The American Boat & Yacht Council (ABYC) in a non-profit, member organization that develops voluntary safety standards for the design, construction, maintenance, and repair of recreational boats.
ABYC standards represent the pinnacle of safety practices. Adhering to these standards while buying, repairing, or surveying a boat guarantees that the vessel meets the highest safety criteria, giving you peace of mind on the water.
Over 400 volunteers gather to update and create the ABYC engineering standards make sure your experience will remain safe, reliable and enjoyable. Today, 90% of boats on the water are built to ABYC Standards and over 5,000 technicians are trained and certified by ABYC so that your boat is maintained with highest level of technical expertise.
What does that mean to you? When you think about boating safety the obvious would include life jackets and understand boating navigation rules. What you may not think about right off the bat is the design and construction of the boat. ABYC is here so you don’t HAVE to worry about that part of your boating experience!
Let’s put this in a simple scenario. Do you think about the action that it takes to put a boat in forward or is it second nature? Pull the neutral holding lock, slowly ease the shift handle forward, easy, safe, a no brainer.
Do you know why you have to pull the neutral holding lock?
Years ago many accidents were occurring due to the unintentional shift of these types of throttles. Think about it, a boat is idling at the dock your friends and family throw in some gear, hit the throttle and it accelerates, without warning causing all kinds of damage. Or how about your loose shirt catching on the throttle? All very real possibilities.
The solution? After ABYC’s intense research of the root causes of these type of accidents, the neutral holding lock was born! Tested to 75 pounds this device eliminated this type of accident, all with very little impact on the way you use your boat.
This is what we are about – safety and reliability!
ABYC has been a key player in many safety improvements since its inception in 1954. From early accidents involving the lack of ignition protection, to modern issues such as Carbon Monoxide poisoning or electric shock drowning, ABYC leads the way in research and provides reasonable, attainable solutions.
The standards and technical information reports cover all the major boat systems and the development and annual review of these standards correlates directly to the significant reduction in the number of boating accidents over the past six decades.