Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by Waterluvian 783 days ago
Interesting that pleasure craft have dead-man switches you can optionally affix. They’re also designed to turn anti-clockwise forever if nobody is at the wheel.

I guess because there aren’t seatbelts and these boats are usually open-top.

2 comments

Isn't this dangerous to the person falling off (assuming no dead-man switch)? You fall off only to be run over by your own craft one turn later... It does mean that the boat won't run away far though, so there's that.
> pleasure craft... turn anti-clockwise forever if nobody is at the wheel.

That's probably a result of the "paddle wheel" effect of the propellor rotating through the water: a bug not a feature.