Yesterday’s posting about the cabin cruiser in Australia exploding after fueling (HERE) got me to thinking. You hardly ever hear of that happening any more. Not nearly as much as you used to, anyway.
The first station that I was assigned to had a rescue boat and we had two marinas in our first-due. Gas fumes gathering in the hull were normal and boaters expected them to be there everytime they went to use their cruiser. It didn’t have to be after gassing up, either. Just sitting there for a week or a few hours was enough to take the precaution of venting the hull before hitting the starter button.
But still, at least a couple of times a year somebody would blast the bottom out of their boat after igniting the vapors. Usually it was due to impatience and not running the explosion-proof fan for long enough. You had to give it a good 5 minutes or more to make sure the air was clean before sending that spark out of the coil.
Since then, a lot of the larger boats are being equipped with diesel engines which are inherently safer, and much-improved venting systems on the gasoline-powered hulls. I haven’t messed around with boats in quite a while, so I’m not all that familiar with the newer systems. Maybe one of our readers can enlighten us about those.
But Sunday’s blast occurred on an older boat that had been refitted and recently sold. It was a 35-footer and about 50 years old. It’s a shame that the new owner, taking it out for the first time since buying it, didn’t know about that particular hazard. He ended up killing his parents and putting his wife into intensive care. It’s easy to say that he should learn about his boat’s dangers before he uses it. But something that is now seldom a problem is often overlooked. The finger-pointers down in Melbourne are blaming the boat broker who arranged the sale, but why should he be responsible? Others are saying that “the government” should somehow have taught this guy how to take care of his boat. Should anybody be responsible?
After reading all the blaming going around down there about it, nobody actually acknowledged that just perhaps the guy who bought the boat and tried to use it should be responsible for his own actions.
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A heads-up for you: FossilMedic’s column tomorrow is one of his most controversial yet. So, be on the watch for it.
Now let’s get this equipment checked out. I need to get some fresh coffee started.
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