suggestions for rigging emergency shut off?

[geezer]

read on another forum about guy whose boat sunk 5 miles out, real quick. Was thinking that as I will be fishing alone in an older aluminum boat I should be prepared and a lanyard shut off would be advisable in case I fall out. I have a merc 120 I/o. Can anyone advise an easy to understand method, to what wire can I rig something, maybe right at/near the engine? Love this site, been lots of help to me. Thanks to all posters.

[Sk8man]

Maybe get some ideas from these kill switches and then choose your "poison"

 

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=boat+kill+switch&id=21BF2D4F900C47AC01DEE5B082AEAF00A5076A9F&FORM=IQFRBA

[kayaker919]

I have used the Autotether for 3 years now. Fortunately have not needed it. I fish solo often and the thought of falling overboard rigging a line or netting a fish and watching my boat troll off to Canada is one of my nightmares! It does work well as I test it periodically and occasionally walk away from the boat at dock and come back to it "triggered". Just need to remember to turn it off before you leave the boat to preserve the batteries.

 

Edited June 24, 2015 by kayaker919

[J.D.]

I fish solo most of the time, and I've given the Autotether a good look, but can't bring myself to trust my life to a battery powered gizmo.  I have a cutoff switch like Sk8man shows above. The red cuttoff cord is attached to a heavy 1" wide webbed strap about 7 feet long ( I have a small boat), and clipped onto the back strap of my auto inflate pfd. I can move around the boat with no problems.  If I go over, the cord pulls out stopping the motor, the pfd inflates to pop me up like a cork, and I have a folding ladder on the transom to get back in the boat.

 

  Should I be cold, injured, or not have the strength to climb the boarding ladder, ( I'm old now), My Merc outboard has a trim switch on the side of the motor to help out. I can hug the motor with my feet on the cavatation plate, hit the trim switch, and the motor will tilt up almost horizontal and I can slide off the motor into the boat. A co-worker used this method a few years ago spring fishing from his bass boat in cold water. With the heavy, wet clothes, he couldn't pull himself back in the boat after he fell off, but used the big Merc outboard and trim switch to lift him back to safety.

 

Just my $.02

[jimalbert]

I have personal experience with the auto tether and like it a lot.  A friend of mine bought one after he was ejected from his partners 19' Skeeter while we were fishing a BFL tournament on Lake Champlain.