Seven people injured in Taplow boat explosion

[cereal tiller]

 

Unless it came in with the BSS when is superseded the Thames Conservancy Launch Regulations a bilge blower is not required for petrol engine boats.

 

A drip tray is/was required for all side draft and up draft carburettors but not down draft ones. Semi-side draft ones like the SU did not require drip tray. As far as I could see the deciding point was that if the carburettor flooded would it run out of the carburettor or down into the manifold. That is quiet apart form the difficulty of fitting a drip tray with flame arrestor gauze to a down draft. That all made sense and was fine until the down draft carbs wore allowed fuel to leak from the throttle spindle.

 

As I said, maybe the BSS is different but judging by the smell sometimes in locks either it is not or there are some very slack BSS inspectors on the Thames. I suspect the former.

Have always fitted drip trays to SU carbs.the flexy hose that feeds the main jet assembly can fail after the Choke has been operated several hundred times.

 

CT

[bizzard]

I've been out to several vehicle fires over the years. Folk sometimes phoned me before the fire brigade.!!! Old VW transporter camper van, metal battery cover misplaced, shorted battery terminals, engine compartment alight, smothered it with my bobble hat before the brigade arrived. Early Jaguar XJ6, battery exploded in a blokes garage, minor blaze and scorched paint. Several carburetter cars with overflowing carbs catching light, mainly V engines where a pond of petrol could accumulate between the cylinder banks.

Engines popping back up through the carb venturi often because the accelerator pump has stopped working causing a big flat spot which set alight the paper air filter and its plastic container, Vauxhall Viva, Opal were famous for this being bad for carb flat spots.. Peugeot 504 burnt out as the owner had left a spanner close to and touching a battery terminal. My own soft top Land Rovers whole tilt ablaze in the middle of the night due to a dog end flicked out of the window which did a U turn and came back in under the rolled up tilt at the back. I went out there in my underpants and threw a bucket of water over it, new tilt £38. None of them actually blew up though.

[Locksprite]

Fires in rear engined VW campers were not unknown. Usually split fuel cables and hot air-cooled engines.

[billS]

in my 28 years as a firefighter I've lost count of the vehicle fires I've attended and can't recall a single explosion.

 

 

That can't possibly be right. I've seen hundreds of cars exploding in the movies and on TV programs - pretty much every time one crashes.

[Naughty Cal]

 

That can't possibly be right. I've seen hundreds of cars exploding in the movies and on TV programs - pretty much every time one crashes.

Or gets shot.

There is bit more detail about the incident in this article.

 

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/river-thames-boat-explosion-six-6181438

[bizzard]

Or gets shot.

There is bit more detail about the incident in this article.

 

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/river-thames-boat-explosion-six-6181438

If your Ford Sierra has the V engine NC and has a carburetter check that the carburetter's float chamber overflow plastic tubing that directs overflowing petrol down and away onto the road is still in place and attached firmly. The Ford V engines were also quite famous for catching alight when that tube fell off.

[jake_crew]

My dads old Hillman had the carb over-flow spout directly over the exhaust manifold. Shock ! Horror !

 

Petrol can only be ignited by a spark.

 

A hot manifold will not ignite petrol, but will create hot petrol vapour which will ignite more easily by some other agent.

Edited August 3, 2015 by jake_crew

[system 4-50]

I've been out to several vehicle fires over the years. Folk sometimes phoned me before the fire brigade.!!! Old VW transporter camper van, metal battery cover misplaced, shorted battery terminals, engine compartment alight, smothered it with my bobble hat before the brigade arrived. Early Jaguar XJ6, battery exploded in a blokes garage, minor blaze and scorched paint. Several carburetter cars with overflowing carbs catching light, mainly V engines where a pond of petrol could accumulate between the cylinder banks.

Engines popping back up through the carb venturi often because the accelerator pump has stopped working causing a big flat spot which set alight the paper air filter and its plastic container, Vauxhall Viva, Opal were famous for this being bad for carb flat spots.. Peugeot 504 burnt out as the owner had left a spanner close to and touching a battery terminal. My own soft top Land Rovers whole tilt ablaze in the middle of the night due to a dog end flicked out of the window which did a U turn and came back in under the rolled up tilt at the back. I went out there in my underpants and threw a bucket of water over it, new tilt £38. None of them actually blew up though.

