A Reminder About Fire Hazards

Rhodes River, N 38 52.481 W 076 31.369, June 19, 2006

Well we had a great long weekend with Jerry and Phyllis. It is a great pleasure to be wired once again. Thank you Jerry for the suggestion and for your help in getting me wired.

Now it's time to head north in preparation to meet David and Bobby next weekend. They're flying into Newark NJ. We're going to pick them up at the airport and sail for a day or two, then drive them to Vermont to see their friends and the rest of the family.

Libby was pushing for us to be somewhere in the neighborhood of Newark before they arrive. We could sail from Sandy Hook NJ, or Long Island sound. However, I pooh poohed that idea. I'd rather show them a place with natural beauty and with the fewer people the better. The Chesapeake is better for that purpose. Exactly where we'll stop is not yet decided, but somewhere in the Northeast corner of the bay.

Today the weather forecast said S 5-10 knots, but it actually was SW 10-20 knots and a fine sailing day. We stopped this afternoon just short of Annapolis because a thunderstorm was heading our way. We got anchored and secured just minutes before the lightning and the rain started.

There was some excitement en route. On the VHF radio we heard the drama of a sailboat near Choptank Light that was on fire. The skipper called the Coast Guard, then he jumped overboard. We were 11 miles away, too far to assist. However, luckily for the skipper there were numerous closer boats that saw the dense black smoke and the flames from the sailboat and rushed to assist. Within about 10 minutes the skipper was picked up by a power boat. He's OK. His sailboat however, presumably burned to the waterline and sank. I wonder how the fire started?

Few nightmares are as scary as fire aboard a boat, except fire aboard and aircraft. We carry no gasoline on Tarwathie, but we do use propane and lamp oil. I also store mineral oil and a spray can of WD-40 in the cabin. I remember when David made a potato cannon fueled by WD-40 as the explosive.

We have a remotely operated solenoid valve that shuts off the propane gas back in the stern. If there is a propane leak back there, it drains out a hole in the stern. We have an automatic Halon fire extinguisher in the engine compartment, an ABC extinguisher in the cabin and another one in the starboard lazarette. We also keep a spray can of fire suppressant stuff in the companionway. It is liquid and there is less reluctance to use that to put out a small fire than there would be to shoot off an extinguisher filled with that nasty powder. Finally, all wiring downstream of the battery bank switch and the buss bars is fused. The battery bank switch is walled off from the engine compartment and from the distribution busses. The main batteries are gel-cell construction, and they do not leak acid if tipped.

If volatiles leaked into the bilge and exploded, I don't think much would happen. There is only 2 or 3 cubic feet of volume in the bilge and it is covered by a hatch with a heavy toolbox and stairs holding it shut.

In the port side lazarette is my paint locker where several hazardous chemicals are stored. However, I store most them in 5 gallon plastic pails with tightly sealed lids. There are a few bottles of WD-40, alcohol, fuel treatment, and paint that don't fit in the pails. The lazarette vents to the engine compartment.

I guess the one thing missing is periodic fire drills. I'll think about that.