Dinghy kill switch-How do you use yours?

[martinworswick]

Just watched this video,made me wonder how many use the kill switch in the same way he did? what method do you guys use?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srW8dNLu2mM

[Palarran]

Well, I quickly watched the video in order to find out what the deal was. I wear it on my wrist. Look, crap happens. A meteor could hit your boat and that would ruin your day. The main point is to actually wear it.

[meirriba]

It depends how many persons are on the dinghy.
When alone I connect it to my shirt or PFD.
When there is at least another person on board I do one of the following:
1. As above but a spare kill switch onboard
2. Connected to the stern, not to driver.
These options allow the other person to operate the boat if the driver falls out.

[chrisr]

our kill switch is held open with a cable tie. enough play to push the kill switch to cut the engine when coming alongside

with a bit of common sense seamanship nothing else needed

cheers,

[Tomodore]

Always used to use kill lanyard attached to operator but current outboard is 2 stroke 4hp 2 cylinder Johnson and it does not have a lanyard kill option. Mostly the throttle springs back to slow idle when released but I don’t like the feature of no lanyard. It is a small less powerful outboard but it still seems odd that it doesn’t have a lanyard option. Merriba has a great idea about 2 lanyards, that’s why I love this forum. A sailor here in La Paz lost a limb assisting another sailor that was being circled by his dink with a zip tie for kill switch.

[sailorboy1]

I didn't watch the video (15 minutes long !). I always attach my kill switch. It is just stupid not to!

[sguerrero1971]

We use Chums floating wrist straps, they are adjustable so you can always get a good fit.



https://chums.com/products/floating-...BoCBAQQAvD_BwE

[grantmc]

The video has been posted on CF before, post #31.

I've always thought using kill cord as a wrist or ankle bracelet is the way to go. Danny, featured in the video, was incredibly unlucky it came off. Or then again perhaps he didn't realise he'd forgotten to fit it that day.

[Group9]

Ours has a stout clip on the end which I usually clip to my belt if I am wearing one, or whatever on my pants or suit I can find if I'm not.

I fell out of a small outboard powered boat when I was about twenty y.o.a. , in a wide river. Luckily it wasn't wide open at the time, but at about 1/3 throttle, but it came back around for me, and I grabbed onto the bow and just held on for about twenty minutes, until it finally circled close enough to shore for me to stand up and stop it.

It was a frightening experience to wonder for twenty minutes if I was going to die. I don't care to do it again. (I don't even get mad when it stops, and then I can't crank it, and then realize I have accidentally leaned or moved forward and pulled the stop tab c-thing out, because then you know it's working).

[meirriba]

Originally Posted by chrisr

our kill switch is held open with a cable tie. enough play to push the kill switch to cut the engine when coming alongside

with a bit of common sense seamanship nothing else needed

cheers,

It is fine, as long you are sure that you will never fall out, while driving the dinghy alone.
Admittedly, falling out is rare, but it do happens.

[Redline452]

I always clip my lanyard to a D-ring on my inflatable PFD, or for the other PFDs (paddling jacket) ones that don't have a ring, I have D-Rings on a piece of web strap sewn on the waist of most of my swim shorts. Theoretically, if I fall out I may lose the shorts, but I'm pretty sure the engine will stop. ;-)
My only complaint about the lanyard is when I occasionally forget to remove it before climbing out of the dinghy... then it snaps off an whacks me upside the head. A reminder for the next time.

[singlespeed]

Always use it with a wrist lanyard and float. It also has the key for my dinghy lock. Makes it tough to forget one or the other key, if you don't remove the lanyard from your wrist until you are on dry land. I would guess I find two or three dinghy lock and/or outboard keys per year on dinghy docks. Owners put them down to do something immediate and forget to pick them up again.

[Lake-Effect]

I added a tether kill switch to the outboard which pushes our small sailboat. I also made 2 cheater clips. I only consider the tether when solo and doing some extended motoring.

[contrail]

i personally know of four people that fell or were thrown out of dinghies. two were killed and one badly hurt. in only one case was no one hurt, and, guess what, he had just thought to put on his lanyard. For decades, I never wore one until I realized what utter stupidity that was. Now, I always do.

[MJH]

Originally Posted by martinworswick

Just watched this video,made me wonder how many use the kill switch in the same way he did? what method do you guys use?

Great video and excellent lessons for all of us: 1. Clip the kill switch to yourself, 2. Don't drive too fast 3. Have good health insurance.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH