In article ,
says...
* Ed Gordon wrote, On 6/10/2007 11:49 AM:

I did find this though...

http://www.ne-ts.com/ar/ar-407capsize.html


You can't blame the boat for that terrible tragedy. It said the guy was
drunk and it said this too: "The boat that capsized on the Fourth of
July and killed two children was overloaded and was being used
incorrectly, according to the boat's manufacturer."

"The 26-foot MacGregor, which is a cross between a sailboat and a power
boat, is designed to hold up to six people, according to Roger
MacGregor, the boat company's owner. The boat carried 11 people the
night of July 4."

"The boat's hybrid design uses a water tank on the bottom to provide
stability. The tank should be filled when there are more than four
people on board, MacGregor said. The tank on the boat driven July 4 by
George Dean Martin was empty, according to the prosecutor in the case."

The guy was dumb and drunk. Don't blame the Mac!!!

Sure we can blame the Mac. Half the boaters out there were probably
drunk and yet only one capsized. And he didn't just capsize it, it
rolled within seconds of leaving the anchorage because he goosed the
throttle by mistake.

While there were 11 people on board, 3 were small children and down
below, so the boat was not grossly overloaded by the standards of
ordinary boats.

My issue with this situation is that the boat is marketed to novices,
yet requires extra attention to issues that are found on very few
other boats.

Absolutely - so really the instructions should be *always* operate the
boat with the ballast in place (when on the water).

--
Duncan