Be careful,

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gandrfab
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Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2008 12:33 pm
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Location: Edgewater Fl

Be careful,

#1

Post by gandrfab »

I saw jettywolf post his on facebok. Not his boat.

Anyone have more information?

The drain plug was stuck in the boat so the owner used a torch to heat up and loosen it when all of a sudden the boat exploded. Besides the deck being blown apart the bottom of the boat is puffed out, the stringers blown over to the sides, and the sides of the boat are both warped and dented. Amazingly no persons were injured.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDeBnGq ... e=emb_logo

https://youtu.be/GDeBnGqZD8k
kmorin
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Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2008 1:37 am
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Location: Kenai, Alaska

Re: Be careful,

#2

Post by kmorin »

I saw this video a couple times and don't think the sides are bulged out- at all?
I think the explosion lifted the deck and expanded the bottom but the deck to topsides weld didn't release until the topsides at the deck- had pulled in !! So the topsides, don't look to me to have bulged?

the tank didn't propagate indicating there was some leak- hose?, fill line?, tank? fitting? somewhere gas got in the bilge and got to the correct mix for the heated drain plug to lead to an explosion.

There are dozens of locations where the welds beat the metal- torn out the parent metal without failing to hold. There are other indications where the welds torn and many of those instances where the material torn along the HAZ at the edges of the parent material- actually outside the welds themselves.

Overall, I'd say, thankfully, no body was hit by shrapnel and weren't in the boat to be launched... but it proves how tough welded aluminum is!! It reduced the force of the explosion by expansion and distortion and only came apart once the real forces were absorbed!! Amazing.

It does show that anyone with a below decks fuel installation might want to consider some investigation and plan some maintenance inspections of the tank, fittings, hoses etc? Not that others plan to put a torch on hull fittings... but gas in the bilge can't be accepted by anyone- anywhere- anytime for any reason.

Jetty Wolf's tank video shows the deterioration that can happen- we're not sure why? But this video and his report shows that below decks fuel installations may need more than "build and forget" attitudes from Pacific owners?

Cheers,
Kevin Morin
Kenai, AK
kmorin
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