Seriously bad boat explosion Ft Lauderdale

My friend's son was in the boat that had docked behind them...
 
PascalG said:
The cause will be the usual: careless operator.

Pick a couple:

No fume detector
Not checking for fumes after fueling
Poor maintenance (old fuel lines, questionable spare parts…)
Open cabin door
Not running blowers.
Click to expand...
Left out the booze!!!
 
With the way that deck separated i find it hard to believe one couldn’t smell obvious fumes all over.
 
Distractions are dangerous too..... I make everyone leave my boat when fueling so I can focus on the task and not someone wanting me to do something else for them......
 
The power of a gas vapor explosion is hard to imagine unless you witness it. Some cousins of mine decided one evening to burn a large brush debris pile pushed up by a bulldozer. Conditions were right for a stupid mistake. about 5 gals of gas was poured on the pile, and all around its edges. They decided to back away a safe distance and thrown a lighted stick or something on the pile. The result was an explosion completely blew them off their feet and maybe unconscious for a bit. Some other cousins about 500 yards away saw what they described as a small atomic mushroom cloud rise well above the trees between them and the location. They rushed to the scene and found their cousins barely able to stand and small fires almost 50 yards away for the main pile. Glad I missed that event....
 
Gasoline is nothing to play with - I am very particular when fueling my boat, generally do it alone, I pump the fuel and don't let the dock hands rush me away when I am done. Ignore the often bad advice to run your blower while you are fueling -- it stays off, turn it on AFTER you have fueled, running it while you are fueling can actually pull fumes INTO the bilge - when you are done, let everyone just wait while you open the engine hatch and inspect.
Embarrassing / stupid thing I did some years ago that reminded me how dangerous it is. At our lake house there was a common burn pile that the neighbors used and different people would light it off from time to time. One winter weekend I had put a bunch of yard debris on the pile and decided I would light it off. Could not find any lighter fluid or kerosene, so I splashed a little gasoline on it - 3-4 splashes around the pile - less than 1gal total (really did not need to put anything on it, but I did). I take a min or two to carry the can back to my truck etc - I took a fire lighter stick to light the pile - which the fumes had now had time to build up in. That thing exploded into a fireball! Thank god I had on boots, jeans, hat, gloves, long sleeve shirt - I didn't get hurt, but had a nice sunburn on my face and singed eye brows. Without the clothing I would have been in trouble. I stupid thing to do, I knew better, and it was a scary reminder.

Seeing the deck blow off that boat does not surprise me - that thing was full of fumes.
 
Years ago I had some trash in a 50 gal barrel and poured maybe 1/2 liter of gas. The explosion was impressive to say the least…

Old gassers scare me. There was an old sea ray on my dock, 25+ years old, owned by a couple of questionable looking young guys doing charters. Always fixing it, bringing cans of gas etc. I bet they were not using marine parts… eventually the marina kicked them out.

I just don’t understand why the USCG doesn’t mandate fume detectors on gas inboard boats.
 
Agreed it’s not a substitute for a careful owner but it is really nice to have!
I installed one about 10 years ago…
One thing I will say is that I have never seen anyone with gas inboards follow safe fueling procedures as described above…and when YOU do it you get dirty looks from people wanting to get in and out fast…
 
Because many inboards have the engines under the cockpit and seating areas…
 
Which makes a gas vapor detector even more of a necessity!
 
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