Accident report released this am:

https://www.mshp.dps.missouri.gov/WP..._NUM=180441690

I was in Ketchikan, Alaska last Thursday and there is one of these duck boat hauling cruise ship passengers around on a harbor tour. Looked like all the passengers were old and none wore life jackets.

This is so sad. Have seen many of these DUKW boats around - usually in touristy areas. Most of the ones I've seen (I think in Boston & East coast) did not have a roof, or at least not a permanent roof like these. A fixed roof would make it so much harder to get out, even with no windows.

That shape of hull is also the absolute worst in those conditions. Flat bottom and straight sides - good primary stability (loading) but horrible secondary stability when encountering wave action of any kind. Especially when fully loaded.

The report said the boat was built in 1944. So I can't imagine all the "rigging" that has been done in the last 75 years assuming the original design was actually good.

I was on a Everglades tour on a 50+ seat airboat a few years back. The driver was above us towards the rear of the boat. The boat had a roof so in the case of an emergency the passengers would have no way of getting to where the driver was. Place was dark deep canals loaded with gators with lots of blind corners so in the event of an accident it was going to be a bad scene. Didn't seem like a whole lot of "regulation" in the industry.

Good friend of mine and his crew will be floating the boat.

How deep is the lake where it went down?

One news report said 80 feet?

I think it settled around 80'

CNN reporting it has just been raised.