my 88 29 sr1 gone...
 

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On 7/3/2013 our boat was trailered to Marina in Piermont NY to be put in the water for the weekend. The marina staff use the hoist to place off trailer and put in water around 4:00pm while we observed from land. They started boat with no issue and moved boat to a slip. They tied up new lines for the boat. The engines ran for about 20 minutes with no issues. The engine hatch was opened by the marina to check for any issues since first launch of year. The marina staff secured boat to its slip which included a finger dock. The staff was observed shutting off "all" batteries and confirmed by owner, me. They removed shore power line and connected to dockside power without incident, I asked the staff to check if refrig light went on and they replied "yes" (which meant dock power was working correctly at that time). To add, boat was hooked up to 110 house volts for 2 months straight prior with no incident for battery charging and refrig usage. They marina staff proceeded to cover boat with mooring cover Around 5:00 all parties exited dock area and owner, I, went home. At 8:25pm I received call from marina staff that I a should come to marina, he stated the boat was "on fire and the local fireman had been called to deal with fire". Upon arrival, about 5 fire truck's, marine fireboats and fire Sherriff were putting out fire/smoke with water/foam. They moved boat to hoist after fire was out and took boat out of water with hoist. Pictures are enclosed of damage. The boat has not been touched other than trailering it to my local mechanic.

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On 7/4/2013 our boat was trailered to my local mechanic at around 12:00pm, awaiting instructions from Claims rep in regards to another claim from pervious day related to 7/3/2013 fire at Marina in Piermont NY.The mechanic took possession of boat and moved boat on his lot with forklift. As requested nothing was disturbed on boat per instructions. No power was hooked to boat or batteries turned on. Mooring cover was put on boat to prevent further damage if rain. We observed no smoke or hot cinders while boat was open. I left boat a half hour later, at around 12:30pm. On Friday evening, 7/5/2013, around 11:03 I received call from owner of marine where boat was stored who stated boat is on fire again and please meet me there to speak to police. I arrived at around 11:45 and observed boat melted to half its size and no interior left. The fireman were hooking boat up to a towtruck since the police felt the boat had to be moved to their yard for investigation of arson,

Do you think the firemen should of disconnected batteries? I believe marina had faluty dockside power. The boat could of been fixed and im pissed. yes, had little ins, barly to cover nada value of 12k. trailer is good and drives. had just labbed the props and 500.00 in GAS just put in!....what a shame. hate to lose her. she was mint to me.

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That really sucks!

Sucks big time.

:eekdrop: That makes me Sick......

WOW, that sucks.......strange circumstances but these are why I over insure everything I own AND ask a lot of "what-if" questions when I first insure something with my carrier (so much so I thought State Farm might decline to insure a boat once).

I askd geico (seaworthy) to insure at 25k but they stated full value on nada is at 14k and that's all they would pay if lost...I didn't insure trailer, which is fine.

I'm sorry that happened. It appears from the damage on the hatch cover that the fire started at the battery charger.

ya, but the second?

Did you say they left the batteries on after the first fire? Positive and Negative leads from the batteries with the insulation burned off touched would be my guess. Again, sorry that happened.

batteries were "off" but connected which means on since as we all know the bilge works with switch off...they told us not to touch anything. Should firemen disconnect bats? is it protocol with fires?

If it helps I feel the boat would have been totaled out the first time by your insurance anyway. After looking at the damage the boat would need a major going thru to get back to the way you had it. Sorry it happened, everyone is safe, its a boat ....

I asked my brother who is a fireman and he said at any accidents or vehicle fires they always cut the battery cables at the terminals. I'm surprised they didn't.

I'm lucky I didn't take it home and put on side of house, both baby rooms under eave of house, house would of went up im sure since it sits under eave. ya, just a boat. I spent two of the last months in hospital fighting cancer. boat gave me hope many days...finally felt a little better to go out on it, first launch btw....I even met scott the caveman from Gieco racing in AC races the prior week and now feel he jinxed me!

+1 they do the same in my state,chit if their were a fire on a house the first thing the fire men do is call the electric company and gas company to disconnect all power and gas,,no differant with a motorized vehicle..

Agree......it was totaled the first time. SUCKS!!!! It's a 25 year old boat.......how old was the battery charger?

wow, that sucks twice over.

What a sad unfortunate end to such a great old boat. somewhere in the back of my mind something doesn't pass the smell test with this deal. I think the marina is partially responsible for the first fire. The likelihood of the second fire starting days later is extremely suspicious to me.

If you can...consider getting a sharp lawyer involved in this deal...I think there is compensation due you from the marina and possibly the repair yard.

What did the marina do wrong? Faulty wiring.....like what?

What did the repair shop do wrong?

+1. Plus if the insurance paid the value of the boat property loss is taken care of.

Just brought this up at the coffee table here at the station, fire was in the bilge of a 292 formula, chances of one of us climbing into a semi burned boat to cut the cables are slim to none. If it had been a 292 fastech I'm pretty sure most guys couldn't find the batteries. In an MVA we cut them to minimize the chance of an airbag deployment or possible short from a ruptured battery. In a boat fire any that we've had the batteries are melted by the time it's out so there's no point. Hate to be a bus driver but that may be considered a "rekindle" and the department / incident commander would have some liability.

Could be faulty grounding at the shore connection that should have dropped out with a direct short on the boat. I think he mentioned that the batteries were off via the Perko switch.

Definitely worth a look.

However...if the switch was left on, it is highly possible that the bilge pump float stuck, overheated the pump and set the boat on fire. That is what happened in 1985 at High Lift Marina at NE 188th Street in North Miami Beach. A boat was brought in and put in one of the lower racks...switch was left on and the bilge pump hung. There were no Fire Sprinklers and the entire dry stack warehouse burned to the ground...first 5 alarm fire in Dade Co. history. I am tuned into this because I installed the Fire Sprinkler System in the Racks and overhead in the new replacement building.

Most Marinas have a strict policy that the battery switches be left in the "All Off" position anytime a vessel is stored or docked on the property. Marine UL listed breakers on docks for shore power have a dead short automatic disconnecting means. If the battery switch was off and there was a short on board between the On Board Panel and the Dockside Breaker...the breaker should have tripped...immediately killing any source of power to create a short from a fire.

Admittedly, all this is speculative but entirely possible.