I do have a carbon monoxide alarm aboard but not fire alarms. The USCG doesn't require fire alarms on certain sailboats. What are others' thoughts about them?
fire alarms on sailboats
- Thread starter tadd5181
- Start date
Can't hurt. I would think any of the household smoke detectors would work. You could mount it with double backed tape if you didn't want screw holes.
Fire is probably the worst occurrence aboard a boat and the worst possible time for a fire to develop aboard is when you might be asleep. I would think that the CO alarm would be sufficient to warn about the presence of combustion gases but these CO alarms can be finicky and require frequent testing and timely replacements. See nothing wrong in adding some redundancy by adding a smoke detector. The only caveat is getting one that can be easily turned off as you do not want a nagging alarm going off every time food is cooked in the galley. Thought about the value of having one when the boat is unattended but I don't think the reaction time of neighbors or passers-by would be of any help in case of a true fire.
After our friends boat caught fire last year we installed a Kidde combination fire and CO monitor up in the V-berth. They were really lucky as they were aboard that night. They had just gotten a new little dog, and it was pestering my friend at around 4:00am. His initial thoughts were to just go back to sleep. All of a sudden he was so wide awake and realizing that the cabin was filling with smoke. They got out and the interior completely filled with black smoke. If it hadn't been for that little dog, they would have been goners.
It just seemed prudent for us to install that device with the double detectors.
It just seemed prudent for us to install that device with the double detectors.
I installed 2 smoke alarms that communicate an alarm by radio. When one goes off, so does the other. One is installed in the salon, the other in the forward cabin where we sleep. If a fire were to occur in the salon (our generator is under the floor there) while we are asleep with our door closed, I want to be alerted immediately.