[C38] Boat Fire

[Joseph Launie]

Steve,
     On the fire subject - I have a homemade fire extinguisher for your 
home kitchen you might want to try. In my youth I broiled a  lot of 
steaks and had a lot of grease fires. (indoors - this was New England - 
you would freeze your ass off if you tried to cook outdoors). I had a 
metal flour shaker with large holes in the top. I filled it with Baking 
Soda. When the grease fire broke out - a few shakes of Baking Soda and 
it is  out. Scrape off the excess and the steak is just fine.  You need 
to stir the Baking Soda with a spoon from time to time because it tends 
to clump. Some dry powder extinguishers are just Baking Soda and a 
filler to keep it from clumping. When heated, Baking Soda releases CO2 
as you will remember from your chemistry classes. Joe

On 7/26/2010 11:36 PM, Steve Smolinske wrote:
> Seems to be the month for fires,  I just had a situation on our power 
> boat, a searay 21 open bow ski boat.  I was going to use it this 
> weekend for pulling Jr. High kids at church camp and took it out for 
> the first time to make sure it started and all worked as this was the 
> first use since winterizing it last year.  About a mile from the dock 
> I noticed the temp was higher than normal so I came to a stop to find 
> smoke billowing out from under the engine cover along with some 
> crackling noises.  quick action and I do mean quick emptied two fire 
> extinguishers.   Hand held flare ignited and two jets skis and a power 
> boat arrived promptly and the police shortly there after.  Not sure of 
> the damage yet as I need to get the boat to the dealer.   Im passing 
> along this post for general information learned from the experience.
> First the coast guard requires one fire extinguisher, I had two for 
> good measure.......let me tell you that was not enough, it is amazing 
> how quickly (2 seconds maybe) they discharge.  After the second one 
> was expended it was a horrible feeling to still see smoke, hear 
> crackling noises and realize I had no more extinguishers....On 
> Peregrine I have two I will be picking up at least three more, and not 
> the small ones.
> My flares were current and came in handy, again I have a the required 
> amount, on Peregrine we have many more
> We also have Vessel Assist coverage with BoatUS...for the $50 or so 
> dollars that it costs I will save multiples of that tomorrow as we 
> have the boat towed to the boat ramp.
> We all prepare for the unexpected never expecting it to happen to us, 
> when it does you cant be over prepared.
> Steve
> #312 Peregrine
> Seattle
>
>
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