My worse boat nightmare... What is yours?

[jssailem]

FIRE!

Yes it is not running out of fresh water, nor ripping a sail, not even cruising into a gale.. My worse nightmare is a FIRE on the boat.

So I have invested in various extinguishers, and blankets to smother a blaze. I have considered various scenarios and tried to establish planned actions. It is still a work in progress for me.

Here is a video of a sailor telling the story about his boat.

What is your worse boat fear and how have you planned to address it, saving your life and that of your crew members.

 

[stickinthemud57]

Gee. Hard to top that.

For me (until now, anyway) it would be falling off the boat while underway. Even so, it would not be that awful in the small lake I sail in. I'm a strong swimmer and have no doubt I could make it back to shore. Of course, the lake level would rise at least a foot from all the tears I would cry thinking about what will happen to my boat when it encounters the shore.

An uncontrolled fire would not only force me into the water, it would ruin everything inside, result in the sinking of the boat, and render it unsalvageable. Then I would probably be responsible for removing it from the bottom of the lake.

Yeah. Fire. New worst nightmare. Thanks.

 

[Tally Ho]

Fire….or maybe explosion.

or falling off the boat with the AP set and watching the boat sail away without me !

Greg

 

[SycloneDriver]

This comes to mind. I got to call a friend of mine and tell him that his boat was "hanging from the dock lines." It didn't look like that the day before. Classic wooden boat.

This boat burned at our lake but not our marina. Fortunately a dock worker was able to untie it and pushed it away from the docks. A fire would truly be a nightmare, it just doesn't come to mind as often as a sinking.

 

[ggrizzard]

Worst nightmare?
Being too infirmed to sail my boat and having to sell it.

 

[garymalmgren]

Ah, yes. The tiller pilot is working perfectly.
I can tell because it is keeping a perfect track as she sails away and I have a great veiw of her stern as I try to stay afloat in her wake.

 

[shemandr]

Fire's bad! We had one on my Dad's cruiser/fishing boat. We were around 12 miles off shore. It was a pump and quickly extinguished with a typical extinguisher. Nevertheless it was scary. Those of you who accept sub par electrical installations should note these stories.

 

[Terry Cox]

A typical actual nightmare for me involves sailing our 35,000 pound boat from deep water into a very narrow and shallow channel, too shallow and narrow for her beam/draft. I then jump off the boat and am dragging her through this channel towards higher ground where deep water awaits. I always wake up before we get there. If someone has an idea as to what this means, please let me know, as I have no idea. Weird; and I've had this one more than once.

Other than that, no real life nightmares to relate. An occasional thought about falling overboard has crossed my mind and what I would do in such an event. Running aground has happened before, but nothing serious; just had to wait for the tide to bring in enough water to slide off and continue on.

 

[Leeward Rail]

As long as I can get off the boat, and get out a mayday.. I don't see much difference in a fire or sinking, if we are aboard but can abandon in time.

In our current 30 ft boat we have multiple extinguishers aboard in strategic locations: v berth, main cabin, galley just inside the companionway, and cockpit. All are as large as possible for that location.

We have 3 smoke and 2 CO detectors, and a hatch where we sleep for a second fire exit. A ditch bag ready.

If we switch to lithium batteries, I may build something like a metal fire box for them to help contain them in the event of fire.

All our thru-hull hoses are ABYC certified so they will last a bit longer in a fire situation.

Eventually I will be turning the onboard engine into a high volume emergency bilge pump.

-----------
The boat itself is a thing and it really doesn't make a difference if it burns or sinks.. it is destroyed either way. Especially if it is insured. Get to buy a "new" one

The physical boat aside...
From horrible to less horrible:
1) pirates, who kidnap or kill my wife and I.
2) losing the boat in the southern ocean where SAR can't reach you.
3) falling overboard while alone. Death would be faster than the previous 2

Other than having a deck mounted chain gun in the first case, and a good boat with survival gear and a good raft in the second,..Both of those can't be fully mitigated easily by prep, other than by avoiding those places. #3 can be resolved with jacklines, a harness and always using them.

 

[Leeward Rail]

What I find alarming about that video, is the guy didn't understand his diesel engine.

