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Author Archive for Gary – Page 2

Monitoring outboard log strikes: Yamaha Patent Application

Yamaha’s U.S. patent application, “Collision Information Providing System, Collision Judging System, and Marine Vessel” was published October 12, 2023. Yamaha’s system classifies and monitors three different kinds of collisions. 1. Outboard motor / Marine drive collisions 2. Propeller collisions 3. Vessel collisions These types of collisions are monitored. They are classified. Their intensity is rated. […]

The Leash Saves Bass Angler From Outboard Motor

A bass angler was fishing on Santee Cooper Lake in South Carolina. His Mercury Pro XS outboard motor struck a floating log at about 55 miles per hour. The outboard motor broke off at the swivel bracket during the October 2023 accident. Several large Mercury outboard motor swivel brackets have failed, allowing the outboard to […]

Honda Air Bag Propeller Guard Patent Application

Honda Motor Co of Japan filed a U.S. patent application for a propeller guard partially consisting of an air bag The patent application, US 2023/0278686 A1 “Outboard Motor Control Apparatus and Control Method for Outboard Motor” was published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on September 7, 2023. Honda’s patent application has to do […]

Malibu Boats Safety Alert: Bow Seating Hazard

Malibu Boats released a Safety Alert regarding a Bow Seating Hazard on July 18, 2023. Malibu reports the safety alert is due to a tragic incident that occurred with a Malibu Response LX boat. A passenger was washed out of the bow seating during a bow swamping incident. The passenger was then hit by the […]

Comments on Malibu Boats Safety Alert : Bow Seating

Malibu Boats released a Safety Alert in July 2023 regarding bow seating and swamping in certain older Malibu boats. This post will discuss the history behind Malibu’s bow swamping Safety Alert, comments concerning the Safety Alert, and possible future implications. Background History Long ago, some ski boat manufacturers began to offer open bow boats with […]

Walter Greer, 3, killed by boat propeller in Utah

Walter Greer, age 3 from Salt Lake City, was on a wakeboard boat with his family. They were on Echo Reservoir northwest of Coalville (Utah) Sunday, August 13, 2023. About 4:45pm Walter Greer fell from the wakeboard boat. Walter was fatally struck by the boat propeller. Walter was wearing a life jacket when he fell […]

Malibu Boats agrees to pay $100 million in Batchelder case

A 2014 propeller strike in Georgia claimed the life of 7 year old Ryan Batchelder. In August 2021 Malibu Boats was found guilty in Superior Court of Rabun County Georgia. The Product Liability Case verdict totaled $200 million dollars. Since then, Malibu Boats has been trying to reduce or eliminate the jury award. Malibu Boats, […]

Boat Propeller Guard Product Liability Defense Intro Vol1

In the mid to late 1980’s Mercury Marine, a Brunswick Corporation, and Outboard Marine Corporation (OMC) were facing a large number of boat propeller guard product liability / product defect lawsuits. Several of those lawsuits related to kill switches not being installed. This post is the second of a series of five posts announcing the […]

Boat Propeller Guard Product Liability Defense

We have completed a major project in which we studied the period in which Mercury Marine and Outboard Marine Corporation developed their legal defense against the use of boat propeller guards on recreational boats. This post is the first of five on this topic. Their defense is based on three documents which they helped create: […]

1989 NBSAC Propeller Guard Subcommittee Report Vol2

This post is the third of a series of five posts covering the boating industry’s legal defense against boat propeller guard product liability / product defect lawsuits. It focuses on our review of the 1989 U.S. Coast Guard National Boating Safety Advisory Council (NBSAC) Propeller Guard Subcommittee report. This post is a condensed version of […]