I watch a fair amount of poker run onboard videos with the drivers doing a good job of watching around them for traffic. I don't like the fact that when you turn your body around to look your are taking your eyes off what's in front of you and at the same time you typically turn the boat slightly to the direction you are looking. So my question is why don't all these boats have rear view mirrors? Even for just everyday boating with boats capable of speeds over a hundred you normally don't expect some to pass you but it happens quick. Would you drive your car with no rear view vision?

I think the biggest difference is that in a car you have lanes behind you that you are worried about, in a boat you have a lot more area to be concerned about. just looking right behind you is great but could give you a false sense of security. i guess if you had one of the big panoramic mirrors it might work but with a lot of boats you dont really have a good spot to mount it. the canopy boats have mirrors or rear view cameras. just don't think its practical on most boats

With surfacing outdrives and outboards throwing up a lot of water, the view directly behind the boat is mostly blocked. Some boats have side mirrors like a car which would help but I think a quick turn of your head gives the best view. I trained my girlfriend who is usually riding shotgun to also keep a look out for other boats and debris in the water.

When I had my quarter canopies, I did run mirrors - as I couldn't see directly out the sides of the cockpit. I would still have to look back to see what was directly behind me, but I would run my mirrors wide to see what was possibly next to me, or just aft and to the side. I did remove the mirrors once I went to the full wrap windshield though, and I can tell you my reason. Speaking as the owner of cats with surface drives, you can't see much directly behind you anyway because of the spray. Even at higher speeds when the large roostertail lays down, there's still enough whitewater spray that it makes it almost impossible to see if a boat is behind you or not through a small mirror. The small mirrors we run (speaking for Skater mirrors, which are the only style I've used, including full-canopy raceboats)) have a very limited field of view, so when positioning them to see back at an angle, but not directly behind the boat where the spray is, you still are not seeing a very large area. My experience is that you still have a "blind spot" directly beside and just off your transom - much as the "blind spot" you have in a car mirror, just much larger. If I took the mirrors off my Super Duty and mounted them to the side of my windshield, they would probably work great, but that is obviously not happening. With the new generation of full wrap windshield boats, I find it easier and safer to just swivel my head around before making direction changes. When running poker runs, I often communicate with others in the boat to help me know if it's clear to turn left or right. A lot of the big boats (especially full-canopy) run rear, and/or side facing cameras.

We had mirrors in the Skater, but, as stated, they had a limited use. I am trying to find a good set of small, rectangular wide-angle mirrors to put just inside my MTI wrap screen.

Depending on the run/situation we also have both Garmin VIRB cams lined up on the sides and feeding directly to the center large Garmin. This helps a lot but we still have swivel heads.

You can see it a bit in this picture that the two small views to the left side of the Garmin are the cameras feeds.

I am running slower then you guys but I find headsets a great help as my copilot can keep eyes behind and to the sides and keep me advised.

Padraig

Watch at 3:18......cringe moment in a 38 Powerplay. As a side note Bone Crusher 39 TG makes an appearance at 2:01 mark. Cash bar looks good airing it out on the thumbnail!