Compulsory kill cords?

Interesting that this weekend I've been overtaken by 4 ribs and everyone has been wearing a kill chord. Never noticed that b4 but tbh not knowing what they were as a non power boat user means I've never looked b4.
 
Tranona said:
Despite that being a possibility, don't think you will find many recorded cases of dinghy users being chopped up by props. Most of the cases involve boats like the Padstow one, or high powered inflatables (as in the Southampton one that prompted the petition), or ski boats.

As I pointed out in an earlier post, campaigners try to make this an "everybody's" issue, when it is not. It is specific to certain types of boat which makes framing a workable law to deal with this very small subset of the boating population very difficult.
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Don't get me wrong-I'm decidedly anti legislation and all the carp that 'big government' involvement brings. I have no wish for a dvla style licence, or increasing 'administration' fees as they decide we need something new and pointless to pay for on our licences-or the beaurocratic bull**** that it brings.
Or for that matter 'Sea tax based on engine size'... (next progression...'It'll never happen' I hear the pro legislation people shout. Want to lay mmoney on it?)

I just don't see the sense in not fitting a killcord and using it. Every boat I have, and have ever had, has a killcord and it's always used. It's easy, and its about 15 quid on ANY motor. If I can get one to fit a DT2.2 Suzuki, the 'it won't fit' excuse is pretty poor.

I even fitted a rudimentary one to a Seagull 40+...
 
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Nos4r2 said:
Don't get me wrong-I'm decidedly anti legislation and all the carp that 'big government' involvement brings. I have no wish for a dvla style licence, or increasing 'administration' fees as they decide we need something new and pointless to pay for on our licences-or the beaurocratic bull**** that it brings.
Or for that matter 'Sea tax based on engine size'... (next progression...'It'll never happen' I hear the pro legislation people shout. Want to lay mmoney on it?)

I just don't see the sense in not fitting a killcord and using it. Every boat I have, and have ever had, has a killcord and it's always used. It's easy, and its about 15 quid on ANY motor. If I can get one to fit a DT2.2 Suzuki, the 'it won't fit' excuse is pretty poor.

I even fitted a rudimentary one to a Seagull 40+...
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One assumes that "Every boat I have, and have ever had" refers only to boats powered by outboards, or boats where the helmsman does not have to move around.
 
NormanS said:
One assumes that "Every boat I have, and have ever had" refers only to boats powered by outboards, or boats where the helmsman does not have to move around.
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Sorry, make that 'every outboard powered and planing vessel'


There's very few genuine excuses for moving around when you're the helmsman apart from bad design or being single handed-and absolutely no excuse to leave the helm of a planing vessel while planing.

If you're doing something else, you're not keeping a proper watch and hitting any form of obstruction (even a pot) at planing speeds tends to injure the occupants.
 
Nos4r2 said:
Sorry, make that 'every outboard powered and planing vessel'


There's very few genuine excuses for moving around when you're the helmsman apart from bad design or being single handed-and absolutely no excuse to leave the helm of a planing vessel while planing.

If you're doing something else, you're not keeping a proper watch and hitting any form of obstruction (even a pot) at planing speeds tends to injure the occupants.
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All your clarification of your personal position, (which is probably a majority view) does is illustrate the difficulty of any enforceable legislation. Is it outboard powered vessels, planing vessels or even outboard planing vessels in planing mode? Many small planing boats are inboard powered and many planing boats (however powered) are frequently used in displacement mode. Is there a size limit minimum or maximum? - for example how many of this type of accident has there been in big powerful planing cruisers like Sunseeker, Fairlines. Princesses etc, which nobody sensible would consider as needing a kill cord.
 
Tranona said:
All your clarification of your personal position, (which is probably a majority view) does is illustrate the difficulty of any enforceable legislation. Is it outboard powered vessels, planing vessels or even outboard planing vessels in planing mode? Many small planing boats are inboard powered and many planing boats (however powered) are frequently used in displacement mode. Is there a size limit minimum or maximum? - for example how many of this type of accident has there been in big powerful planing cruisers like Sunseeker, Fairlines. Princesses etc, which nobody sensible would consider as needing a kill cord.
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I agree entirely with you-education education education, and any legislation would be utterly unenforceable for a myriad of reasons.
I'd hate it if the government got involved and I'd put money on it being the thin end of the wedge as well as utterly worthless.

However, why not voluntarily put a killcord on big planing cruisers anyway?It's a £15 part and half an hour to fit as long as your keys stop the engines. If it's planing, the helm needs to be manned and a runaway Sunseeker etc could do quite a lot of damage if the helmsman becomes incapacitated for any reason.

It's no imposition-the helm controls while moving at speed are no more complicated than a big twin engined rib with trim tabs and should be accessable without leaving the helm seat-yet everyone knows you need a killcord on a rib...
 
Nos4r2 said:
If it's planing, the helm needs to be manned and a runaway Sunseeker etc could do quite a lot of damage if the helmsman becomes incapacitated for any reason.

It's no imposition-the helm controls while moving at speed are no more complicated than a big twin engined rib with trim tabs and should be accessable without leaving the helm seat-yet everyone knows you need a killcord on a rib...
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Just a thought for you, a few years back I was admiring a 8-10m rib capable of 50 knots or something stupid, I do not think they had any intentions of using a kill cord. It was fitted with an autopilot, I wonder how many of your Sunseekers are equipped the same?

