Boat fire
 

I am assuming this was at Anchor Marine, but the story does not specifically say that. Anyone happen to catch any images of it on their web cam?

Do you think the guys wife knew he had a boat? (only kidding) Glad to see they were unharmend and the fire was controlled.

Channel 5 (Boston) just ran a home video of the boat fire on the 6:00 news. Quite the fire! Name of the boat? Nine Lives (guess not, huh?)

MASS MAN FLEES BURNING BOAT :(

Refueling proceedure
 

Refueling is probably the most dangerous thing that you will ever do in your boat. I have seen fuel nozzles placed in air vents and fishing rod holders!

I expect that this was not the case at the Weirs this weekend. The crew at Anchor Marine are experienced at their jobs. But something must have gone wrong.

It is possible that the fuel fill line or deck fitting broke or became disconnected. Maybe a hole in the tank. Either way proper refueling procedures would have (should have, could have?) prevented the fire.

Here goes, again:

Portable tanks are removed from the boat filled on the dock and then returned to the boat.

Prior to fueling...

Close all doors, hatches, etc.
Turn off EVERYTHING electrical. Radios. lights and yes, even the bilge blower.
THE SMOKING LAMP IS OUT!

Fuel up, don't over fill.

After fueling...

Turn on the bilge blower and run it for a minimum of four minutes. Yes, I know that this is a pain when you have boats waiting to get in to your space at the dock. When they designed your boat they made a dicision on what capacity boower to install and a four minute run time was part of their math.

Then, and this is the most important part, open the hatch and sniff for fumes with your nose. If there are flamable gasses above the lower explosive limit (LEL) you will smell them. Yes this works!

When you combine fuel tanks, engines and batteries within the confines of a bilge fires are bound to happen. But by following refueling procedures you can
stack the deck in your favor.

Misty Blue.

Great Advice
 

I have no idea how this accident happened but Misty Blue has great advice.

Make sure you start those blowers as soon as they finish pumping. On crowded days the fuel dock people will often untie you and move you along as soon as they can, sometimes before the boat is even started. They usually won't push you off until you pay, so hold on to your payment until you're ready to leave.

I agree about the bilge blower running for at least four minutes. That is easy to do. However, not all boats lend themselves to lifting a hatch and getting a nose full of whatever odors lurk within.

My last boat was a well known pocket cruiser, 26 feet with mid cabin and all the whistles and bells. A 454 I/O was deep in the belly of the hull, covered by a (big selling point) flat floor. In order to access the bilge for a sniff, one had to:

1.) Move all the occupants to someplace else than the rear of the boat.

2.) Remove the aft table top and find a place for it.

3.) Pull out the mounting tubes if they didn't stick in the table top. (find a ..)

4.) Pull up the snap-in carpet and find a place for it.

5.) Pull up the knob on one of the two fiberglass floor panels and lift off.
(try to balance on edge, too heavy to move and no place for it unless
you start throwing people, tables and carpet overboard.)

6.) Now try and lean your hat rack below the floor and breathe in deeply.
( ignore the pain from your twisted back...it will heal......next week.)

7.) Congratulations, you have sniffed the bilge!

8.) Now, recall the words spoken by Clint Eastwood in that great movie,
In The Line Of Fire, when he had to get out of bed quickly and pick all
his weapons up.........
"Now I've gotta put all this s#$&*back on." :rolleye2:

Fire was at the Weirs dock. Freinds of ours were right beside the boat when the engine compartment exploded. Boat had just been filled when the male operator started the boat. The engine compartment covers blow wide open with both the male and female trapped in the boat. Freinds and dock operators tried to put out the fire with wth their extinguishers and thought they had it out when the the engine compartment reignited. Both operators could not get off the boat so, they were instructed to go into the cabin and out of the port hole. Cabin was filling up with heavy black smoke when the female was screaming she could not open up the hatch. The male went into the cabin and was able to open up the hatch. She climbed out and jumped onto the dock, but the male was starting to sucumb to the smoke. By the time he had gotten off the boat he was pretty dazed. Back of boat was totally on flame within a minute. Unsure what had ignited the boat, but imediatly during the starting of the motors the engine compartment exploded.

