Great article on fires aboard boats

[DavidM]

The following article was written by my former neighbor- John Rahm, a former Harrier pilot and now semi-retired in Oriental, NC where he is a sometimes boat instructor. The article discusses the principle causes of boat fires, mostly electrical it seems.


https://towndock.net/captains-blog/fires-aboard


David

 

[Mkeller]

I bought a boat that had an electrical fire. The Chinese made battery cables were oozing. The PO had a spiderweb of wiring all over the engine room. Leaking propshaft was slinging saltwater everywhere. Day one I cut out all the primary battery and starter cables, and totally ripped out all ac wiring and checked resistance circuit by circuit. The wiring from the breaker panel was good even though not tinned. Everything with non sealed connections in the engine room not so much. Stripping back the engine harness let me find good wire. I still have some PO issues to correct. Probably created some of my own, but at least nothing is sparking. I have not yet reconnected the AC side. Hopefully this year.

 

[wpc691]

Good article, thanks for posting.

 

[Cigatoo]

The following article was written by my former neighbor- John Rahm, a former Harrier pilot and now semi-retired in Oriental, NC where he is a sometimes boat instructor. The article discusses the principle causes of boat fires, mostly electrical it seems.


https://towndock.net/captains-blog/fires-aboard


David

Nice article David.

 

[sbu22]

Appreciate it, David. Good summary.

 

[kchace]

Messy wiring, adding things over the years without proper fusing - then add time, corrosion and movement. Its a wonder to me that a lot more boats don't burn.

Ken

 

[Mako]

I bought a boat that had an electrical fire. The Chinese made battery cables were oozing.

Can you identify exactly what went wrong with the cables? Perhaps they were grossly overloaded? Most of our components these days come from China, so it would be good to understand better.