How Does This Happen?

GeeBee

GeeBee

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Another senseless CO death.

My cousin's son, a licensed guide and a 6 pack Captain in Valdez was killed last week from....Carbon Monoxide from a genset. He was camping on a beach, said to others he did not feel well. Took the kayak back to the boat and was found dead when his guide partner found he had not returned, fashioned a raft from driftwood and paddled out to find him there.

As an experienced guide and Captain I would expect he knew about the dangers of CO. They said the boat was just serviced professionally. That leaves me suspicious.

One thing for sure, always inspect that genny especially after a servicing and have a CO detector!
 
quote:
Originally posted by GeeBee

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Good advice about generators and CO detectors Greg. I am sorry for the loss of your cousin's son.
Bill
 
quote:
Originally posted by rawidman

Portable or installed marine genset? CO detectors or not?

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All good questions Ron also who was the boat manufactured by?
Bill
 
I'm very sorry to hear about the loss of your cousin's son.
 
Thank you all for your sympathies. To be honest I did not know the young man all that well as I have seen him a few times only when he was a little squirt. I am trying to get more info on what happened and the equipment involved. I was the first with my family to raise the possiblity and then it turned out the coroner said cause of death is CO. I am just flabbergasted a professional could let his guard down on something like this. Sad part is he leaves a wife and two little ones, no life insurance. At 32 I guess he still thought he was imortal. I post this here mainly to again and again remind people CO happens and even to professionals. Be careful out there!
 
The Troopers will want to know why he didn't feel well and went back to the boat.
That Co2 stuff don't give you any warning.
So if he collapsed in sleep when he got to the boat, he might never have heard the Co2 Alarm even if there was one on board.

For insurance and investigative reasons, I hope the Troopers insist on an Autopsy.
 
( Thud, note that the issue is "CO", carbon monoxide, not "Co2", carbon dioxide. It is important to the discussion to get it right... Common error, however ;) )

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Safety is a continuous process, not just an event. You must deal with safety continuously, not just "do and forget".

I'm sorry to hear about the loss. It seems like such a severe penalty for what seems such a "minor" momentary lapse of attention. ( imho, it is really a major lapse, but it "seems" minor )

Let us all do our best to remember the risk of CO and the possibility of problems with it when running fossil fuel engines.
 
Bill, two "O"s is worster than one little 'o' aint it? :) Yeah I don't know all that stuff. That was always an eloquated issue amongst us guys who took heat with us in the winter.
My camper had a 'catalytic' heater. We only turned it on for awhile after everybody came in, and for a 'warmup' as we were getting out of bed in the morning.

I just wonder about the death. I really didn't think a boat could have such a tightly sealed cabin.
The Head is vented. Normally there's a vent over the stove too.
Interesting incident as far as we have heard.

Even the Ice Houses always had the escape hole just about 'nose' hi so the air wouldn't get foul.
 
Very sad

The genny servicing is probably irrelevant since CO usually get in from outside the boat,rarely from exhaust leaks

Would be interesting to know the wind and anchoring conditions. Most of these cases happen in light or no wind and/or when using stern anchors.

Good reminders to all.

Unfortunately the dangers of CO are completly overlooked in the licensing process as well as in the USCG VSC
 
"Unfortunately the dangers of CO are completly overlooked in the licensing process as well as in the USCG VSC"

I would have to say with all due respect to the CG and given the number of deaths that the CG should look at what the FAA is doing. You cannot take a written test even for a Private Pilot certificate without a CO question. In addition, there are few aircraft that do not have an inspection requirement upon the cabin heat system, in particular the heat exchanger. I have to have mine inspected every 50 hours as the result of an Airworthiness Directive.
 
I'm sorry for your loss. You don't need a closed, sealed cabin to have a CO buildup. Remember the stationwagon effect? CO will displace oxygen. We have two CO detectors on our boat; a number the manufacturer and the Coast Guard consider to be adequate; I disagree. I've had the alarm sound while we were underway, and had to go hunting for the source of the alarm. With the number of alarms on a modern boat, the CO detector sounding is often lost, especially if the boat is running. Passengers down in the cabin could be introuble before the source of the alarm is known. Over the winter, I'm going to be looking into the feasability of connecting a strobe light or two to the CO alarm. That way, its sounding is visible as well as audible. Has anyone ever done this?
 
As you said. Our CO alarm frequently alarms when we are under way. Station wagon effect. We remove the battery, battery goes back in when we go genset. (one of two detectors) Only happens when the camper top is removed. Will young people know what the "station wagon" effect is ? What's a station wagon ?
 
Just curious, has CO been determined to be the cause of death officially?
 
ITK yes, the coroner put it on the DC so it is official.

Littlebookworm, thank you. I know what you are talking about. My boat has the "station wagon" problem when the curtains are up. I just put the curtains on yesterday and as we left the dock, I opened the center eisenglass panel to create a "fresh air push". I look back at the flag on the stern to insure the air is going aft (along with 3 CO detectors in the cabin). As to putting on a strobe, if you have one of the detectors with an auto shutdown relay, just hook it to a normally open relay set between the detector and the strobe. Then when the detector goes off, the relay closes and the strobe is powered.

I am still surprised to learn according to Pascal the CG Captain's test and curriculum does not include CO as study area.
 
On a 6 pack license test you are lucky if twenty questions are asked on the Navigation Rules. Placement of a CO detector is very important.

"Our CO alarm frequently alarms when we are under way. Station wagon effect. We remove the battery, battery goes back in when we go genset."----You are joking, correct?

Why do you guys pay good money for a boat that could kill you? Proper design and engineering eliminates 99% of these issues.
 
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