Another reason I’m glad mine is safely tucked away in my garage. Man that must have sucked getting the call from the harbor master, “Hi, uh, your boat caught on fire because of some retard who didn’t run his blower while fueling”.
Huge 2nd! And why every sailboat with an inboard auxiliary built since about 1980 has a diesel. Gas outboards are fine, inboards are just dangerous if you’re not careful or on top of the maintenance.
I don’t think so, it’s a divers boat, probably out on the water every day. Had the flag on it and the air tanks burst (can see that in the new video I posted this morning)
damn, yeah, boats flame up pretty damn easilly. That fiberglass really burns.
My dad’s boat was involved in an incident at the dry-dock yard some years back. Guy in front of him was using some super flammable glue. His drop-light ended up lighting on fire. My dad’s boat had pretty jacked up spot on the front with burn marks. We had to re-gelcoat a good 6 sqft section.
Gotta be pretty damn careful
boats catching fire are so ironic to me.
Great documentation of a very rare event!
Sucks for the boat owners…
Wait…since we have a NYSpeed Boater Crew now…
ARE YOU OKAY???
:word: Same reason commercial boats are diesel. I have to believe that 90% of “civilian” boaters have no idea how dangerous gasoline on a boat is.
I can’t believe the dumb ass let it take out 2 other boats. I hope he has to cover them out of pocket.
Gasoline is fine if you use some common sense. Run your blowers, check the condition of you lines, have the engine cover open when fueling so you can see/smell any leaks. Most boaters go their entire boating lives running gas boats without ever having a fire.
And you’re kidding yourself if you think commercial ships run diesel just because it’s safe. They run diesel because it’s economical. The engines last forever, they get better mileage and the big torque at low RPM’s is ideal for moving a big commercial ship. If gasoline had all those advantages I can guarantee they’d be using it over the safer diesel. Cost > *, especially when the risks can be mitigated.
Oh really… You must have lots of commercial boat/ship time. What the hell do I know. Get out the CFR’s and do some reading about marine propulsion fuels.
No, just enough business sense to know that if gas cost less to operate all that shit coming from china would be coming on gas powered boats, regardless of gasoline vapor’s tendency to explode.
DON DON DON…!!!
ROUND ONE…FIGHT!
Except for the part that the Coast Guard regs get in the way.
It doesn’t say anywhere specifically, no you can’t have a gas boat/ship. But, once you start digging through the CFR’s it is literally impossible to have a gasoline powered USCG inspected commercial vessel. There are regs/restrictions on tank construction, electrical fitout and components, ventilation of tank/machinery spaces, etc etc etc. All these regs are in place because gasoline is inherently dangerous and it’s just plain safer to use diesel/heavy fuel oil.
This is not a thread about commercial ships run by professionals, it’s about ignorant boaters where one little mistake equals a big fire. Sailboats don’t use gas anymore because 99% of them with inboard engines have large cabins and deep bilges that collect fumes. They also only need 1-2hp per 1000lbs displacement so fitting a 15hp diesel to a 30’ 10,000lb boat is no big deal, but a planing powerboat of that size would need a huge, expensive, and heavy diesel engine. Gas engines still make sense for smaller stinkpots but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s dangerous. If I were buying a powerboat, I’d be sticking to an outboard. It makes repowering easier too.
Matter of fact, the only two types of powerboats I would remotely be interested in are trawlers (most have diesels) or a small runabout with an outboard.
god this thread has gotten stupid
gas engines are better for small boats because of the RPMs. Boats don’t have multiple gears, so a proper powerband is CRUCIAL. My boat runs at a consistent 5500rpm while crusing.
Large yachts run diesel because they need low-end power for planing off such a heavy boat. Shitty part is that they max out in speed pretty early. On a sailboat, it doesn’t really matter. The only thing you are doing is putting along slowly.
My dad’s boat runs TWIN 654 Turbo Diesel engines(beastly power, the turbos would put Turbo LS1 SS to shame). He tops out before 30mph though. He gets ZERO top end power.
With cars, diesels can work because you can gear them out to get higher speeds. That doesn’t work on boats.
Safety IS an issue, and that is why people should take the boater safety course and make sure that they have PROPER fire extinguishers on board. This guy could have probably saved his boat if he acted quickly and grabbed a fire extinguisher rather than just jumping off the boat.
That still comes down to a money issue. It’s not that you can’t run the gas boat, they just make it so expensive and difficult that no one bothers. The government does this all the time.
Car noobs are ricers
Biker noobs are squids
Boater noobs are…???
You’re not wrong(obviously). But, that doesn’t mean that it is the ONLY reason why commercial ships run diesel engines.