Ka-Boom

D

Dreamer

New member
Sitting and watching the 5:00 news when the windows shook and rattled. A few minutes later the news anchor reported a boat had blown up in John Wayne Marina! One person taken to Seattle's Harborview Hospital. Details to follow as I hear more.
 
Propane, Butane, Gasoline.... it doesn't take much of any of them in the wrong place to ruin your day....and not just on your boat. Think about your house.

M
 
Here's what I found while checking a friends Selene for damage. Hull of the 40' Sailboat is on the bottom. Dozens of 55 gallon drums are filled with debris. The owner was working below deck on the Propane system. His wife was at the store. He suffered burns, compound arm fracture and two broken legs. Very lucky to be alive. They are now homeless. The two boats next to them have damage from the blast. Hope they had good insurance.
DSCN1825.jpg
 
Just came back from the marina (John Wayne), where I talked to my friends who are live-a-boards, one boat away from the 40 ft trawler that WAS there. Cliff was in his boat, was knocked down by the explosion, but collected enough to get up and go pull the 78 year old owner out of the water. He was floating in the middle of the debris. Most of the windows on the starbd side of his 38 ft trawler were blown out. His wife was down in the forward cabin, and got shaken but they are both OK -- well as OK as you can be after your home just missed being blown up. Thank God there was no fire. The port/marina folks were on hand immediately, surrounding the area with fuel absorbent pads and collected about 30 gallons of diesel fuel. They have spent the morning picking up pieces and hauling them up to the dumpster. The hull is on the bottom and it is yet to be determined if it can be raised in one piece, floated or lifted with a crane, and how soon that will take place.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

January_2010_510.thumb.jpg
 
When something like this happens to people you care dearly about, it's more then just another news story. It hits your heart and soul! Thanking God today for His protection of both the injured boater and friends, Cliff and Julie, who were at home on their boat at the time of the explosion. Now they are out of their home for several months while the repairs on their boat are made; but, at this point are just happy to be alive and kickin'. :roll:
 
Unfortunately I have seen a number of both gasoline and LPg explosions, as well as having treated the victims. A very close friend spent over 3 months in a burn unit from the explosion from the gas from a stove canister. I spent every day at his bedside. You cannot be too careful! See recent thread on gas tank installation. The first one I saw I was only 10 years old. The 66' boat was sailing in the TransPac the next day. She burned to the waterline, after the LPG explosion. Most of the LPG incidents did not involve fire;All of the gasoline did. Be safe!
 
Here's is today's update from PDN. Still nothing about what the cause was, but speculation for sure. He was working on a propane system. Fortunate that there was no fire involved. The Bayliner, next slip, may not be repaired -- repairs to costly. Cliff and Julie took their boat to Port Angeles to day to start repairs on their "Home".

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/artic ... 302029988#

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
Yesterday they took the boats larger parts out with a crane. Here's the PDN update:

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/artic ... uim-marina

Cliff took his boat to Port Angeles yesterday to get the repairs started. It was a great day for a boat ride, but he would rather have had a different reason for going. Will be several weeks to months, depending on the results of a full survey to be done next week. They do have a place to live until their boat is fixed.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
Does not sound real good for the owner (Still in critical condition). One wonders where the 15 gallon tank was being installed. We always used tanks of 5 gallons or less in size, and they were basically aluminum tanks out in the open, with solenoid valves on the tank outlet, as well as sniffers in the bilge and under the stove.
 
Can't say where the tanks was being installed, but there were 3 tanks involved. The one that blew plus there were 2 others which were pulled from the water and sitting on the docks. One of them looked very rusty and my guess would be that it was being taken out of service.

This boat was a "Garden" design. William Garden-design wood diesel yacht. I noticed you had a "garden" sail boat on your list. Do you know if they are of the same designer?

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
The name is William Garden, who is famous for long and narrow designs.

An article from Passage Maker Magazine is here, with a discussion about William Garden, Naval Architect and Designer:

http://www.passagemaker.com/magazine/we ... iam-garden

From an article about Wm Garden:

"Did Garden go too far with skinny-and-fast boats?

Not at all, says his friend Orin Edson, the Bayliner founder.

"These boats were for someone who wanted efficient, easy-riding boats, who wanted performance more than space," Edson said.

"The rules still apply: long and skinny boats work better than do fat, stubby ones."
Click to expand...

"Edson, however, used the Garden plans to build the traditionally-styled Avanzar for himself. (Later, Garden designed the 161-foot Evviva for his friend; it carries a helicopter aboard.)"
Click to expand...

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
I found it very interesting that he lives close to Sidney, and on an island. As a kid, I lived in Sidney and rowed my dingy to every island within reach, from Sidney spit to Brentwood Bay, including Salt Spring. (Mayber my parents didn't like me much :twisted::wink

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
The link which Hardee provided was written in Passagemaker magazine in 2000. Mr William Garden NA passed on slightly less than a year ago (2011) at the age of 93. He had a most distinguished career and was held in very high regard by all yachtsmen. He was active until just before his death.

The initial article suggests that W. Garden designed mostly narrow wooden power boats. He designed vessels which were constructed in wood, fiberglass, steel, aluminum and even ferro cement. He had very high standards--and if a production boat did not meet his standards, he would have his name pulled from it. There were many copies of his designs from Taiwan. My boat was a fiberglass vessel built in Taiwan, of medium heavy displacement, and conventional beam, which was an traditional appearing pilot house sailing vessel. His boats were very seaworthy.

I have do idea what design this trawler was which exploded. If the hull were wood, it is very possible that it could have been built in the orient, as were many of his designs in the late 50's and early 60's. Fiberglass versions of these same boats were later built. He also modified other existing plans, such as the very popular Sea Bird Yawl, and improved on the original design.

Mystic Seaport has a bio: http://library.mysticseaport.org/manuscripts/Garden.cfm You can follow some links and find their catalogued designs of William Garden.
http://library.mysticseaport.org/manuscripts/coll/spcoll096/spcoll096.html His designs were not just recreational, but probably more commercial, including fishing vessels. He also designed the Willard Vega 36 trawler.
 
Back
Top