FUELISH BEHAVIOR
A video of a boat explosion reminds us to practice safe pumping at the fuel dock.
There’s a crazy boating video that recently circulated around social media and was picked up by several major media outlets. In the video, recorded at a marina in Italy, a woman is seen on the swim platform of a typical sterndrive cruiser, handling lines as her captain eases the boat away from the fuel dock. As the boat pulls away, the woman is suddenly propelled into the air by a violent explosion coming from under the engine hatch. As she lands in the water, a dockhand jumps into the water to help her. Reportedly, all the people involved in the video escaped serious harm, but it is a sobering reminder that fueling your boat is not a task to be taken for granted.
Normally, we reserve this page for stories submitted by our readers, but in this video, we found a lesson too important to pass over. While we don’t know exactly what happened at that fuel dock in Italy, we can speculate based on years of experience on the water. Here’s what could have gone wrong and what you can learn from it.
NO BLOW, NO GO
The first, most obvious thought is that the captain could have forgotten to turn on the blower before hitting the ignition. When refueling, gas vapors can seep into an enclosed engine compartment. The vapors are heavier than the air, and can sink to the bottom of the compartment and into the bilge. All it takes is one spark, even from static electricity, to ignite the vapors and cause an explosion. With EFI technology, this has become less of a problem than it was with carbureted engines, but builders still install blowers for a reason. Organizations such as BoatU.S. recommend running the blower for four minutes before hitting the ignition.
BLOWING WHILE PUMPING
While it’s imperative to turn on your boat’s blower after refueling, you should leave it off while you’re actually pumping gas. That’s because the blower sucks fresh air into your engine room in order to blow out the air that’s already inside. If you have the blower on as you’re pumping, it could suck in the ambient vapors and cause the exact problem you are trying to prevent.
LEAKY HOSES
Even a pinprick leak in a fuel line can result in catastrophe. Be sure to inspect your fuel lines, as well as the fuel fill leading to the tank, on a regular basis. Again, it’s not just the liquid fuel that is flammable. If the vapors get trapped in an enclosed space, any little spark of energy can set them off.
KEEP YOUR ENGINE HATCH OPEN, AND ALL OTHERS CLOSED
It’s also common practice to crack your boat’s engine hatch after refueling, as well as while the blower is running, before restarting. This will help clear the air inside the engine compartment and gives you an opportunity to do the sniff test to check for fumes. But what you don’t want to do is leave any cabin doors, windows or hatches open during refueling. Any open port or hatch can allow vapors that escape during refueling to seep through the openings and settle lower in your boat.
If you do all these things, hopefully you will never star in a boating YouTube video for the wrong reasons.