st mate, the marine industry’s first engine integrated man overboard and proximity based theft deterrent system in Dusseldorf in late 2019. They announced that launch in the U.S. on January 20, 2020. Wearable wristband fobs (think Fell Marine, Mercury’s wireless technology partner), are worn by the operator (operator always gets the […]

Sharrow Propeller wins Innovation Award

The new Sharrow Propeller won the Innovation Award for Propulsion Equipment & Parts at the 2020 Miami International Boat Show February 14, 2020. 7 Boating Writers International (BWI) members served as the Innovation Award judges committee. NMMA reported Ed Sherman, one of the judges, said of the Sharrow MX1 propeller “This is a breakthrough prop […]

LifeCord – smart kill switch lanyard

Inspired by the 2013 Milligan accident in the UK, John Barker, a UK businessman did something about the problem. At least in the UK, some boaters, especially those in rougher water want to attach their kill switch lanyard (known as a kill cord in the UK). However sometimes they forget to attach the lanyard. This […]

MagBlade Safety Propeller awarded U.S. Patent

The MagBlade safety propeller that came on the scene a half a dozen years ago in South Africa, has been acquired by MagBlade Limited based in Hong Kong. U.S. Patent 9,909,600 was issued to Russel Iwan Hawkins, one of the individuals in South Africa we spoke to a few years ago, on 6 March 2018 […]

MOB + Wireless Cut-Off Switch from Fell Marine

Fell Marine will be showing MOB+, their wireless kill switch at the Miami International Boat Show this week per their 8 February 2017 press release. They will be in the Fugawi Software booth and have two center console boats on the water in Mag Bay Yachts slips. MOB is a popular nautical abbreviation for Man […]

Mercury Marine updates MP Alert (Moving Propeller Alert)

Back in November 2011 we covered Mercury Marine’s Moving Propeller Alert. It displays LED lights to swimmers behind the vessel when the engine is running. Those same LED lights blink in a rotational pattern when the engine is on and the propeller is rotating. The propeller safety device was originally limited to boats with Mercury’s […]

The Leash : tether prevents outboard motors from flipping into boats

When an outboard motor strikes a submerged object at speed it may break off and flip into the boat. Outboards that flip into the boat usually do so with the engine still running and the propeller turning at thousands of RPM. Those on board can be critically injured or killed. We have long been especially […]

Volvo Penta FWD Forward Drive: safer or not?

Volvo Penta unveiled their new FWD Forward drive at the Miami Boat Show on 11 February 2015. It is a companion to their successful IPS forward facing diesel twin prop through hull drive (similar to the Brunswick / Mercury Marine Zeus drive). The new FWD drive bolts to the transom like a stern drive, but […]

Brunswick / Mercury Marine Moving Propeller Alert patent issued

We covered Brunswick / Mercury Marine’s Moving Propeller Alert back in November 2011. We followed that post up with a call for inventors and college project classes to consider trying design a free standing, energy harvesting, self powered version that did not require the use of the expensive underlying Smart Craft bus system. Now, about […]