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Archive for Mercury Marine – Page 2

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 […]

Brunswick wireless lanyard patent application

Brunswick’s wireless lanyard patent application was published 30 January 2020 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Brunswick’s wireless lanyard is made possible by the combination CANbus systems now used by boats and marine drives in conjunction with data available from the Engine Control Unit (ECU) and today’s digital controls (like digital shift/throttles). Brunswick’s […]

Brunswick Neural Network Person Detection patent issued

We continue to salute Brunswick for their efforts to detect people in the water near a recreational boat. Basics of the Patent U.S. Patent 10,372,976 Person Detection in a Marine Environment invented by Troy Kollmann and Jon Nowick, assigned to Brunswick issued on 6 August 2019. The patent’s first claim describes detecting people in the […]

The Leash: Bassmaster Tournament: ACA outboard flipped into boat accident

American Christian Academy (ACA) of Tuscaloosa Alabama’s bass fishing team was fishing the 2019 Bassmaster Southern High School Open on Lake Guntersville (Alabama). Mike Wilkins tells the story on video above of how 295 boats took off that morning. Mike, his son Hunter Williams, and another high school angler, Jackson Elder, ran out about 45 […]

Circle of Death Video: ReelJedi

YouTube fishing channel, ReelJedi, was filming on Lake Seminole (Georgia / Florida border) when a nearby boater running at speed in a Bass Tracker boat was ejected. The Bass Tracker powered by a Mercury Marine outboard motor went into the Circle of Death, then ReelJedi and his father rescued him. ReelJedi speculates the boat hit […]

Ott Defoe, Mercury, & Nitro win Bassmaster Classic 2019

Congratulations to Ott Defoe on his great Bassmaster Classic win Sunday 17 March 2019. We screen captured the image of him and his family below as they began the parade around the arena from Bassmaster’s live coverage. Congratulations to Nitro to putting their boat in the winners circle and to Mercury Marine for powering this […]

Mercury patents log strike monitoring system

Brunswick / Mercury Marine was issued U.S. Patent 10,214,271 Systems and Methods for Monitoring Underwater Impacts to Marine Propulsion Devices on 26 February 2019. Steven J. Gonring and Mark D. Curtis are listed as the inventors. The patent teaches detecting rate of trim (rate of tilt) to determine an impact occurred. If the drive is […]

Why outboards break off bass boats paper

In our continuing coverage of large outboard motors breaking off and flipping into boats it is obvious that most incidents in recent years involve bass boats. Some reasons are obvious: bass boats run fast, bass anglers are in a hurry in bass tournaments, and bass hang out in shallow water. However this paper digs much […]

Mercury patented outboard motor tether in 1969

With all the chatter about The Leash we thought we would point out the first commercially available outboard tether for larger outboards was invented and sold by Mercury Marine. Mercury’s efforts preceded The Leash by nearly 50 years. This post is best viewed on a laptop or desktop computer. This post in no way belittles […]

Mercury Marine Aluminum Alloy patents & propeller safety

As noted before, outboard motor swivel brackets take tremendous loads during a collisions with submerged objects. On occasion swivel brackets fail, sometimes allowing the outboard motor to break off and flip into the boat with the engine still running and the propeller turning a few thousand RPM. Driveshaft housings (the lower leg of the outboard) […]