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Engine kill switches on narrowboats?


Jacsprat

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42 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

You just unhook the clip off your lifejacket, leaving the C-Clip in the stop-switch

And when you get back on the boat you forget to clip on, then slip off the stern and kill switch was pointless.

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17 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

And when you get back on the boat you forget to clip on, then slip off the stern and kill switch was pointless.

Agreed , it has to become a habit - when were using outboard powered fishing boats it was 'normal' - life jacket on, & if you are the helm, you hook the OB kill-switch on.

It just becomes routine, like checking you oil, water, belts etc in the morning before starting the engine.

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A possible variant would be a dongle thing around your neck that would operate via radio and cut off the engine if either a) it was submerged or b) the user pressed the big red button on the front. 

 

But I would still be worried about the risks of false operation, ie the engine stopping just at the moment you need it to avoid a collision etc. KISS. For the same reason the sort of fuel system that requires electricity to keep the fuel valve open does not appeal...

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3 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Could you train the dog to stop or to steer?

I asked my dog if this was a good idea.  Because, I suspect, she's already very busy with having to sleep in the well deck, sleep on the steerer's step, sleep in front of the stove, sleep on the towpath, sleep under the pub table (an historic rather than current duty), and be prepared to sleep in any number of other places and situations at little or no notice, she gave me an old fashioned look.  For that reason, I think this option is only really feasible for those with 2 or more dogs.  :captain:

Edited by Sea Dog
grammar
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I fitted a manual pull cable to stop the engine after my stop solenoid failed to work once. I fixed the solenoid so now I have both. I don't imagine it would be that difficult to adapt the pull cable so that it could be used as a man overboard engine stop, but if you're getting on and off the boat for locks and swing bridges I think removing and reattaching it to yourself each time would be a hassle and you'd soon stop bothering.

Edited by blackrose
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Far more useful (I think) is the neutral switch I have bought at ridiculous expense for my PRM150 gearbox which will tell me via a powerful indicator light when I should NOT as a single-hander get off the boat, once I have got around to installing it. I accept that it is not the same thing as a kill cord and doesn't fulfill the precisely same purpose but I am still waxing lyrical about its utility.

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7 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Ah, can't manage a can opener then.

Our GSD, a monster, was quite adept at opening cans, he just bit the top off.

 

I have not fallen off the back of a canal boat, yet. But for some reason I feel more secure on a small trad deck than on a big open cruiser stern.

Best of all is to sit on the roof with a longish tiller, doing the Pontcysyllte aqueduct with your back to the drop!

 

TD'

 

 

 

ifound it more interesting with a phone recording video hanging over the offside with arm hooked around a bit of steelwork on a semi trad. I have NO head for heights but found the whole experience an anti climax  

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42 minutes ago, system 4-50 said:

Far more useful (I think) is the neutral switch I have bought at ridiculous expense for my PRM150 gearbox which will tell me via a powerful indicator light when I should NOT as a single-hander get off the boat, once I have got around to installing it. I accept that it is not the same thing as a kill cord and doesn't fulfill the precisely same purpose but I am still waxing lyrical about its utility.

And for the newbies amongst us, would you be able to briefly tell us why this is useful (genuine question, genuinely interested)?

 

Thanks

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10 minutes ago, Standedge said:

And for the newbies amongst us, would you be able to briefly tell us why this is useful (genuine question, genuinely interested)?

 

Thanks

Well, when I had to jump onto a single handers boat to take the engine out of gear because he had got off to moor up with the middle rope while it was still in gear. If he had tried getting on he would have relaxed the rope and it would have moved further from the bank. Explains the need for a big reg light with the words, "do not disembark until neutral is selected" on it.

Edited by PeterF
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2 minutes ago, PeterF said:

Well, when I had to jump onto a single handers boat to take the engine out of gear because he had got off to moor up with the middle rope while it was still in gear. If he had tried getting on he would have relaxed the rope and it would have moved further from the bank. Explains the need for a big reg light with the words, "do not disembark until neutral is selected" on it.

Indeed - quite logical now you explain it - thanks!

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10 minutes ago, PeterF said:

Well, when I had to jump onto a single handers boat to take the engine out of gear because he had got off to moor up with the middle rope while it was still in gear. If he had tried getting on he would have relaxed the rope and it would have moved further from the bank. Explains the need for a big reg light with the words, "do not disembark until neutral is selected" on it.

I want one of them red lights. Alternative is to call the wife on the mobile and ask her to put it into neutral. Don't ask how I know.

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2 hours ago, system 4-50 said:

Far more useful (I think) is the neutral switch I have bought at ridiculous expense for my PRM150 gearbox which will tell me via a powerful indicator light when I should NOT as a single-hander get off the boat, once I have got around to installing it. I accept that it is not the same thing as a kill cord and doesn't fulfill the precisely same purpose but I am still waxing lyrical about its utility.

I steered a boat recently that had a nifty dial that told you which way the rudder was pointing. This was quite handy.: as we departed the lock at South Dock onto the tidal Thames, we realised that the hydraulics connecting the wheel to the rudder had been hooked up back to front! 

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Last year I managed to step off the boat whilst it was still in gear twice in one day!!!  This is tiredness after a long day, a gear lever in need of maintenance, and old age.  I didn't lose contact with the boat in either case but it is alarming.

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1 hour ago, cuthound said:

If you forget to check you have taken the Boat out of gear aren't you just as likely to forget to attach the kill switch cord to yourself or forget to look at the red "in neutral" light?

This thread is beginning to remind me of this invention (Tomorrow's World):
 

 

Edited by Scholar Gypsy
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