Anyone with a boat should understand every system on their boat... And periodically inspect them.

Don't assume that it is ok, because "It was fully serviced a short time ago"
I constantly had customers say that and we often found that a new part had failed, or shoddy work was done.

"The aircraft was flying fine until the wing fell off"

They should also plan, understand and practise safety procedures, be it a runaway diesel or MOB

But, knowing how many people can't even change their spare tire in a vehicle... It really would surprise me if even half the people with boats made an effort to know their systems aboard.

 

[jssailem]

the guy didn't understand his diesel engine.

Very good observation.

Anyone with a boat should understand every system on their boat... And periodically inspect them.

They should also plan, understand and practise safety procedures, be it a runaway diesel or MOB

That and all reasonable possibilities. CO in the boat. Thru hull water leak. Sail/rigging failures. Anchor failure. Medical. Basically, you are the Medic, Fire Chief, Police Chief, Mayor, and Public Works Director of your boat.

 

[Leeward Rail]

That and all reasonable possibilities.

This. Think about what could happen and come up with a plan.

That video is great and should make people more aware of the possibilities. Thanks for posting it. I now plan on using it for one of our safety talks for our sailing club.

 

[Roland5048]

Fire! Definitely fire. Been in storms. (Haven't we all). Almost sank once. Had rigging failure on two occasions. Endured thrashed sails. Haven't fallen overboard, yet. But did have a galley fire on a charter boat I was captaining caused by the owner, (not me), mixing two different types of stove fuel that combusted like gasoline. Probably more like Napalm. Sure we were all going swimming that day.
There was a lesson there: Always bring a spare set of shorts with you.

 

[Kings Gambit]

The only actual nightmare was being swept into the center-span fender of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge (Tampa Bay) in swift current with no engine power and no wind. Can be a bit swirly going under. Greatest fear and worst nightmare are not interchangeable to me!

 

[Tally Ho]

I woke up one morning to find a VM on my cell phone, that is not in the bedroom at night.

I started listening to the message “This the marina…need you to get out here asap….your boat is taking on water”. That VM was recorded at 2:00 AM and I was listening to it 5 hours later!

I was call ing the marina in a heartbeat…

I started asking the guy that answered why they didn’t call my house number, which they also have, if my boat was sinking…..and what was the current situation? I was rapid-firing questions at the poor guy…who sounded very sleepy…

And then he said “didn’t you get my second message?” And I said no…I listened to the message about my boat sinking in the early morning hours, and I called right away…

the second call was to tell me it,was a false alarm….someone else’s boat on my dock…a power boat, with a bunch of kids sitting on the stern…

I wasn’t sure whether to be upset, elated, or what!

In the end, I guess I was glad they called my cellphone, because if they woke me, and I drove over there in the middle of the night (probably driving like a bat out of hell), just to get there and realize it wasn’t my boat….

Not that much of a nightmare but one I really hate to avoid.


Greg

 

[jon hansen]

just the other day, at my butcher shop i met a woman the told me her brother was on the uss forrestal that day.

 

[jssailem]

uss forrestal

That was a difficult day for the USN.

The training and practice routines concerning FIRE on a ship are what helped to save the ship from total destruction.

One of the key elements of USN training that helped us in WW2 was the crew training regarding ship board fires and suppression. More than one event occurred during the war when the enemy thought a ship was lost, only to be surprised that the ship was fighting in the next battle.. The USS Yorktown was thought to be sunk in the battle of the Coral Sea. Only to have it show up and be ready for the Battle of Midway.

During the battle of Midway, the Yorktown was attacked, set on fire, thought to be "lost", fires put out, Attacked a second time, withdraws from battle. While heading back to Hawaii, was attacked for a 3rd time by a sub. On June 7th she was declared unsalvageable and sank.

Make a good plan and execute it.

 

[Head Sail]

This guy apparentley doesn't know where his fuel line is. He wanted to cut off the air supply.

 

[Roland5048]

I don't see much difference in a fire or sinking, if we are aboard but can abandon in time.

If your boat is on fire, I would think that increases the odds of being located. OK, I admit, that was just a bit of snark. Really, I wouldn't wish either on anyone.

 

[shemandr]

It is a pretty big flare.