Checking my extinguishers
I'm not sure we'll make any progress on uncovering what causes the most boat fires, but story time is always fun.
Morning coffee. I witnessed a lightning strike on a 1970s Ranger 29. Smoke but no flames. Not in Miami, but in the Port Ludlow, WA anchorage. No injuries, scared a little dog though. Most vivid memories: Relief when my friends emerged from the smoke-filled cabin in fine shape and the VHF whip antenna descending to the deck of the boat in three bright orange segments.
OMG. Watched and worried while a hibachi charcoal grill flamed up after being lit in the cockpit of about a 27 foot sailboat (not an Ericson). Happened at dusk at Parks Bay, Shaw Island, WA. No injuries to people, not sure about any scorched gelcoat.
You can, accidentally, do this one yourself with a few supplies available in most homes and boats. Many of our boats have 30-amp shore power and a circuit breaker panel for the AC side of our electrical systems. My panel is separated into two 15-amp circuits. Have a fully charged non-recall fire extinguisher handy if you do this experiment. Anyway plug an electric heater into an outlet on your boat and fire it up. Then plug an electric drill, a grinder or a heat gun to the same outlet and fire it up. Your well-maintained Outlets circuit breaker may trip, shutting off power. Tripping the breaker is the best outcome, if you overload the circuit. Worst outcome is a Sad Story.
Sad story. Older 30-ish foot sailboat hauled out across the yard from me (thank goodness) a year ago. Cold and rainy December in the Pacific Northwest. Freezing weather forecast for the next couple days. Owner of the boat shows up early, places a second electric heater into the cabin (and fires it up). Later that day, while a yard worker (our honest to goodness hero/nut) is working on the hull of the boat, he notices smoke coming out of the companionway. Yells "FIRE" and heads up the ladder. Garden hoses and possibly a CO2 fire extinguisher used to put out the fire. Fire department is called and they inspect the boat while it is still smoking lightly. Source of the fire: a thermal circuit breaker in the AC circuit that did not trip and the wiring caught fire. What was I doing during this emergency? I was below in my boat. When I realized what was going on, I started for my ladder to go after a hose. But, I turned around and picked up two of my extinguishers and carried them over towards the fire. We didn't need to use them and it's a good thing. If they are on the recall list I could have been carrying two tubes of gasoline. Ya never know. Injuries: The yard worker singed some hair, eyebrows and probably some hair off the back of his hands. His face was a little red, too. Boat damage: electrical panel and surrounding structure burned, rest of the interior had much smoke and water damage. Owner: I didn't talk to him, but he probably had to decide whether to total it or repair/restore the boat. Not making a judgement here. This could have happened to me had I not experienced a drill + heater inconvenience many years ago.
These popular electric heaters, whether they are oil-filled radiators or ceramic type (resistance coil with a fan), can pull about 10-12 amps AC when at higher temperature and/or fan settings. Here, in the Northwest, one heater has been enough and I have to shut it off when working with electric tools onboard. One of the yards I use only permits oil-filled radiators to be left on unattended while in the yard. That's what I use and it works fine. Have an uneventful winter and a happy Thanksgiving!