Destroyed by fire

[LEE WEONGAK]

My boat(Beneteau OS430,1990 launching) was destroyed by fire at Oct.24th 2010. She became useless. My boat was lift and on the land for four days for maintainance. At Oct. 23th afternoon, painting work was perfromed at saloon for wood color staining of the table of saloon.
The workers said they turned off the switch of battery. But said they changed two jacks in the control box. There are not any evidence of incendiary fire. And galley gas system was not used. At 4:30AM(In 10 hours after the work) fire was found by marina official.
What do you think of the cause of the fire?
What situation make the fire with all power or heating source off ?
Please send your opinion by email. This is very important legal problem.

 

[Ron20324]

Rags with cleaning chemicals on them can self-ignite. Maybe left in a pile inside, but they should have been taken off the boat. :naughty: I know one couple whose boat burned from that.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

It is unclear what you mean by "two jacks in the control box". Presuming this is the electrical panel, it is likely something was disturbed or mis-wired and a short caused a cable to heat excessively. Latent heat can cause such a delayed reaction and is resumed to be the cause of a similar fire we had 10 years ago. Power could have been shut off hours prior to the fire and still cause it.
A fire such as this is often related to electrical issues.

Any opinion you receive here is irrelevant. Your insurance underwriter will almost certainly bifurcate the claim with the marina given they were working on the boat prior to the incident.

 

[Scott B]

There is no way we could even attempt to guess at the cause of the fire and / or have our opinions make any difference. Many different things could have caused the fire that cannot be investigated 3rd hand over the internet.

Sorry for your loss. Hopefully it works out for you.

 

[Maine Sail]

There is no way we could even attempt to guess at the cause of the fire and / or have our opinions make any difference. Many different things could have caused the fire that cannot be investigated 3rd hand over the internet.

Sorry for your loss. Hopefully it works out for you.

Ditto what Scott said.

Perhaps some ideas will surface here which you can run by your investigators but they are the final word. The rags with chemicals have been the source of many fires but could be electrical, gas or any otehr issue which your investigators will need to figure out.

If devices were not "ignition protected" and a spark resulted, and the boat was full of solvent fumes that too is another possibility.

In the end your investigators will have to figure this out though, not us.

 

[LEE WEONGAK]

Thank you your answer is very helpful.

.

Rags with cleaning chemicals on them can self-ignite. Maybe left in a pile inside, but they should have been taken off the boat. :naughty: I know one couple whose boat burned from that.

 

[LEE WEONGAK]

Thank you very much, very helpful.

.

It is unclear what you mean by "two jacks in the control box". Presuming this is the electrical panel, it is likely something was disturbed or mis-wired and a short caused a cable to heat excessively. Latent heat can cause such a delayed reaction and is resumed to be the cause of a similar fire we had 10 years ago. Power could have been shut off hours prior to the fire and still cause it.
A fire such as this is often related to electrical issues.

Any opinion you receive here is irrelevant. Your insurance underwriter will almost certainly bifurcate the claim with the marina given they were working on the boat prior to the incident.

 

[LEE WEONGAK]

Thank you very much for your helpful answer.

.

Ditto what Scott said.

Perhaps some ideas will surface here which you can run by your investigators but they are the final word. The rags with chemicals have been the source of many fires but could be electrical, gas or any otehr issue which your investigators will need to figure out.

If devices were not "ignition protected" and a spark resulted, and the boat was full of solvent fumes that too is another possibility.

In the end your investigators will have to figure this out though, not us.

 

[LEE WEONGAK]

Thank your kindness.

.

There is no way we could even attempt to guess at the cause of the fire and / or have our opinions make any difference. Many different things could have caused the fire that cannot be investigated 3rd hand over the internet.

Sorry for your loss. Hopefully it works out for you.

 

[LEE WEONGAK]

Thank you very much

.

Ditto what Scott said.

Perhaps some ideas will surface here which you can run by your investigators but they are the final word. The rags with chemicals have been the source of many fires but could be electrical, gas or any otehr issue which your investigators will need to figure out.

If devices were not "ignition protected" and a spark resulted, and the boat was full of solvent fumes that too is another possibility.

In the end your investigators will have to figure this out though, not us.