boat explodes at Lake of the Ozarks
 

Cruiser with fuel fumes ignited @ Milestone Marine

Just another Saturday. This time made news because of number of people.

Back in the mid 70s we lived on my parents sailboat during the summer in Holland Michigan. There was a gas dock on the other side of the channel.

Had a cruiser blowup and burn at the gas dock right before sunset one night. About a month later I was sailing by the gas dock in my little sailboat and a stern drive boat blew up.

My neighbor down here in Naples ran a sky crane down by the bay and a 43 Tiara blew up the day after the mechanic did a service on it

neighbor said there was parts flying above his 200 foot perch.


they had the boat at a marina after the explosion the hull was split like a banana peel. The deck totally blown off. The inside was intact but looked like a bomb went off inside.

im anal about blowers running on boats.

When we first got our Portifino. I always smelled gas filling up. thought it was normal. Went down one time to check oil when fueling and saw fuel pouring out of a cracked hose from fill to tank where is did an S turn. I have NO idea why it never blew up. We were just pouring fuel into bilge. Could have been Ugly.

The stuff of nightmares

The reason it didn't blow was most likely too rich of a mixture in the bilge.

Some of these explosions at the lake are a result of folks running the blower while they are filling up as opposed to waiting until the fill up is done and then running the blower for several minutes before starting the engine(s). Depending where the fuel fill is in relation to the fresh air intake for the bilge you could be filling the bilge with fumes by running the blower while filling up. I know my gas dock where I slipped (Formula) was militant on no blowers on until after filling up. This came about after this happened in 2020 a cove over from my dock at Bridgeview. Wife and I were wiping the boat down when we heard this go off. I thought they were dynamiting somewhere it was so loud/concussive. At the time I snapped this pic, I had no idea there was a person still inside the boat.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...9b6a2f460b.jpg

The way I was taught was, Blowers off while pumping gas. Boat passengers off the boat. Cabin doors closed. Blowers after filling for a bit. I may be wrong, but I thought it was a law in Michigan that nobody was allowed on the vessel while filling. Like a motorcycle at the pump.

After Fueling any gas inboard boat , you should always lift the hatches and sniff test ..