Whirlaway or NO Whirlaway

[blondie#1]

Hey! Do any of you guys know if the GN boat that Lance Faulkner was in had a prop release. It's important for me to know. It will help me decide if I should really put one in my boat or not. How about the other guy Mike? Thanks for your imput.

[Rexone]

Seems to be quite a range of opinions on this one which I think is a good thing. As I stated earlier, I'd be comfortable personally at 60-65 goin along and shuttin the key off. 75-80, gettin a little on the edge there. Depending on the boat it would "probably" be fine with just a little stuff, hit the steering wheel, maybe a little sore, etc. That's how I feel about it "personally".
Now would I recommend what I would be comfortable with personally to anyone else? Not a chance. I'm not much of a gambler. In our litigeous (sp?) society it's unfortunate but it seems many times people can't claim responsibility for their own decisions and actions. To some, it would be thier normal thought track to blame the racing assn that didn't take every step possible to guarantee their safety in the event they locked up a motor and went on their head and got hurt (in this case not requiring a whirlaway). Remember, anyone can (and many times will) sue anyone else for anything regardless of actual fault, liability releases, etc. Therefore, if I was running a racing assn. I'd have to insist on every safty implementation known to man. It's unfortunate in my opinion that it has to be this way and people can't make their own choice to some degree whether they run a safety item like a whirlaway or not. Bottom line is though, in our society the legal implications of not requiring safety stuff if it's known it "might" have prevented a problem, are pretty substantial. And I personally would want all the legal protection I could get in this situation.
All that really boils down to very little to do with whether it's actually safe or not, and more whether you have an unacceptable level of legal liabilty or not. I don't agree with it but it's the rules we have to deal with when something goes wrong and someone is hurt or killed. Our freedoms are somewhat limited by lawyers I guess which is kind of sad.
Now having said all that, 70's and above should have releases for safety. Just my opinion.
[ October 10, 2002, 11:43 PM: Message edited by: Rexone ]

[Mr Dumass]

I gots read enough o' dis here chumps babbling about not needing dis here, not needing dat. Too much money dis here I be bettah than ya an' I know it all blah blah blah. The bottom line iz ya iz uh cheap bastard dat should just hop da fence ta git into da race ta watch, or ya should hide under uh blanket an' sneak into da race since ya can't afford it. slap mah fro!

[FlatOut4Me]

Installing a whirlaway is on my "to do list" because of the safety aspect...the previous owner poorly located the kill switch & I knocked it off with my knee on the top end. (my face got real friendly with the bubbledeck) eek! Still there are several things higher on the list, all of which to go faster. Is it true that running a whirlaway will allow shifting from neutral to GO while the motor is running? What's needed? How hard on parts? Thanks for any info.

[GofastRacer]

Well, I see you got educated the easy way!!..Yes you can put it in gear while the motor is running, I do it all the time but it's not recomended if the motor is idling over 1200 rpm!.If you have a blown motor, as the motor rolls, you can drop it in gear as it comes down and it won't hurt it at all!!..BTW, if the plan is to go faster, the PROP RELEASE should be a priority!!!!!!My .02.....
[ October 10, 2002, 08:34 PM: Message edited by: GofastRacer ]

[FlatOut4Me]

G.F.R. thanks for the info. It's a lake boat, but the speed bug has bitten... so more HP on the way this winter. Other then cutting the prop shaft is everything else a bolt in?

[superdave013]

blondebombshell:
Hey! Do any of you guys know if the GN boat that Lance Faulkner was in had a prop release. It's important for me to know. It will help me decide if I should really put one in my boat or not. How about the other guy Mike? Thanks for your imput.Well if you are thinking that the prop release had anything to do with those 2 crashes you are wrong. But yes they did have releases in them. The rest of what happened I'm staying out of.

[superdave013]

I can't believe people are debating this. You might as well save some more cash and wear your old EP ski jacket. Why spend the coin on a Life Line jacket?? While you are at it toss a nibral prop on it too. What the heck.
Come on people. How many racers have you seen get killed? I have seen to many myself. If there is anything that can be done to make your boat safer then do it! If you can't afford it get a bayliner.
[ October 10, 2002, 09:50 PM: Message edited by: superdave013 ]

[SK48]

Blondbombshell, both of the GN's that crashed had shaft releases. The crashes were not related to motor failures, and the shaft releases had no impact on the result of either. We could have run the GN 30 boat the next day with some electrical parts and duct tape.
Gofastracer, I have never seen an APBA GN boat without a shaft release. Several of the GN 1 boats with lots of horsepower and tall gears have the shaft release on the driveshaft side of the v-drive and not on the propshaft side. I know Lance Hasselrigs yellow Raysoncraft, and Hobans GN 30 are rigged that way. Its easier on the shaft release to spin it at crankshaft speed than 48% over on the prop shaft side.

[boatguy222]

superdave013:
I can't believe people are debating this. You might as well save some more cash and wear your old EP ski jacket. Why spend the coin on a Life Line jacket?? While you are at it toss a nibral prop on it too. What the heck.
Come on people. How many racers have you seen get killed? I have seen to many myself. If there is anything that can be done to make your boat safer then do it! If you can't afford it get a bayliner.CJ,
I think SD's post sayes it best, Thanks Dave, Maybe we can get, BeaverFab or V-drive Tom or even Andy to cut us a deal for shaft releases.
How many do we need? Do one of you guys want to step-up and help this group out?????
Also not every one runs a Casale type v-drive, can one of you guys make a release that goes in place of the split coupler on the propshafts, it has been done before, I know this would help some of the Jones boats (and others) out because of space issues. but as the group grows and people step-up to race. it's something we are going to need. and from the looks of what the guys were running this year, SOON!