Sydney "sailboat" Explosion

[BruceK]

Major explosion at a Newport marina, the woman onboard lucky to survive.
Nice boat, a previous Sydney-Hobart competitor. One interview seems to mention operating the oven, even before that I was suspecting LPG/propane. Not much boat left.

 

[Adopo]

How in the world she survived that is amazing.

 

[Southern Boater]

Wow!.......how on earth would you survive that, unless in another cabin forward maybe?
Hard to believe LPG/propane would completely destroy a big yacht like that.

Interesting story, thanks for posting Bruce

 

[Frosty]

How in the world she survived that is amazing.

That's what I was thinking. The debris is just a bunch of tiny pieces! You would never think someone in the galley would have survived.

 

[rsn48]

An explosion is something flammable contained then ignited and bam. With propane you are more likely to get a flare and burn unless it is a propane tank, but they so rarely explode.

 

[BruceK]

An explosion is something flammable contained then ignited and bam. With propane you are more likely to get a flare and burn unless it is a propane tank, but they so rarely explode.

The News report interview was not so clear but there was something about lighting an oven which put me on the propane track, maybe leaking for a while, building up, lying low in the bilge.
Years ago I was involved in a case of an imperfectly blanked off LPG line which had supplied a removed heater. Fresh gas cylinders to the house were installed, LPG flowed,it built up, someone sitting on the floor lit a cigarette...big explosion with a fireball.
Could be something else entirely, but it`s my best guess. She`s a lucky lady to survive, the other boats fared well too.

 

[rsn48]

I do something with my BBQ you are not suppose to do at home. First I use natural gas with my BBQ, not propane, but same thing only different. I don't like using bottled propane so for the last 25 years my BBQ's are plugged into the home's natural gas system. I also bbq almost daily even during the cold months here on Vancouver Island, I'm the guy who will bbq in the snow.

I use the bbq everyday with either my evening meal, eg. chicken, steak, fish, whatever (no smell in the house when cooking fish) or I use the side burner for breakfast, so no smells of bacon or sausage or what have you in the house.

What you are not suppose to do is leave the lid down when starting the bbq. What I do is turn all three burners on high, wait about three seconds then light up with the lid down. I know if I left the burners on for half a minute or longer, the lid will definitely take a jump on ignition.

With the side burner, I have to use a metal plate as the low burn is too hot for cooking so I have to reduce the temp with an intermediary. But the problem with the metal plate is I can get some larger flares with even the gas turned on for two seconds. I won't bore you with all the details but I now call myself a bbq flare expert.

 

[KnotYet]

rsn48, you probably know that a propane appliance will have smaller gas orifices than
a natural gas appliance. So unless you rejetted your BBQ for NG all that will happen is
the maximum BTU's will be reduced when using NG. Not a big problem in most cases.

Using propane in a NG appliance will often result in poor, over-rich combustion, though.

 

[Shrew]

The weird part about an explosion is, it isn't actually the explosion that is the issue. It's the debrie that is propelled. It's not the explosion of the grenade, it's the shrapnel that is propelled outwards.

In this case, the explosion was internal and built up tremendous forces of expansion. The deck and hull would have built up pressure and eventually let go. However, the person was INSIDE the boat. The human body can withstand tremendous amounts of pressure. Look at scuba divers.

The person that stands to be hurt the most is the one standing outside the boat, such as ON the deck, not inside. The person inside has the boat pieces flying outward from outside the blast radius of debrie.

 

[rsn48]

So unless you rejetted your BBQ for NG all that will happen is
the maximum BTU's will be reduced when using NG.

Been there, done that, have the charred T shirt to prove it....lol. I am a Weber snob and always get the natural gas option at time of purchase. Unless for my boat. Then I got the Weber Q1200; this bbq is the most popular in our sister forum - cruising forum for sailboaters. In the cruising forum this appliance beat out all the others for best on a boat, especially for not blowing out. And you can find hacks on how to mount it on your boat.

The review of this bbq:

Here is the thread from the Cruising Forum. I often will ask questions there even though I am no longer a sailboater. There are far more liveaboards in this forum so they will do somethings a little differently than a Trawler type for very good reasons:

Weber Q1200 Grill on a boat - Cruisers & Sailing Forums

 

[Frosty]

In this case, the explosion was internal and built up tremendous forces of expansion. The deck and hull would have built up pressure and eventually let go. However, the person was INSIDE the boat. The human body can withstand tremendous amounts of pressure. Look at scuba divers.

The person that stands to be hurt the most is the one standing outside the boat, such as ON the deck, not inside.

Now that you post this, I remember learning it in the past. People nearby will be at more risk that someone at the epicenter. So the person working on the dodgy system who tells you to just stand back a little..... maybe not!

Hence the person on the boat has ear/hearing damage, but did pretty well otherwise.

 

[BruceK]

The man who lit a cigarette in the house(see post 6) suffered burns,fortunately not severe,but rather complicated by pre existing schizophrenia. I recall him talking about the blast effects, and a fireball.
It was likely natural gas in the large bottles installed in the house, which should not have been installed as there was no Compliance Certificate displayed. It`s good to learn from these unhappy events.
My "newish to me" boat is all electric. I hate running the genset to power the bbq but maybe I should abandon thoughts of an LPG bbq on safety grounds.