PONTOON BOAT INJURY CASES

At www.888BoatLaw.com we are a 25-year Florida maritime law firm who see many types of boating injuries in our boating accident practice. One of the most prevalent genre of cases we see involve pontoon boat injuries.  There are several reasons why that is the case.

First, pontoon boats are heavily featured in boat club fleets. This is true for not only the larger boat clubs like Freedom Boat Club and Carefree Boat Club, but also pontoon boats are featured in smaller single-location boat clubs. Pontoon boats are also featured in many boat rental locations. What is common in both of these locations—boat clubs and boat rentals—is many vessel operators who have little boating experience. That is not to say none of the members of boat clubs or those who rent boats have no experience, but many of the operators have limited experience. There is also the factor that the boat club members or boat renters may not have much experience if any, specifically operating a pontoon vessel. Pontoon boats handle differently than v-hull vessels.

Second, pontoon boats are outfitted differently than other types of vessels.  While they appear safer when passengers are on the vessel, pontoon boats have several dangerous aspects. Most pontoon vessels have an extended bow area up front which is outside of the gated passenger area. This extended bow area can give an impression that it is OK to sit on that section while the vessel is under way. We have seen many serious injuries which arise from this scenario. Unfortunately, if the vessel is under way and a person falls from the front of the vessel they are generally channeled toward the outboard engine and propeller. Even if an operator sees a person fall in from the bow section the operator may or not have time to stop the outboard engine. These cases result in some of the most serious life-changing injuries to passengers.

Third, visibility on pontoon vessels can be limited when passengers are in the water around the pontoon boat. This is because of the relatively large footprint of pontoon vessels. Propeller strike injuries can and do occur when the vessel operator cannot see a passenger near the stern of the vessel.

Fourth, some pontoon boat manufacturers add on slides and additional decks. Adding an upper deck to a pontoon vessel can lead to serious injuries.  The passenger must climb a ladder to get to the upper deck—not always a safe bet when there has been consumption of alcohol as is often the case on pontoon boats. Also, having passengers on a second level of a pontoon boat—from a liability standpoint—is a bad idea.  If a passenger jumps, dives, flips, or falls from the second level into shallow water it can result in life-changing injuries including death or paralysis. Adding a slide to the second level of a pontoon vessel is an equally bad idea from a liability standpoint. Passengers can crash into each other using the slide, or they find out when the boat moves with the tide, or waves, or wind, that they land on hard bottom and suffer devastating orthopedic injuries. Or worse if the passenger decides to go down the slide headfirst.

Fifth, pontoon boats do not handle like v-hull vessels. Pontoon boats are not intended to handle rough water, high waves or large wakes from other vessels. Pontoon vessels can flip and eject passengers into the water and this is especially true if the vessel has too many passengers or the weight in the vessel is not appropriately distributed. This is something the captain of the vessel must understand and control.

Pontoon vessels look safe, but they produce some of the worst injuries of all the boating injury cases we see at www.888BoatLaw.com. Some of these pontoon boat injury cases involve propeller-strikes to passengers, some involve second deck or slides attached to pontoon boats. Many of these severe injuries are caused by operator error where the pontoon vessel has been placed in the hands of an inexperienced operator by a boat rental business or boat club—or the vessel owner just made a mistake.  If you sustained injury arising from a pontoon boat call us to discuss your case.

Don’t trust your pontoon boat injury incident case to just anyone. Contact the law firm that specializes in this law and is handling these types of cases right now throughout all of Florida. (Check what our clients say about us when you Google 888boatlaw.com reviews.)

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