My '88 boat also has a factory Halon bottle with heat-activated dispenser. I took it to the vendor that checks and certifies my dry powder extinguishers. They said would inspect it, weigh it, and tag it. And they did so.My O’Day 322 has a halogen fire extinguisher in the engine compartment. I called a fire equipment place to see if I could get it Serviced. They said they don’t use halogen anymore. Just hang on to it was their recommendation.
I have many other extinguishers on board, but I guess if there was a fire in the engine box, this halogen extinguisher may be useful.
Greg
Those cracks are not evidence of a hard grounding! Get another surveyor with better experience.In 2014 I drifted into some rocks while watching some whales, in 2015 I pulled the boat out for maintenance and painting. The aft bottom of the keel had some scaring. They cleaned up the keel and the keel joint and painted the bottom, it still looked good after hang and haul last week.
The cracks in the bilge are the same as when I bought the boat.
I have kept a dry bilge so the cracks did not bother me just as long there was no sea water coming in.
paulj
Our small diesel did not come with a "shut off" system, altho I can understand why that might be a good thing.What system do you have ? Do you have a picture.
Did it come with a engine shut off and how does it work?
paulj
A designed suppression system is best, no denying that. That being said, fire flow study after study show suppression while offering the most minimal oxygen is superior. This is why the hatch is preferred and the built in system is king. Halon is a halogen which takes hundreds of years to break down in the atmosphere due to the attached fluorine molecule. This is why it is no longer available to general public.having gone to and passed and certified by a maritime fire fighting school and know of the dangers of a vessel fire at sea, i must tell you that that in no way does a hole in the in the stairs through which you squirt an extinguisher a good or equal replacement to a fire suppression system. fires grow exponentially. blowing an extinguisher through a hole while in a seaway quite simply "ain't much"and prolly will not save you and your loved ones.
this is my opinion derived from my training, take it for what you paid for it!
SAFETY FIRST
Depends on the boat. I have worked several boats with halon systems. But people have died from accidentally triggering these. I would never personally have one on a cruising/day sailing boat. I would take the engine issues for using dry chem.As for the "cheap answer" (and that is why builders do that) of installing a port thru which to spray dry powder into the engine compartment, there ARE some disadvantages. The chief one is the amazing mess that stuff makes. Also word is that IF the engine is still running when you do this, inhaling it will be bad for it.
I only have had the experience of a powder extinguisher going off inside of a boat once, but the resulting mess took weeks (!) to clean up.
After that experience, having a Halon extinguisher in the engine compartment as a first line of defense seems like a pretty good idea.
If that is not enough, you can always use your dry powder extinguisher for the followup attack.
Gone through the same training and then some. We are talking about a 25 hp auxiliary diesel engine. Not a major power plant. Different tools for different problems.having gone to and passed and certified by a maritime fire fighting school and know of the dangers of a vessel fire at sea, i must tell you that that in no way does a hole in the in the stairs through which you squirt an extinguisher a good or equal replacement to a fire suppression system. fires grow exponentially. blowing an extinguisher through a hole while in a seaway quite simply "ain't much"and prolly will not save you and your loved ones.
this is my opinion derived from my training, take it for what you paid for it!
SAFETY FIRST
136 is low for most diesel I have personally tested. Most is above 150.A designed suppression system is best, no denying that. That being said, fire flow study after study show suppression while offering the most minimal oxygen is superior. This is why the hatch is preferred and the built in system is king. Halon is a halogen which takes hundreds of years to break down in the atmosphere due to the attached fluorine molecule. This is why it is no longer available to general public.
Although diesel is "safer" than gasoline or a better term is less volatile, diesel (vapor) only needs .6-.7 % concentration in atmosphere to be flammable compared to 1.2% for gasoline. You have to get it to 136 degrees to produce that vapor (flashpoint) but that isnt hard considering engine temps . Diesel has one of the lower flammable ranges of hydrocarbon fuels used and once on fire is very difficult to put out and keep out.