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Old 20-08-2012, 20:03   #1
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Exclamation Just a Reminder ...

A good friend of mine was motoring back to her slip with her Columbia 26 this weekend and thought the engine smelled hot. Since she had just rebuilt the water pump (impeller was trashed), she decided to have a look as soon as she got tied up in her slip.

On this Columbia 26 she has her engine stuffed up under her cockpit floor, accessible via the cockpit seat openings.

The minute she had the engine off and her lines across, she lifted up one of the seats and dove right on in. As she told me later, that was the last thing she remember before she woke up in the hospital.

It appears that she had melted a hole in her exhaust piping and filled her engine compartment with exhaust fumes. She does NOT have a CO monitor on board, but she does have a bilge blower (which she didn't turn on ). The people in the next slip over stopped by to offer her a beer and got no response, then while they had another sailor call 911 (rescue), they attempted to pull her out of the hole. They were still trying when the paramedics showed up.

While she only spent the night in the hospital, the result could have been FAR worse and she is very lucky to be alive. A CO monitor for your boat costs about $125 US, can you afford not to have one?
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Old 20-08-2012, 20:53   #2
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Re: Just a reminder..

Thanks for the tip. Glad to hear that your friend recovered. That's scary. I just read about an older couple that had to be rescued from their boat .....husband was unconscious and wife was in and out of consciousness...they were also lucky.
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Old 20-08-2012, 21:20   #3
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Re: Just a reminder..

One would have thought that as soon as a hatch large enough to climb in was opened, that there would be a flood of fresh air into the engine room.

wonder if these would have worked?
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Old 20-08-2012, 21:41   #4
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Re: Just a reminder..

She was possibly small! I know I can't get in one of those cockpit seat, engine room hatchs !! its all ya can do to stick your head in one of em LOL
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Old 21-08-2012, 13:35   #5
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Re: Just a reminder..

Quote:
Originally Posted by cat man do View Post
One would have thought that as soon as a hatch large enough to climb in was opened, that there would be a flood of fresh air into the engine room.

wonder if these would have worked?
LCD Carbon Gas CO Sensor Monoxide Poisoning Smoke Warning Alarm Detector Tester | eBay
CO and CO2 are both heavier than air, I'm not sure if the CO/Co2 was hot enough to "rise" out of the compartment.

Saturday was pretty much a windless day here, so there would have been no breeze to move the air much. Since the opening is pretty small, her body might have acted as a stopper.
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Old 21-08-2012, 13:44   #6
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Re: Just a Reminder ...

Very scary!
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Old 21-08-2012, 13:54   #7
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Re: Just a reminder..

Quote:
Originally Posted by Khagan1227 View Post
CO and CO2 are both heavier than air, I'm not sure if the CO/Co2 was hot enough to "rise" out of the compartment.
As I learned during a fire inspection class two years ago, CO is not heavier than air, but is about the same weight as oxygen, hence the problem, that it mixes well with the air and easily causes death. So we were told to mount the CO detectors high, not low in houses when we installed them.
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