Do you use tha kill cord on your outboard?

Always.

When I heard Bxhm CG putting out the calls about this incident on Friday my heart sank.

They must have had phone calls because they were asking for any vessels near by to tell them what they could see.....
 
Coaster said:
To be honest - rarely. (2.5 hp on 2.4m deflatable)

Do you?
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I admit to occasionally forgetting the cord but I generally use it - hooked onto a belt loop. My 3.3 hp motor could do serious damage. Remember that if you fall out of the dinghy and the engine is still running it will inevitably circle back to your position, repeatedly.
 
ive decided to replace my old 2.5hp with a newer 3.5hp with a kill cord. the brixham cg has opened my eyes and now i cant use the old one so will buy a newer one this week
 
My Seagull 40 featherweight & Suzuki 2hp will bothe drop to tickover if I let go of the throttle - and neither are fitted with a kill cord. And, as they don't plane, I am unlikely to be bounced out of it unless I ram a moored boat at full tilt (3-4kts?)

Sorry for the dad & lad involved (especially the lad, who may well just be an innocent victim) but some common sense has to be used with fast motorboats.

Why don't such boats have a simple webbing lapstrap with a plastic or s/s clip or lashing buckle? The cost would be minimal but it would keep them in their seats in the roughest of water.
 
Searush said:
Why don't such boats have a simple webbing lapstrap with a plastic or s/s clip or lashing buckle? The cost would be minimal but it would keep them in their seats in the roughest of water.
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And if the boat should hit a wave/wake & turn turtle???
 
Every time.
I was out last year, fishing alone on a small, fast boat when the weather started to turn. As I headed for home at about 25 knots, bouncing over the waves, the outboard abruptly stopped. You get a very hollow feeling when that happens. I fired up the auxiliary and headed home a little slower than 5 minutes earlier. Sitting at the tiller of the auxiliary, I spotted the kill switch was down, I must have pulled it by accident and although the switch was now off, the chord was still held in place by the starter key. A quick flick of the switch and I was away again. Another lesson learned. Back at the marina, I mentioned my exploits to a fellow boater; his reply was that he’d done the same a few times so now had just bye-passed the switch. Unbelievable, for someone who goes out to sea on their own in a planning boat.
 
Giblets said:
And if the boat should hit a wave/wake & turn turtle???
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Seemples, You unclip it.

Seat belts are quick release in cars & on planes. I have a Waveski - a sit-on kayak/surf board cross it's designed for surfing, you strap yourself in to enable you to use your weight & legs/ waist muscles to control the movement down the front of the wave. When one capsizes (any minor missjudgement will do it, one undoes the clip & swims free. There is also an ankle strap (like surf boards) so the the wave-ski doesn't carry on unattended & brain someone.

It isn't exactly rocket science. Bouyancy aids, kill cords & seat belts aren't that much effort to use & the boats are dangerous without them.
 
Yes I do, its no hassle at all. I have been teaching my kids how to use the dinghy and outboard. Its an essential safety feature for them. I would not stop their fun and its not beyond the bounds of possibility for one of them to actually fall out making a sharp turn. They do know about these dangers but they are kids.

"Kids n'warer, they luv it!" as Rolph Harris used to remind us.

Rolf Harris Public Information Film

Bloody Health and Safety have cut the bit out where the kids dive bomb Rolf and duck him under!
 
john_morris_uk said:
Is it possible to retro fit kill cords? My Yamaha 4 has a stop button, but no kill cord, and I would prefer to have one. My old 3.3 Hp had one and we were always in the habit of clipping it to our wrist etc when operating it.
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John I would have thought so. I used to by pass kill switches on Motocross bikes because they filled with water and stopped the bike from restarting. I guess you know that the kill switch just shorts out power to the ignition circuit. It would not take too much effort to Heath Robinson a normally closed spring switch or retro fit a switch from a junked outboard.
 
I killed a honda

I did not bother with the kill chord

it fell off the bracket off the back of a 16 foot trailers aileer after three days of motoring

it went down singing and died

I recoverd the engine but the con rod was punched thruough the cylinder all

Good-bye £800

bumma

d
 
dylanwinter said:
I did not bother with the kill chord

it fell off the bracket off the back of a 16 foot trailers aileer after three days of motoring

it went down singing and died

I recoverd the engine but the con rod was punched thruough the cylinder all

Good-bye £800

bumma

d
Click to expand...


A remarkably musical death. Did you call your outboard The Fat Lady?
 
What was doubly galling about this incident was it was the second in a week - Portland handled one in Studland Bay the week before, almost exactly the same circumstances. We also had one last year up here.

One thing is sure, the more of these happen the louder the calls for training / licencing will become.
 
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