We were shocked recently with what we encountered with two "spurious" or or "non Yamaha" Yamaha out board engine Kill cords . During the the last few weeks, while stopping off by boat at two separate marinas around Ireland , I called into the shops for a chat and ( as you do ) bought a couple of knick knacks or small items to be polite , including on each occasion a spare Yamaha Killcord which went into the kit boxes of two of my School's Rigid Inflatable Boats which are fitted with Yamaha Outboard Engines .

A few weeks later one of these cords failed where the cord doubles back and secures on itself under a metal clip . It happened while the cord was being pulled off the throttle control box at the end of the day by an Instructor .

Obviously the metal clip had pinched the kill cord and cut into the plastic of the cord . We inspected all our other cords . They all appeared ok . A few days later , the other cord was being stretched by one of my Instructors prior to clipping it around her leg when it snapped right in the middle . Again it would appear that the plastic of the cord had just failed with out warning or discolouration / fraying of any kind .Each of these cords had been used no more than three times .

Bobby Killen of Killen Marine in Dublin is widely recognised as the Out Board Engine Guru here in Ireland and is also a Yamaha main dealer . He tells me that the genuine Yamaha Kill cord has a tough string core which means that the outer plastic covering is for protection rather than strength . The spurious ones are pure plastic with no central core so when they fail, they really fail. It also explains why they are stiffer / not as flexible to stretch .

As a result of this I have now banned spurious Kill cords from all of the boats in our Powerboat School and would advise all other outboard engine PWC users to do the same .