The fact that the plastic thru-hulls melt, and also need lubrication is documented by Calder.
One just has to ask one question quoted from a great movie: "Do I feel lucky? Well do you?" <ironic smile> Ed On the hard at Crackerboy Yard, Ft Pierce preping boat for new standing rigging & general maintenance with 4 month countdown to Atlantic crossing to Azores & England Ed Kelly from USSV ANGEL LOUISE web postings at http://twitter.com/CaptEdKelly On Jan 12, 2011, at 1:45 AM, "Lee Huddleston" <[email protected]> wrote: > Ben, > > Your story about a fire onboard was scary. I am glad that you were able to > get it under control. I, too, own a steel-hulled boat and have been known to > tout the advantages of steel when given the least opportunity. You have just > given me one more reason to like steel. The contents may be flammable but at > least the hull is not. > > I can foresee a potential chink in the armor, however. If a person uses > Marlon thru-hulls and seacocks to avoid electrolysis problems, the Marlon > could melt or burn, letting the water in. Do you have any solution for this? > I really don't want to use brass on or near the steel and stainless steel > looses its good qualities if it is underwater and cannot get oxygen. > Whenever possible (discharge lines) I am planning to weld mild steel pipe > directly to holes in the hull and then only adding a seacock to the pipe > above the waterline. Of course, for intake lines this is probably not > feasible. > > Lee Huddleston > s/v Truelove > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ben Okopnik > Sent: Sunday, January 09, 2011 5:14 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [Liveaboard] Marina Fire > > On Sun, Jan 09, 2011 at 04:12:52PM -0600, Lee Huddleston wrote: >> >> Many years ago I read on the liveaboard list a reminder that normal bilge >> pumps >> cannot keep up with any considerable hole in a hull.- Shortly thereafter I >> happened to be in a Harbor Freight store and saw a �contractor�s mud pump� on >> clearance. -It was a large centrifugal pump directly attached to the shaft >> of a >> gasoline engine.- I cannot recall the horsepower or the size of the intake >> (1 + >> or 2�).- I couldn�t resist the purchase.- Later I was able to purchase a >> relatively-long wire-reinforced plastic intake hose from an industrial supply >> house.- For the discharge I was able to purchase a fire hose that happened to >> be on clearance as well.- This inspired me find a fire hose nozzle at a local >> fire-control store. > > I was at a Northern Tool store a few weeks ago, and couldn't resist a > similar purchase. Since I have two generators on board as well as a big > inverter, I just bought a big electric trash pump and a good-quality > hose for it. When I got to the boat, I hooked them up, tested them, > lashed the whole thing into a neatly-stowable package with very light > line, and stowed it all in a cockpit locker. It gives me a nice feeling > of additional security to have it there. > > I like your idea of having a nozzle nearby as well; I'll be looking for > one of those. What's surprising is that I didn't think of it myself - > given how much I love multipurpose stuff on board. Oh well... can't be > at the top of the game every moment, right? > > "We should not be crippled by the knowledge that no one of us can know > what all of us together know." > -- John Brunner, "The Shockwave Rider" > >> My question to you and the list is, -assuming that the pump was fueled but >> the >> hoses not yet attached, would it have been possible to use such a pump to >> suppress the fire on a neighboring boat and save it and hopefully yours or >> would the fierceness of the fire have made such an attempt too dangerous? > > I had a fire on board about 10 years ago; in fact, it was on this very > boat, in the aft cabin, and it grew into a fully-developed fire back > there. I'll quote an earlier email that I wrote about it: > > [I was] making a passage down Delaware Bay, right up near > the nuke plant there. The dry exhaust pipe had been routed close to wood > shelving and was not shielded (!), and combined with the outside temps > which were in the 90s, heated the wood enough to combust. I learned a > bunch of lessons that day: > > 1) I'm truly grateful for my steel boat. I've seen a fiberglass hull > catch fire; it was burning to the waterline in less than two minutes > (I've got time-stamped pictures of it.) > > 2) You *cannot* get close enough to a fully-developed fire for long > enough to do anything useful unless you're coming just behind a wall of > water or foam. The human brain simply shuts down when the temperature > around it is in the 400+-degree range. > > 3) Little fire extinguishers are OK for little kitchen fires, but a real > fire takes real equipment. > > A small crewboat happened to be nearby; I radioed them, told them I had > a fire, and asked them to stand by. They came over, jumped on board, and > took turns with me putting the fire out; none of us could stand being in > there for more than 5-10 seconds - the heat would literally suck the > water out of your body in a flood (all of us immediately rammed down a > quart of water every time we came out of there.) > > We managed to put it out. I lost a bunch of cabinetry and bedclothes, > and the aft cabin stank of burned wood for a good year despite all the > stuff having been removed and the entire place scrubbed endlessly. Of > course, the exhaust system now has shielding all around it, and the > cabinetry has been replaced, but I'll never forget it. > > > Based on point #2, above, I believe that the rig I have - and surely the > one you have as well - is sufficient to provide that necessary "wall of > water", at least for a small to a medium sized fire (and that's big > judgement call all in itself, too.) Trying to put out a real fire with > anything less than that would be pointless - and could easily turn > fatal. > > So, in short: yeah, I'd crank up my system if a boat next to me was > burning - but I would be a damned fool if I didn't keep an eye on a > *sure* escape route for myself while doing that. Ditto if I didn't > already have my most valuable stuff in my pockets, or in a bag close at > hand. > > > Ben > -- > OKOPNIK CONSULTING > Custom Computing Solutions For Your Business > Expert-led Training | Dynamic, vital websites | Custom programming > 443-250-7895 http://okopnik.com http://twitter.com/okopnik > _______________________________________________ > Liveaboard mailing list > [email protected] > To adjust your membership settings over the web > http://liveaboardonline.com/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard > To subscribe send an email to [email protected] > > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > The archives are at http://www.liveaboardonline.com/pipermail/liveaboard/ > > To search the archives > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] > > The Mailman Users Guide can be found here > http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html > > > > _______________________________________________ > Liveaboard mailing list > [email protected] > To adjust your membership settings over the web > http://liveaboardonline.com/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard > To subscribe send an email to [email protected] > > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > The archives are at http://www.liveaboardonline.com/pipermail/liveaboard/ > > To search the archives > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] > > The Mailman Users Guide can be found here > http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html _______________________________________________ Liveaboard mailing list [email protected] To adjust your membership settings over the web http://liveaboardonline.com/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] The archives are at http://www.liveaboardonline.com/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
