Safe Refueling

[Bruce]

On July 19, I was teaching a private lesson in Tsehum Harbour and we had just completed a docking exercise at the fuel dock. 

As we were getting ready to depart, I heard a "whoomp" from the other side of the building.  My first thought was that someone had hit the dock and then quickly realized that the sound I heard was not from a boat hitting the float.  I ran around to the other side and observed a small, about 18' runabout, with five or six young men aboard moving just off the dock.  There was smoke pouring from the cowl vents at the stern.  One of the occupants grabbed a fire extinguisher and proceeded to fight the fire. 

Two of the staff on the fuel dock took a large dry chemical extinguisher into the work boat and proceeded to the vessel.  They gave the extinguisher to the runabout and took the rest of the crew into the workboat.  One person had jumped overboard and swam to the dock.  I went to assist the person in the water and he stated that he would remain in the water as he had suffered burns.  When he got out of the water, he commented that he had no hair left on his leg and he had a burn on his left arm from the wrist almost to his elbow.  Fortunately, the client I was teaching is a First Aid Instructor and she attended to his injury.

By this time the fire was out and the vessel had been towed alongside the dock.  I spoke with the operator and suggested that he remove the floorboard to make sure the fire was out.  As he was removing the screws, he noticed that there was fuel in the bilge.

When he had the floorboard removed, I observed that the top of the fuel tank was wet.  I asked him to check the two hose clamps on the fuel line and they were both loose.  I went aboard to assist and when I held the hose clamp in place, my hand was immediately wet with gasoline.  The fill hose to the deck fitting still had fuel in it and was draining onto the top of the fuel tank.

The operator stated that the boat had just been serviced and this was the first time they had the boat out.  I asked one of the crew if they had run the blower and was told that it was run.  I asked two persons if anyone had sniffed the blower exhaust before starting and was told No.  One person asked me why they should sniff the blower exhaust.  I told him that if they smelled gasoline fumes they should not start until the source of the fumes had be determined.

The Fire Department and the Ambulance crew arrived and one of the Fire Fighters was speaking with the operator.  The operator asked if would be OK to start the boat and take it back to it's berth.  The Fire Fighter suggested that the company that serviced the boat be called and asked if they could get a mechanic to come immediately.  I noted there was still gas in the bilge and the top of the tank was still wet and they should mop up any spill before considering starting the engine.

Refueling procedure from the Safe Boating Guide

 Raw fuel is extremely harmful to the marine environment and its vapours create a fire hazard. Follow these procedures, step-by-step, when refuelling. It not only makes good sense, it is the law.

   1. Moor your boat securely to prevent spillage.
   2. Shut off all engines.
   3. Send guests ashore.
   4. Extinguish all open flames.
   5. Do not smoke while refuelling.
   6. Turn off electrical switches, power supplies and avoid using electrical devices such as portable radios.
   7. Close all windows, portholes, hatches and cabin doors.
   8. Remove portable tanks from the vessel before refuelling.
   9. Ground the nozzle against the filler pipe.
  10. Know the capacity of the fuel tank and do not overfill it — you have a duty to prevent leakage or spillage of fuel into the hull or      water.
  11. Wipe up spillage and properly dispose of the cloth or towel used.
  12. Operate the engine compartment blower for at least four minutes immediately before starting the gasoline engine.
  13. Check for vapours from the engine compartment before starting up the engine.

A further precaution is to start the engine and then let your guests come aboard so if there is an explosion, only one person is aboard.

These boaters were extremely fortunately in having only one person injured and their boat survived.

[Tootsall]

I'll add a story here: I used to boat out of the Lake Scugog marina on the Severn Waterway (just north of Oshawa) with a 21' Starcraft cuddy cabin.   We kept it moored outside next to a houseboat.  On the other side of the houseboat was moored an old, wooden ~27' cruiser that was tied up "Med style" (stern to the shore).  Upon driving up to use the boat for a weekend we discovered that the wooden cruiser was missing and our boat was covered with shards of safety glass!

Apparently, what had transpired was that a friend of the owner of the 27 footer had been complaining of headaches whenever she was on the boat (no off-colour thoughts, please  ).  The owner discovered that his old fuel tank was rusted out and needed replacing so he had come up during the week to do the job for himself.   While removing the old tank he noticed that the fumes were suddenly VERY strong so he stood up in the cockpit to take a look around and see if there was anything electrical powered up that could cause a "problem".  As he did so he reported seeing a spark just as the bilge pump fired up....followed VERY shortly by a blast that threw him out of the cockpit and up onto the grass behind the boat.  The marina operator was able to quickly tow the burning boat into the middle of the entry channel and away from the other boats where it subsequently burned to the waterline.  The owner received some very minor singeing and although my boat was protected by the houseboat, it received a healthy dose of glass bits!

So.... if you smell strong gas fumes, be very, VERY careful about turning on your blowers and always remember the electric bilge pumps and level switches.  Personally I believe that nothing beats "eyes on" and a good "sniff around".