All that really matters is cha-ching.
DUKW boats were built with powerful bilge pumps. These get replaced with equipment that can’t keep them afloat.
A law that’s close to 200 years old could be a good candidate for jury nullification.
Is this a federal case? Is a lake in a state park deemed a “navigable waterway”?
The captain has full responsibilty for his crew and passengers. If you dont want to support that then dont ever go fishing with me because you’ll think Im and ass hole for taking care of your safety and isisting on my way or the highway. I was a sub sailor and I take boat safety very seriously. And the captian is 100% responsible for his crew and guests. you can delegate authority, you cant delegate responsibilty
IIRC these things aren't being used as they were designed.
It sounds to me like someone saw these 'boats', thought they were cheap, and could be re-purposed.
Cheap initial investment. High payout.
Didn’t he go down with the boat?
I was working within a mile of the accident on a ridge overlooking Table Rock the day this happened.
This was a particularly nasty storm that came in as fast as any in the Midwest. This was a bad situation due to the intensity and the sudden nature it hit with.
Combine that with the fact that these Duck boats are slow and the way they are built has so much weight that is “hanging” underneath (very heavy axles, very heavy wheels) of the hull. Imagine a boat with a large fraction of the weight hanging as an anchor under it and you can start to understand.
These things are very slow and lethargic traveling in the water. Add to that the big waves on a very low in the water sitting vessel and you have the perfect conditions for a tragedy.
Every since that day when I drive across the dam I think about those poor people who were just looking to enjoy the day with family and wound up losing there lives. That poor woman that lost so much of her family, I can’t begin to imagine her grief.
I was visiting near a public beach on Sandy Hook, NJ. and went for a walk on it. The beach was full of “city” folk. Hispanics mostly. Thousands of them. Could they swim? No, they were all wading out into the surf on sandbars that were surrounded by deep channels. When I got there, divers were pulling a very blue and dead “swimmer” on to the beach. The rest of the “swimmers” reminded me a chickens more interested in the feed trough than the busy chopping block.
If you can’t swim, don’t play in the water.
I used to go hang gliding at a place called Dog Mountain near Morton, WA. It was a terrific place which was soarable about 2/3rds of the time, meaning you could fly around for hours on end. Typically the wind was much to strong for paragliders, so we didn’t have to worry about colliding with the jelly fish of the skies with our much faster and more maneuverable hang gliders.
There was a guy who sold tandem hang glider flights at the state fair. And he and his partner had people scheduled for rides every half hour. They were both drinkers and pot smokers. I wouldn’t get into a car that was being driven by either of them even if they looked sober.
Dog Mountain is considered a cliff launch. So these people were lined up to jump off a cliff with these two guys. And they would launch into conditions with passengers that most of us would not ever consider launching in.
How there were no fatalities that resulted from that operation I will never understand, and I am someone who took a lot more risks in my younger years than I ever should have. God must have taken pity on them and me. But how would you ever explain jumping off a cliff with a trusting kid into a howling squall?