Kill Chord for Diesel Engined Boat

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rhino_mac

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I've just checked my insurance renewal and they have stipulated that I must use an engine cut off device when underway.

My boat has a diesel engine conversion (from new) so I need to get the kill chord working - at present it's not connected as the original wiring was for a petrol engine.

Does anyone have an idea on the likely cost for this - big job/little job?? It's a Monterey 250CR 2006 fitted with a Yanmar 4LHA 240hp diesel if this helps?

Thanks!
 
If you have an electrical push to stop it should be a simple matter of adding a close to operate kill switch but it is also likely to be a standard accessory from local yanmar dealer
 
As above, you'll need a normally open kill cord switch wired in parallel to the stop button so as activating it will energise the stop solenoid on the engine. A couple of hours work at most.
 
Cool, I have a push to stop switch fitted to the dash so shouldn't be too dear.

Was umming and ahhing about this for safety reasons. Kind of glad that the insurance has pushed me into getting it sorted.

Thanks guys!
 
rhino_mac said:
I've just checked my insurance renewal and they have stipulated that I must use an engine cut off device when underway.

My boat has a diesel engine conversion (from new) so I need to get the kill chord working - at present it's not connected as the original wiring was for a petrol engine.

Does anyone have an idea on the likely cost for this - big job/little job?? It's a Monterey 250CR 2006 fitted with a Yanmar 4LHA 240hp diesel if this helps?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Can appreciate you would like to have a kill chord fitted for safety reasons. Out of interest have you sought quotes from other insurers to see whether they
also require an engine cut off device to be fitted.
 
I raised the questions of kill chords in another thread and the general opinion was that it wasn't needed on a boat this size.

I'm in two minds. If I had a rib then I'd wear one without question. I guess mine is completely open so you could get tipped out, but I think it's less likely. I do tend to run about the boat a bit. My wife will steer as I get fenders and ropes out etc so it is an inconvenience.

Maybe I'll get some more quotes. If its an easy job then it won't hurt to get it fixed so it works (not that my insurance would be valid if I wasn't wearing it).
 
rhino_mac said:
I raised the questions of kill chords in another thread and the general opinion was that it wasn't needed on a boat this size.
Click to expand...
I must have missed the other thread, but count me as +1 on the general opinion.
And not just because of the size, it's also the type of boat which matters.
There are 40'+ boats capable of three digits speed, and a kill chord definitely makes sense, while playing hard with them.
But on a 25', diesel powered cruiser, I bet that even if you'll fit one you actually will never wear it.
I for one wouldn't, anyway. :)
 
I scared myself in 2012 on the day our boat was put in the water. An 8.1 m sportsboat, duoprop, 320 HP petrol engine. I did some very, very tight turns on a flat sea at about 45 mph, much tighter than if my wife was in the boat with me I almost threw myself out of the boat, no kill cord connected. Lesson lreearned !
 
Yeah, we hit the wake from a friends boat beam on at about 25 knots and the boat swayed quite badly. I had the kids on board and thought then what would happen if I got flipped out of the boat and my wife didn't know how to turn off the engine.

I'm not keen on wearing a kill chord but I can see the point of them. I tend not to do wild turns in the boat, just cruise a to b but I didn't expect that wake to affect the boat so badly.
 
Just to avoid misunderstandings, I wasn't arguing that kill chords are useless as such.
I've had a 27' lake boat capable of 70 mph, and whenever I was in the mood of hunting ferries to jump on their waves, I attached the kill chord for good - and (even more important) asked anyone onboard to wear life jackets.
Otoh, I was assuming that the OP does not use his boat for this sort of things, for the very simple reason that he would have choosen the wrong boat/engine.
And with any "normal" 25' cruiser, imho if there's a lesson to learn is to use her sensibly within her limits, rather than with a kill chord.
I wouldn't see the point in pushing her hard anyway, not to mention wearing a jacket (without which the kill chord is a joke) at all time.
But that's me, of course.
 
We have just had our insurance renewal through and they wanted a Kill Cord fitted to our Fairline Targa 34, now I know that the beast will hit 40 knots and I have a zero tolerance policy on kill cord use in tenders, RIBs, sports boats etc but I was struggling with the practial need for a kill cord in the Targa.

A quick phone call to the insurer cleared up "their error" along with a couple of other errors on their part in the docs and no kill cord required to be retro fitted! Common sense prevailed.
 
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