When I was a program director for a YC junior program, I pushed pretty hard for propguards to be applied to any motorboat working around the Juniors. Honestly jetdrives would've been a better solution but to completely refit an organization's boats with new systems would be a disaster. I was surprised by the amount of resistance I received when pushing for for the propguards, with the most common criticisms being performance and entrapment issues. On the performance issue, it never was really an issue, our coaches spend at least 90% of their time on the water going sub 10 knots, so the reduction in top speed was negligible. When I test drove a boat fitted with a propguard (10' Whaler), I didn't feel as if the boat's slow speed maneuverability was impacted drastically, but I feel like higher horsepower outboards on boats in the 18ft+ would've had more difficult handling issues, especially if you have a boat with more than one outboard.
My rule is that if you're talking about small coaching operations, with a relatively unskilled group of operators, you 100% should apply Propguards to MOST of your boats. Most meaning the boats that will be out with the large groups of young juniors in slow boats. If you have a RIB that you're coaching 29ers with, one would expect you to have a much more experienced driver at the helm and are working with smaller numbers of boats than the part of your program associated with younger juniors, so a propguard probably wouldn't be as applicable there.
Propguards reduce the dangers that motorboats present to a program and, while not being a substitute for hiring employees who possess the skills or training them to operate a motorboat efficiently, minimize the effects operator error play in many programs. So long as your coaches know to use the same caution they would if the boat had no propguard, they do protect against injury in the event of a mishap. They also protect your props from when your coaches inevitably tap the rocks which is pretty cool.
My rule is that if you're talking about small coaching operations, with a relatively unskilled group of operators, you 100% should apply Propguards to MOST of your boats. Most meaning the boats that will be out with the large groups of young juniors in slow boats. If you have a RIB that you're coaching 29ers with, one would expect you to have a much more experienced driver at the helm and are working with smaller numbers of boats than the part of your program associated with younger juniors, so a propguard probably wouldn't be as applicable there.
Propguards reduce the dangers that motorboats present to a program and, while not being a substitute for hiring employees who possess the skills or training them to operate a motorboat efficiently, minimize the effects operator error play in many programs. So long as your coaches know to use the same caution they would if the boat had no propguard, they do protect against injury in the event of a mishap. They also protect your props from when your coaches inevitably tap the rocks which is pretty cool.
