PropellerSafety.com

Archive for July 2016

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 […]

Kaelynne Driscoll, 8, struck by boat propeller on Skaneateles Lake in NY

Kaelynne Driscoll, an 8 year old girl, was riding an inner tube with her father, Christopher Driscoll, on Wednesday 6 July 2016. They were tubing on Skaneateles Lake in Onondaga County New York behind a 17 foot Bayliner boat. The tube struck a wake, she and her father fell from the tube, the boat, being […]

Outboard Motor Log Strike Mode by Speed and Resistance to Impact Chart

When outboard motors strike submerged objects they can break off and flip into the boat as seen in our lists of outboard motors breaking off and flipping into boats and large outboard motors breaking off and flipping into bass boats. We previously posted information on several existing and proposed solutions, including The Leash, a vectran […]

Warnings for outboard motor can flip into boat

Bombardier and Mercury Marine outboard operators manuals have long warned parts of or all of an outboard motor may enter the boat after striking a submerged object. An example from the 2012 250 horsepower Evinrude E-tec manual is shown at right. A big thanks to Bombardier Recreational Products & Vehicles (BRP) for putting their operators […]

Design Chart for Preventing Outboard Motors From Entering Boats

We charted the the Design Flow Process designing outboard motors in a manner that prevents them from entering the boat after striking submerged objects. The chart was designed specifically with tournament bass boat outboard motors in mind. The chart has since been updated since it was originally posted. The most recent version is below.

Bass boat outboard motors should be fail-safe impact tested

Most major outboard manufacturers conduct a log strike test on new outboard models to prove durability. Manufacturers either test them on the water by actually running over a log of a given type, diameter, and length, or on a test stand they think simulates on water testing. These impact tests are typically conducted at a […]

Mercury 250 Pro XS Outboard Powers 2016 Bassmaster Classic Winner

We were privileged to attend the 2016 Bassmaster Classic on Grand Lake with the weigh-ins in Tulsa, Oklahoma on March 4-6, 2016. Edwin Evers, a local professional bass fisherman came from behind on day 3 to win the tournament. We just noticed Mercury issued a press release back on 8 March 2016 about the Evers […]

New Category – Outboard Motor Broke Off & Flipped Into Boat

Numerous previous posts concerned outboard motors striking submerged objects, breaking off, and flipping into boats, preventing or mitigating those accidents, log strike systems, accidents and legal trials involving such accidents and related topics. We will now be covering this topic in this category of the PropellerSafety blog. If anyone wonders why we are covering these […]

Boni B. Blalack passed away 27 February 2015

On 27 February 2015, the world lost an inspiration to us all, Boni B. Blalack, 83, passed away in Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena California. We knew of her life as Boni Buehler, a beautiful young stewardess involved in the highest profile recreational boat propeller accident of all time back in 1953. We covered the […]

Cash Fox, age 7, killed by boat propeller in Florida

Cash Fox, a 7 year old Florida boy was on a 20 foot boat with his father (Kevin Cash) and his 11 year old brother near Stump Pass Marina, near Englewood in Charlotte County, Florida the morning of Saturday 9 July 2016. Cash was not wearing a life jacket. Cash was setting at the back […]