4th of July Boating Safety Message from Mercury Marine

The Fourth of July is almost upon us, and for many that means taking to the water. Mercury Marine is committed to educating the public regarding boating safety awareness. As respected anglers and guides on the Mercury team, we're asking you to help spread the message by posting the below safety tips on your Facebook and Twitter pages and communicating them to your clients and fans while on the water. With your help, we hope to make this Fourth of July holiday a safe one on the water.

BOATING SAFETY TIPS

• Before and during operation, make sure everyone on your boat is in the proper passenger position. Sit down and hold on. You don’t want your passengers to be in a position that could result in them falling overboard. Also, don't sit or stand at the front of a moving pontoon boat.
• Always wear your lifejacket. It can save your life. The majority of boating fatalities involve people who drown without a lifejacket on.
• Watch out for the propeller. Shut off the engine whenever anyone is in the water near your boat. Placing the engine in neutral is not enough.
• Use your lanyard cut-off switch. Things can happen quickly on the water. Make sure your engine will shut off if you are not in the operator’s position.

Protect Your Engine

There are two products I have been using for my Mercury Pro XS during the past few months that I have really come to appreciate.  Both have been really easy to use and protect my engine as I trailer back and forth to the lake.  The products I am talking about are from a company called Raveling Outdoors and are the M-Y Wedge and Centering Clips.

The M-Y Wedge was something I looked into after using the standard transom saver for a few weeks.  This was a brand new boat, but I could already see the rubber starting to wear on the transom saver.  I did some research and found that many prefer something other than the typical transom saver since they sometimes cause problem with lower units after wear and tear from trailering.

After talking with some of my friends they mentioned getting a transom saver like the M-Y Wedge.  One of my friends had one that was included with his Yamaha when he got the engine new.  In fact, Raveling Outdoors makes them for Yamaha.  This should say something about the quality and effectiveness of the product.

The centering clips are also very easy to use.  You can see in my video below just how easy it is.  They help to prevent the engine from moving side to side on outboards with dual hydraulic steering.  Check them out at M-YWedge.com

A long road ahead

We are leaving today for Arkansas.  It's a long trip ahead (over 20 hours).  The good thing is we have something great to look forward to.  We will be at the Legend factory on Friday to pick up our brand new boat.  We couldn't be more excited.  This is what is waiting for us when we get there.  This is a picture from a few weeks ago before it was totally completed.  I can't wait to see the finished project.