Tough Day at the Yard

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It was so cold yesterday. But, there was a fire on a sailboat in the yard in the afternoon. Smoke and flames coming out the companionway. One yard worker slightly singed (eyebrows, hair) putting it out with a fire extinguisher. It was probably electrical in nature as it seemed to originate from wires behind a breaker panel. The owner put a parabolic heater (like they sell at Costco) inside earlier (due to the below freezing weather?) and it may have drawn too much power, or there was bad wiring. The fire department was called and they went inside the still smoking vessel. Eventually they used a sawzall reciprocating saw and a garden hose to mop up. Burning fiberglass resin smells really bad.

The owner came by while the FD was still there. I didn't talk to him. I imagine he has a lot to consider about the future of that boat. I'm not sure what type it is but it is about 30 feet with a skeg-hung rudder. The keel area is tented, so I can't tell what it looks like. I may find out more details in the coming days. Not a great Christmas present.

 

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Follow-up

I spent the afternoon at the yard yesterday and got more of the story from the guy who got his hair singed. He’s OK. He participated in the conversation with the FD after they were done inspecting the damage and the owner arrived. There were two heaters plugged into the same outlet. The second heater was added earlier that morning by the owner. The boat is a 70s vintage with non-thermal circuit breakers. The two heaters on the same circuit didn’t trip the breaker but eventually overheated the wiring. The boat has a 30-amp cord, but clearly that AC outlet circuit is probably only wired for 15 amps, like a home circuit.

If there's a lesson for any of us with old boats maybe it has to do with what kind of fuses or circuit breakers we have on our vintage panels. Electric heaters draw 5-10 amps and sometimes on the high setting it gets up to 12 or so, based on my AC ammeter. I have a 30-amp AC cord also. The outlets in my boat are on a 15 amp breaker and I have tripped the breaker trying to run a drill and a heater at the same time. I have a modernized AC and DC panel, apparently with thermal switch/breakers.