New Safety Addition to the Ranger

Fell Marine MOB Wireless Safety Switch

The incident on Lac Seul last may got me thinking about a number of safety issues.  One of the issues is the safety shutoff tether that every boat has, it is supposed to connect to your self, maybe to your life vest so if one got thrown out of the boat, it would shut the outboard motor off preventing the so called circle of death.  This occurs when no one has control of the motor and the natural torque of the motor forces the boat to make circles in one direction, eventually running the operator over with little one can do.  Hooking up the tether has it's own problem as it really only allows movement withing a couple of feet of the drivers position and does not allow any movement in the boat without pulling the tether out and shutting the motor off.  After researching this I discovered a wireless MOB (Man Over Board) device that will allow one to walk around the boat without stopping the engine, however once the red fob hits the water of get's 50 feet from the device the engine will shut off.  The problem is that often I forget to attach the tether to the life vest, however I can simple put the fob around my neck or attach it to the life vest and VIOLA, I am connected wireless to the emergency shut off.  The boat motor will not start unless one pushes the center button on the fob to connect to the base unit shown here in black.  Once connected the green light comes on and you can start your motor, a nice fail safe feature. If you end up overboard and have someone in the boat, or something goes wrong with the red fob, one can press the center button on the main unit and override the system to start the boat.  Also one can stop the motor by simply pressing the button on the red fob or the main unit.  It also serves as a theft preventative device as not many people are familiar with this system.  Except for finding a good place to mount it the installation went pretty smooth and it looks good in the boat.  Last weeks post dealt with our trip to Mille Lacs and this device was operational during that time and work very well.  Truth is I hope I never have to rely on it however it seemed like a great idea as I am not getting any younger and the emergency cutoff tether is there for a reason!  One might as well take advantage of the current technology.

Ben and his family with a nice catch of fish

So last week my Godchild, Ben Aiona went out on Lake Michigan trolling for Salmon and trout.  He called asking me some questions and I stayed in touch with him as it reminded me of the time in 1986 when his dad Kevin and I went with another friend, Gary Barneson, who lived in Appleton, WI and would troll with his 14 foot Lund with a 25 hp motor.  We weren't much better as I ran a 16 foot Lund Pro Angler with a 50 hp motor.  In Wisconsin you can use 3 lines trolling so we rigged up 2 downriggers, ran 2 Dipsy Divers, and I had made 2 planer boards to fish off the side of the boat 50 - 75 feet.  We caught all sorts of fish however Gary eventually moved back to Eleva and the fishing changed on Lake Michigan so we stopped going there.  Well Ben decided to try it and did OK, getting a load of salmon and a few Lake trout at 150 feet. I still have all the equipment and lures so it would be fun to try it again.  Actually the last time I was on Lake Michigan fishing was maybe in 1987 with my brother Steve and my dad, we did pretty well then but I can't find any pictures. Informing Ben that I still have some stuff and it's been sitting in my garage for 30 years he might as well put it to good use, so we decided that we need to get together soon and get him set up.   Now that I am retired and I have a young buck to wait on me maybe I will have to join him some day as my boat would be perfect for this kind of fishing.  I know we are going to try and get to Lake Erie next spring.

This week my goal was to get out on the river but is was awfully hot.  I did help my neighbor Brian with his friends  Lowrance HDS 9, Gen 3, as they were going to Lac Seul.  We were successful in getting his map to the level he wanted it as well, I was able to show him some tricks that would make his experience on Lac Seul much more enjoyable.  Being quite knowledgeable with these electronics it was fun to help out and I am anxious to talk with him when they get back to see if it helped.  It's supposed to finally cool down this weekend, it will be a nice change of pace to the hot and humid weather we have had.