Refueling ar Regular Gas station
 

What about when you get gas at a regular gas station do the same rules apply as if you where on lake?

When I get gas a the gas station , I can't remember the last time a started the boat right away:confused: :confused: but when I get to the ramp I DO start the blowers while I unstrap the boat and get out the fenders and dock lines;)

Betty & I were returning from Meredith when she spotted the fire; I got nosy and we took a closer look. Very, very, scary stuff.

I've posted a photo to my user area, and will link it to the thread as soon as Don has approved it. Or, Don can feel free to do the link if he wishes.

I use the boat's blowers religiously, but after seeing this I think that a fume detector in the bilge is in my near future.

Silver Duck

I can't find a link to the video on the Channel 5 website. Channel 9 is a sister station to Channel 5. As is typical for Channel 9, the link labeled video of Laconia boat fire, leads to a video about the NH primary elections.

Nightwing,

Yep it can be a royal pain in the ARSE,

However, going through steps 1 through 8 is better than step 9.

Step 9?

The fire, explosion, injury and possible death not only to you and yours, but dock workers and anyone else in the area.

I know that your post was 90% in jest, but as Misty Blue accurately points out, refueling is the most dangerous thing that you will routinely do with your boat.

Here is a photo from the 60's showing that it could happen back then. In this case the owner knew he had a gas tank leak but failed to have it repaired. Resuled in the loss of his boat.
http://www.winnipesaukee.com/photopo...&name=jacksonB

No argument there. My point was that sometimes convenience and marketing trump common sense.

This is not just a water issue. It's a safety issue. There is a hazard no matter where you fuel your boat or start the motor. Take all possible precautions.

Good luck!

I highly recommend stuffing your face right in the blower's output vent for a second or two while waiting. Not only will gas fumes be immediately apparent, you can often discover other engine room problems this way since the "standard smell" will become locked in memory and new smells will be immediately obvious. Any new odor should be investigated immediately.

One other safety item one should not overlook: Routinely inspect and replace (as needed) the bilge blower and vent hoses. The blower and vent hoses are designed to route fresh air and draw satle air to/from the bottom of the bilge. If the bilge blower inlet hose is not attached or leaking, the blower will be vastly less effective. If the outlet hose is not attached, the blower will be utterly ineffective.

video
 

Here's WMUR's video of the boat fire. http://www.wmur.com/video/9562432/index.html

Boat Fire At Anchor Marine
 

From my understanding, the boat owner did run his blowers for a few minutes before starting one of his engines. Apparently he had a fuel leak, something blowers won't take care of. (This is something I heard second hand from a fellow that knows the owner of the Nine Lives.)

Whether the fuel leak was somewhere on the filler or the fuel lines running from the tank(s) to the engines is one of those questions that may never be answered.

Here's a photo of the burning boat
 

Betty took this from our boat. The quality isn't super good, since she was using a high "zoom" (I wan't about to snuggle up to that thing :eek: ) and our boat was rocking, but it will give you all an idea of just how scary this was to watch. Especially since we didn't know at the time whether everybody had escaped.....

http://www.winnipesaukee.com/photopo...re_-_small.jpg

Silver Duck

Is that Doris or Sophie on the left? I thought I heard that the dock was empty.

A reminder to me
 

Glad to hear that the folks involved in the accident are safe.

It serves as yet another reminder to me to be safe in all aspects of boating and waterfront activities.

Each year that goes by I realize more and more the huge responsibility that I assume each and every time I "turn the key". The pre-launch safety list. The navigation skills learned and practised. The ability to safely drive the boat in bad conditions of wind, rain, wakes. To drive safely at night. To handle the boat well when docking or close maneuvering.

All of these are important, but I will admit to having a more casual attitude about re-fueling and running the blower for 4 minutes prior to re-starting. After all, "when was the last time you even heard of a boat catching on fire after gassing up"? Well, this was my wakeup call.

Again, awfully glad to re-learn this lesson...