On the subject of Safety.....and flames
 

We have beaten the cockpit safety topic to death it seems and for good reason. However it appears that another potentially catastrophic scenario is developing with little attention ...so far.

Turbine fires....

Many of you are aware that the Geico Mystic was lost to a fire, but are you also aware that fires occurred on two of Al Copelands older Turbine powered Skaters...one of which was completely lost during a test ride with Tony Caligiure on the throttles? This week fire was also a factor in the brand new Qatar hull and seems to be a continuous issue with the "floating flame throwers". I am not advocating the banning of this type of power (although I think these over priced fuel guzzling monsters will do no more for the sport than their once vaunted 4 engined predecessers), but I do suggest that some research be done into why these fires are erupting so frequently. This will, no doubt, include the current engine builders (2) , but they should , by no means carry all of the clout, since their setups obviously have some flaws. The bottom line is Turbines carry blast furnace temperatures, flow tremendous quantities of fuel, and , based on the distinct fuel odor in every turbine cockpit I have ever sat in, leak prodigious amounts of excess Jet A. Is this fuel vapor/spray seeping into hull cores, upholstery, and insulating materials?.... or is something else afoot? I honestly have no idea, but we should do the math and find a plan to deal with the fire frequency BEFORE we write someone's obituary.

Nuff said

T2x

Here's another example for you--Miss Mary Mac, at the 2011 Lake of the Ozarks Shootout.

http://www.gojim.tv/Video_Files/Skat...Mary_Mac_2.jpg

A Good Big set of Halon Fireboys on each side would help..

The fire suppression system we had designed after our tragedy is the system that saved the Qatar boat. We have the same system in our boat now.

You have an electrical & fuel system, power pack and fire suppression system. They all need to be integrated during the initial design to work effectively. Since the turbine has a know history I'd be looking at the relationship between how fuel delivery, electrical shut off and fire suppression activates.
Geico posted as I was composing and they did improve fire suppression.

I am surprised that with that much $$$$$ on each side, not to mention the hull and rigging that this wasn't at the for front of any build with turbines in the past.

Good info...but why are these fires starting in the first place? We have used Halon systems since the 70's in offshore, and, like everything else, they are optional...and, if not serviced correctly, professionally and consistently, subject to failure at key moments. My concern in this is simply to get out in front of this and stop the fires at their source rather than smothering them after the fact.

P.S. nice job last weekend. I understand your lap times mirrored or beat the turbines....We missed you at Tavares.

Thank You Rich. In our case, a high pressure oil line fitting failed in a cooler mounted up in the scoop. This resulted in a mist of oil spraying directly in the exhaust igniting the boat above the engine compartment rendering the halon useless. I my experience the exhaust temps have been the cause of most problems and we solved that with excess insulation. We never accounted for the freak accident we had. We really went back to the drawing board with our fire suppression system and Qatar subsequently purchased the same system designed for us with Gary Stray and it worked. The halon system works but does not cool and a fire can reignite when airflow is restored. Our system floods everything with foam from a series of nozzles ran all around the engine bays and cockpit.
Its not cheap, about 16k but alot less than a new boat

Scotty B

Good post Rich.
Scotty that is very cool, I like hearing that you guys really did fix the problem with a real solution. There is a reason yall are the best of the best! See you soon brother

If you think about it, boats are the one application of turbines where excess fuel or flammable liquids get trapped in the vehicle versus being able to drain away. This creates more severe re-ignition issues. Geico's foam-flooding system makes a lot of sense, as it cools the ignition source (hot end) as well as smothers the combustion process. Kudos.