"Vic Smith" wrote in message
...
Sometimes you don't think about these little gotchas that can get you
killed quickly. They're all over the place, especially electrical
stuff.
One I still think about is the front of a pontoon boat moving at
speed.
I went forward on one my dad was driving and thought,
"Hey, this ain't right. If I fall off here it's like being in the
chute of a food processor. I'll go right into the blades."
It was a rental, and I thought there should be some kind of warning
plaque or something up there so kids would stay away.
To me, this is a real danger peculiar to the type of boat.
Most other types of boat you don't stand up as much underway and if
you fall out you should clear the prop.
Anybody got other cautions that apply to particular boats?

--Vic

Occasionally I've wondered if there wasn't some way to make safety switches
that kill the engine? For this case maybe some sort of infrared detector
just under the bow? I was also thinking of a kill switch hooked to the
ladders. Ladder down, engine ignition disabled. There really is not much
in the area of protecting people from the prop. While few of these
accidents happen the results are horrific. Prop guards reduce performance a
lot so it needs to be some sort of engine kill.