View Full Version : Run that blower!
FrankSchwab
05-27-2008, 02:41 AM
A Boat caught on fire on the ramp at Lake Pleasant near Phoenix on Sunday. Three young girls (4, 12, 12) went to the hospital with 2nd degree burns on their legs.
Link. (http://www.azfamily.com/news/homepagetopstory/stories/LakePleasant_local_news_052508_boating-explosion.2b290046.html)
Fortunately, no serious or life threatening injuries.
/frank
Three fires a year reported at that lake as mentioned in the news video. I had wondered about this - we started a thread about it some months ago. I trailer over thirty miles to the closest water, and I have one boat with vents on the sides - not covered by canvas when on the road, and my MC is the older S&S with the bow and stern vent system. So I have always assumed that the air is flowing through while I am going down the road on the trailer. Still, I run the blower for the five minutes or so it takes to unstrap and uncover before launching, but I see plenty of other boaters who open the heavy canvas, flip on the blower for a few seconds and then fire the engine up.
Ski-me
05-27-2008, 10:32 AM
If I wanted to start in a hurry I just open up the engine cover for a minute or two. Wouldn't this normally work?
wakeX2wake
05-27-2008, 10:39 AM
If I wanted to start in a hurry I just open up the engine cover for a minute or two. Wouldn't this normally work?
i could see it both ways really... better air mix for the fumes to blow up in too
we were replacing the floor in our old '76 Renken to sell and my dad was in the back of the boat w/ a saws-all and had been cutting for a while... moved something (i didn't see what... i was in the bow w/ a hammer going to work) and he hit the saws-all again and there was a fumes explosion that engulfed his entire body... it was basically like a mild sunburn all over and some hair singed... he was lucky... the crazy thing is... we'd had the gas tank out for a a couple of days
thijs
05-27-2008, 10:47 AM
Shouldn't this be on the boat ramp bloopers thread? ;) Well after our long forementioned thread about blowers I certainly have been trying to get into the habit of using ours. Why not, it's free?
I always check the oil and engine before firing up upon getting to the lake. This should help too. Opening the cover for a few minutes should be very effective, especially if you move back down the ramp with the cover open.
FrankSchwab
05-28-2008, 01:18 AM
I don't believe that opening the cover will help a whole lot; gas fumes are heavier than air. Unless there's a breeze or something to disturb the air in the bottom of the bilge, you're playing with fire.
Chas -
I had a friend with a jet boat with side vents for the engine compartment. He was having problems with excess heat in the engine compartment; his solution (which worked out great) was to flip one of the side vents so the vanes pointed forward. On the road or on the lake, air flow would tend to go in the side with the vanes pointed forward, and get vacuumed out the other side, keeping a continuous flow of air through the engine compartment. Might want to try it.
/frank