The few of us who think that staying with the boat is better than getting tossed are not thinking that when you stuff your boat and go underwater upside down or hit a concrete wall at 140MPH seat belts are gonna help! You are gonna get hurt if you hit something hard enough to come to a quick stop no matter what else happens after that . However, if you hit a wake or have a centrifugal event where the boat stays upright you are gonna be better off staying in it. In automobiles , there are times that the seatbelts caused major injury or even death as a result of some unusual circumstances. However, the vast majority of times they saved life. Therefore, the law stipulates that you must wear them. I don't want myself or a passenger thrown overboard if the boat is upright and seaworthy. I think the velcro seatbelts answer most of your concerns and are a good compromise which will make my boat safer. I put my money where my mouth is and bought the five person setup from tiger and will install them next week-

The" hard lesson of learning respect " statement you made implies unawareness of the risk and dangers involved in operating expensive powerboats. This is simply not true. It is the intent of this forum to examine the possibility of reducing the level of risk by use of seatbelts! If the driver is tossed overboard by hitting a wake like in the recent accident at LOTO, the " 100s a feet a second are you covering while you collect your self and try to regain control" part of your argument makes no since as that is precisely what would have prevented this potentially deadly accident! God Bless You Too!

I have previously posted why I would use lap belts in my boat. To be specific and name a real life experience, I was boating with my cat on a day of about 3-5 footers. Hit a good one and launched the boat pretty good. My girl friend has a petite body and does not fit that snug in the McLeod bolster. She shot straight up almost clearing the bolster. I grabbed her and pulled her back in the seat. A lap belt would keep her planted in the seat and hopefully not lying on the cockpit floor or hitting the dash on the rebound.

JBBeard, you seem to be taking this a little too personal. All we are doing here is stating our own opinions and reasons why we would, or wouldn't, choose to go with a restraint system in a boat. You feel strongly about your reasons in favor of, as do those of us that choose not to use a restraint system. We could list endless scenarios that would either prove them helpful or a hindrance, depending on how the individual situation unfolds. Why don't we just agree to disagree? I wish good luck to all of you that choose to install restraint systems. I sincerely hope they work as you intend them to. Personally, I will take my chances without.

Regards

And, BTW, I do "Get IT". You can't pick and choose what type of incident you're going to be involved in while "strapped in", whether it is a "centrifugal" incident, a blow-over or being hit by another boat, you just never know. Interesting side note, I notice the guys in this thread that are in favor of retraints seem to be cat owners in the 30 +/- foot range.

Good discussion in this thread. Looks like there are some serious pros and cons on both sides of the argument.

What about some kind of auto-release on a seatbelt, with the same type of fuse that's used in auto-inflating vests? It'll hold you in place during the impact, but if you're unconscious when the boat goes down, you'll come out.

Hey, if you look at a previous post, I said everyrone has the right to an opinion as to what is best for them. I am not taking this forum personally and am not on a seatbelt crusade. I just respond when i think someone has posted an infelicitous argument. no offense intended.

View this video and post your opinion on whether or not lap belts would have prevented injuries in this boating accident. Yes, there were injuries (serious) on this boat.
http://www.brightcove.com/title.jsp?title=1155180898

I think seatbelts would have saved some folks in that impact... but maybe the next one down the road would have caused him to roll...

Well after reading all this about the +,-'s and what happened to me this sunday, the belts are going to be going in my stinger fo sho, I will take the chance of the boat coming over. Me and my buddy was lets say exit stage right like rite now,thrown out, at 60+ this past sunday, what a great exp it was, but don't want it to happen again, I (we) are all very lucky to be here now, so I will take the chance on putting them in. to each is own, but thats the route I will be taking.

John

Hey that driver was way over his ability to control his boat in that sea and shudda backed off! Seatbelts would have saved his passengers some pain. I recieved mine today from tiger preformance and hope I never need them but they are gonna be there for all passengers and crew to use. Thanks for a great example of what not to do in a fun boat!