Tiller Safety/Firsthand experience

  • Brian Klawitter
    Keymaster
    Minnesota/Wisconsin Mississippi River
    Posts: 59992
    #1059690

    PS I have three in my boat and it doesn’t leave the dock until all aboard are wearing PFD’s.

    The reason I’m “pimping” them, is because they are THE best. If they aren’t comfortable enough to be worn all the time and turn a person over if the unthinkable happens, what good are they?

    I will admit, they don’t sell well in stores, but once on most people forget they are wearing a pfd. So much so, I’ve called people after a guide trip to bring back my Float Techs because they’ve left for home while wearing them.

    More than once!

    Mike W
    MN/Anoka/Ham lake
    Posts: 13294
    #1059753

    How do those work in the winter time Brian when a guy is wearing a lot of clothes. Do they fit well over all the cold weather gear or even under some of it? Its always been a toss up for me if I want to wear my PFD over or under some of my cold weather gear. On one hand you need water to contact it to inflate. On the other hand Im thinking I may need to shed some layers in the cold water to be able to move around.

    Brian Klawitter
    Keymaster
    Minnesota/Wisconsin Mississippi River
    Posts: 59992
    #1060052

    The MUST be worn over the top of your other clothing (except for the jacket they come with).

    Wearing a Float Tech over a SnoSuit would work fine (22 pounds min buoyancy), but then the pfd will be too large for summer wear.

    Personally, I’ll wear the Type III in the cold winter months under the SnoSuit…hoping I can get out of the jacket once in the water. If I’m wearing the bibs only, the Float Tech works just fine.

    walinutz
    Cologne, MN
    Posts: 370
    #1060161

    It is a must for Tiller boats!!!! and a very strong suggestion for the rest.

    I know multiple guys who have flown out of there tiller boats without them on and they are lucky to tell their stories.

    Wear them with no exceptions!!!!!!

    uffdapete
    Rainy Lake, MN
    Posts: 394
    #1062239

    Thanks for the reminder. Not intended to hijack but also have a story to add.

    A few years ago I was doing the creel survey on Vermillion and was about half way through my route on the far west end when I spotted a boat a half mile away. Approaching the boat it appeared to be abandoned, which it was. First thought was, “It’s kind of windy and maybe the boat came untied from a dock.” Circling the boat, however, left an uneasy feeling about the situation. Going to the nearest resort, I asked a few quick questions and went back out and towed the boat to the resort dock. When the owner saw it he was quite sure the boat had left their resort a few hours earlier and called 911 and a sad ending was about to unfold. The guy who was operating the boat had a wife, daughter and grandkids waiting next door for him to join them for pizza. To this day details were never made clear to me but 2 hours after first spotting the boat adrift, and after 3 different emergency units began a search, the body was found floating 300 yds from the boat. The older outboard was pre kill switch, was not running, but was in gear, with the throttle what would probably have been a fast idle and 4 PFD’s in the bottom of the boat. The most haunting memory was explaining the initial scene to a very distraught family, a rod hanging over the side of the boat as if it’d just been put down and a fish basket in the bottom of the boat with a limit of walleyes.

    That night and shift ended with a 45 minute boat ride back to where the creel boat was kept, thinking a lot about boating safety cause personally I’m no safer than average Joe. On the job, yes… partly because it’s required and partly cause of getting older. One question kept coming back. If I’d been there perhaps a few minutes earlier to witness the accident, would I have been in a position to help? It made me think of what I need to do and to have in place to be prepared for something like that and to prevent it in my boat.

    arklite881south
    Posts: 5660
    #1062302

    Another reminder and thanks for sharing Wes. Guys like us that spend countless hours on the water simply have a greater chance of experiencing things like this. I hope we all consider safety this season as we charge into opening weekend. My buddy and I have been tethered up ever since this incident. In fact we’ve both reminded each other. IF you hit something with a tiller the chance of that boat going into a tight spin at whatever speed your traveling is very likely. The chance of staying in the boat is less likely. We were both VERY fortunate in our experience.

    Still as 2 fishing guides that each spend 100 plus days on the water each season this was a not so gentle reminder.

    So sad to hear of stories like that one. How life can change so fast. A guy that could have been anyone of us was probably in 7th heaven after catching a limit of walleyes. His family was waiting for him to get to the dock for dinner. Lord knows we’ve all been there a thousnand times. In fact I tell my wife DON’T worry about me; I am a fishing addict an if a bit late……….Probably on some good fish!! Nobody will ever know precisely what happened, but falling out of the boat is unfortunately not very uncommon. Knowing this points to all of us being sure we can kill our motor and stay afloat. PERIOD.

    I hope a certain amount of anglers that have followed this thread will take an extra step this year to ensure they’ll be fishing with us again next season!! Heck Overachieve……..Even share this story with your a fishing buddy.

    Brian Hoffies
    Land of 10,000 taxes, potholes & the politically correct.
    Posts: 6843
    #1062351

    Stuff happens fast and not one of us is immune to it. What separates us is we have been told to wear life jackets and to use our kill switches. NOBODY who has read this thread has a excuse.

    I’m pretty good with the life jacket part but will admit I have never once tethered up. I will make a effort to do that this year.

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