Boat kill switch lanyard ?

[S. Sass]

How many of you actually wear it?

Come on now be honest you wont get a ticket. 

[A-Jay]

It's all fun & games . .

Until it's not.

 

I wear it religiously and I'd appreciate it if everyone did - just so their un-manned boat doesn't hit me.

A-Jay

[S. Sass]

What made me think about it was this pic. My key is on the left of the steering wheel with a red lanyard and would be obvious. It just caught my attention because mine is always hanging there and yours wasnt.  

[A-Jay]

10 minutes ago, S. Sass said:

What made me think about it was this pic. My key is on the left of the steering wheel with a red lanyard and would be obvious. It just caught my attention because mine is always hanging there and yours wasnt.  

It's connected to the Throttle on the starboard side (not pictured) under my right forearm.

A-Jay

[S. Sass]

Now in the second video just what was so important that Greg was flying (no pun intended) so fast and so close behind that other boat? Was there mechanical failure?

The first video if the driver wasn't knocked out someone should knock his ___ out. There were several hints God or Karma already shook that boat a few times and he didn't let up. The old saying, Play stupid games win stupid prizes seems to fit. 

[fishnkamp]

i used to live in Pa years ago and it was pretty early on in my fishing life. The tournament trail I fished would disqualify you if you cranked the outboard up without your life vest and kill switch properly zipped and connected.  This applied to you even if you did it just to put from spot to spot.  This made me get in the habit of leaving the kill switch lanyard hooked to my life vest and always put it on, zip it up and hook it up!  If I did not do the same thing every time I know I would get caught at some time. To this day every time I prep my boat I layout the life vests and attach the kill switch lanyard.  I am kinda glad they made me get into that habit.  

[Ohio Archer]

Just about every time I run the outboard.  It's connected to my life jacket.  On my bass boat I may not have my jacket on when starting it the first time while it is still on the trailer.  Been acting cold natured and have had to get up to pump the fuel ball a couple times.  Once it fires the jacket with lanyard goes on. 

[curtis9]

I used a jersey lanyard so I could connect to my wrist since I wore my life jacket all the time. I found that more convenient than connecting to my jacket everytime.

[Way2slow]

As mentioned, the lanyard is not on the remote key switch.  If you have the full control head and using it, it would be located in it, but when using a remote switch, the kill switch is also remoted.  My key switch is on the left, my kill switch is on the right side of the steering wheel.

When I first get in the boat, I hook the lanyard to my life vest.  My life vest always stays in the drivers seat, either laying in it while I'm fishing, or on me while I'm running and the lanyard stays connected to it the whole time.  I don't fish with my vest on (unless it's cold as h*** and I want that extra insulation),

I wear an auto inflating vest I put on before I launch the boat and don't take back off until the boats back on the trailer.  I do this because I've seen more than one person end up in the lake just trying to get in or out of the boat.  Trip up stepping off the dock into the boat, and you could wind up on America's Funniest Home Videos, hopefully with your vest keeping you afloat.    

[S. Sass]

Guess I didn't know jersey lanyards existed till now. Thanks

[gim]

Those videos are insane.  Really brings things into perspective

[lo n slo]

i do

[S. Sass]

The thread was just a round about way of giving safety reminder. AJ posting those videos should wake some of us slackers up. I am guilty of not hooking up every time. Usually when I am just making a short run I skip hooking up.  Hopefully I will make a better effort now. That was just brutal to watch but it can happen to any of us.   

[Scott F]

There was another thread here lately asking about guys falling out of the boat. I have a story but it is probably better posted here. A year or two after I purchased my first boat, this was at least 25 years ago, I was on a spring trip on Kentucky Lake. It was a warm day and my fishing partner and I were going to break for lunch and make the one mile run back to camp. Like I said, I had my new Ranger a little while and was happy with how stable the boat was. You could walk on the edge of the boat and it would barely tip. Compared to the small tin boats I'd fished in before, I could not imagine how you could tip one over. My confidence was far outweighed by my ignorance. Anyway, I pushed the throttle forward and the nose went up. Just before the boat got on plane and I could trim the motor out, one of my rods started moving and I thought it might fall out of the boat. As I reached for it with my left hand, I must have relaxed my grip on the steering wheel and the wheel quickly spun out of my hand and the boat turned hard right. The next thing I knew, I was hitting the water, having been thrown out. As I said, I was ignorant and neither of us was wearing a life jacket and the kill switch was not attached to me. I am not much of a swimmer but I came up, looked around and saw my boat still turning in tight circles in the middle of the lake. Luck was with me that day. First, that my partner and I were both thrown outside the circle that the boat was making. Second, that other fishermen saw us and soon plucked us out of the water. And third, that my boat did not strike anyone or anything else. A  CPO got me on his boat and tried to stall my boat by throwing a bundled up rope in its path but it did not work. After about 45 minutes, the boat ran out of gas and stopped. The only damage done was to my partner who cut his chin on the way out of the boat. I was shaken up by what could have been a fatal mistake but thanked God we came out OK.  Obviously, I learned quite a lot that day about the importance of life jackets and kill switches.

[BassnChris]

Worn/connected every time.

[Redlinerobert]

The guy that drove through that other boat's wake at that speed was asking for trouble.  Why individuals get themselves in situations like that is beyond me. 

I always wear my vest to which my kill switch is attached to when I'm running the big motor.  I also purposely avoid situations like that posted the aforementioned video. 

[Fishing Rhino]

I always wear, and use the safety lanyard.  I clip the free end to a belt loop.  When I get up, I pull the lanyard free from the safety switch, and put that end in a pocket below the belt loop.  It's never in the way, or hanging loose from the safety switch. 

By the way, it is important to know that by pulling the lanyard free from the safety switch, you cannot forget to hook it up to the switch, and start the motor.