I regularly use a hard dinghy with 3.5hp outboard, the kill cord is nicely wrapped round the handle to make it comfier to carry. Yet when it goes on my inflatable of same size I use it.

The tail of this debate shows how hard legislation would be to bring in and police.
 
Nos4r2 said:
I see. So you're the better idiot someone's designed then.
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Yup, and legislation wouldn't fix that!

When operating a boat single-handed, kill cords are unworkable during docking and undocking, and when performing various other tasks such as going to the bow to take a photo.

bow_lkg_aft_sm.jpg


I also sometimes use my sea kayak without a life jacket and drive my car faster than the speed limit.

This thread reminded me of the following video. At one point, the boat is sideways to a wave, and the helmsman has to step to the side of the console to avoid going over the side of the boat. A kill cord would have been a nuisance in this situation.

 
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onesea said:
Just a thought for you, a few years back I was admiring a 8-10m rib capable of 50 knots or something stupid, I do not think they had any intentions of using a kill cord. It was fitted with an autopilot, I wonder how many of your Sunseekers are equipped the same?

I regularly use a hard dinghy with 3.5hp outboard, the kill cord is nicely wrapped round the handle to make it comfier to carry. Yet when it goes on my inflatable of same size I use it.

The tail of this debate shows how hard legislation would be to bring in and police.
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If you've got an autopilot, you still need to keep watch. No reason not to do that from a helm seat. It just means you don't have to hang onto the wheel so you can use a better handhold.
If they weren't using a killcord on that rib, they want their bloody heads read.
 
interloper said:
Yup, and legislation wouldn't fix that!

When operating a boat single-handed, kill cords are unworkable during docking and undocking, and when performing various other tasks such as going to the bow to take a photo.


I also sometimes use my sea kayak without a life jacket and drive my car faster than the speed limit.

This thread reminded me of the following video. At one point, the boat is sideways to a wave, and the helmsman has to step to the side of the console to avoid going over the side of the boat. A kill cord would have been a nuisance in this situation.
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You really are a suicidal muppet aren't you! Thank f**ck you're not over here-you can kill someone with your stupidity in your own country.

Everything you've said above is absolute balls.
 
interloper said:
I've had two largish powerboats equipped with kill chords, a 23' walk-around and a 19' center console. I've never used the kill chords. I don't know any other powerboat owners that use the kill chords on their boats. It's simply too inconvenient. The kill chord would have to be unhooked when docking and undocking, and that is probably when the operator is most likely to go over the side.

Similarly, I have a large yard that I mow with a modest lawn tractor. Lawn tractors are equipped with a spring switch that kills the engine if there is no weight on the seat. When the switch is activated, it kills the engine in a very inelegant manner that typically involves a series of hiccups followed by a backfire. It's a nuisance to have to turn off the engine and then restart it just to get off the machine to move a stick or pick up a piece of trash. On my previous lawn tractor, I was able to disable the switch by disconnecting the wires. On my current lawn tractor, the switch gizmo is more complicated, and I haven't yet figured out how to disable it, but I'm going to take another look at it.
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Hell yeah, that's why the US is great!

(Remind me, how many gun accidents last year?)

:rolleyes:
 
interloper said:
When operating a boat single-handed, kill cords are unworkable during docking and undocking,
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Ah docking and undocking those famous high speed maneouvers.

You should be able to get a rope around a cleat from the helm of a small boat, if not, get a longer bit of rope.

interloper said:
and when performing various other tasks such as going to the bow to take a photo.
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Muppetry of the highest....ever thought of juggling knives for a safer hobby?

interloper said:
This thread reminded me of the following video. At one point, the boat is sideways to a wave, and the helmsman has to step to the side of the console to avoid going over the side of the boat. A kill cord would have been a nuisance in this
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Yeah, waves like that are such a regular occurance. It takes a lot of stretch to pull out a properly fitted kill cord.

Next time you're waiting for a bus, why don't you wait in the road, just for that one in a million time the bus veers of into the bus stop and kills everyone waiting there. You'll be safe, just like the man in the video ;)
 
snooks said:
Ah docking and undocking those famous high speed maneouvers.

You should be able to get a rope around a cleat from the helm of a small boat, if not, get a longer bit of rope.



Muppetry of the highest....ever thought of juggling knives for a safer hobby?



Yeah, waves like that are such a regular occurance. It takes a lot of stretch to pull out a properly fitted kill cord.

Next time you're waiting for a bus, why don't you wait in the road, just for that one in a million time the bus veers of into the bus stop and kills everyone waiting there. You'll be safe, just like the man in the video ;)
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I'd given up with him by that point. He's either a troll or a complete dick and nothing's going to change that.
 
^^ I am concerned about your safety. My recommendation is that you avoid anything that has to do with boats. It is much safer to just stay at home and watch television. Perhaps you can find a show about boats, or you can just watch the Muppets.

Fozzie-bear.jpg
 
Iain C said:
I also have little time for bits of the RYA training machine, or indeed life jackets when unnecessary, and many other similar "caution contents may be hot" ****. As you may see from my boats I like speed, a bit of danger, and excitement. But a RIB killcord is just 100%, Darwinism in action, why the bloody hell wouldn't you, common courtesy, think about your fellow humans, common sense stuff! Do we retro fit killcords to every Seagull Silver Century? No! But do you use a killcord when in a RIB and in close proximity to other dinghies...of course!!!

I thought the Padstow tradegy would make a lot of people see sense. Sadly not.
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+1!
 
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