Is having a bobble hat that is not marked as non-flammable a BSS fail?

[bizzard]

My dads old Hillman had the carb over-flow spout directly over the exhaust manifold. Shock ! Horror !

 

Petrol can only be ignited by a spark.

 

A hot manifold will not ignite petrol, but will create hot petrol vapour which will ignite more easily by some other agent.

Generally so. The petrol vapours usually ignited by HT sparks from the distributor and or HT leads arcing especially with V engines as the distributor is normally between the cylinder banks either in front of or just behind the carburetter with HT leads sprawled about like spaghetti. The Viva engines had HT leads sprawled across the valve cover from side to side.

[bizzard]

Is having a bobble hat that is not marked as non-flammable a BSS fail?

It's all about speed. Slight of hand deceives the eye. I'll check up in the BSS book of rules. Fireproof bobble hats can be made out of old fire blankets.

[StephenA]

My dads old Hillman had the carb over-flow spout directly over the exhaust manifold. Shock ! Horror !

 

Petrol can only be ignited by a spark.

 

A hot manifold will not ignite petrol, but will create hot petrol vapour which will ignite more easily by some other agent.

 

 

The Autoignite point of petrol is apparently 247–280 °C So pretty hot but still achievable on a hot manifold.

[Lmcgrath87]

I heard today, that the cause of the fire was that petrol was put in the water tank? When they lit gas to boil the kettle it all went horribly wrong.

 

I could be mistaken however.

[Chalky]

Have always fitted drip trays to SU carbs.the flexy hose that feeds the main jet assembly can fail after the Choke has been operated several hundred times.

 

CT

 

If they're HSs swap them for HIFs. The float chamber is integral with the carb body and the jet is enclosed. They're less likely to suffer from fuel evaporation problems which overcomes hot soak problems. They have a better designed spindle assembly compared to the HS and don't wear as badly. They also have a connection to the float chamber so if they flood you can route the excess petrol somewhere sensible - on the MG its via a pair of pipes that route it clear of the exhaust.

Edited August 10, 2015 by Chalky

[MtB]

I heard today, that the cause of the fire was that petrol was put in the water tank? When they lit gas to boil the kettle it all went horribly wrong.

 

I could be mistaken however.

 

 

I have to say that sounds unlikely.

 

Petrol floats on water so the water tank would need to be virtually empty before any got drawn into the water system and appeared at the tap to fill the kettle.

 

Secondly it would utterly stink! I'm sure most people would notice something amiss if they filled their kettle with petrol.

[Lmcgrath87]

 

 

I have to say that sounds unlikely.

 

Petrol floats on water so the water tank would need to be virtually empty before any got drawn into the water system and appeared at the tap to fill the kettle.

 

Secondly it would utterly stink! I'm sure most people would notice something amiss if they filled their kettle with petrol.

 

Well, I was suspicious, but that is the 'word on the street' on one of the FB pages...

[MtB]

Hmmm...

 

On reflection, my first point will happen sooner or later with 100% certainty, just unlikely it would happen in a lock.

 

The person filling the kettle and lighting the gas might have had no sense of smell.

 

A third point is I think there might be a Thames regulation 'no naked lights in locks', which they didn't know about or ignored.

[StephenA]

 

Well, I was suspicious, but that is the 'word on the street' on one of the FB pages...

 

So if that's the case then those labels we were forced to put on our boats to stop us putting diesel in the water tank (and vice versa) obviously were a waste of time.....

[MtB]

 

So if that's the case then those labels we were forced to put on our boats to stop us putting diesel in the water tank (and vice versa) obviously were a waste of time.....

 

Yes. Perhaps because they don't say ANYTHING about not putting petrol in...

[StephenA]

 

Yes. Perhaps because they don't say ANYTHING about not putting petrol in...

 

Well they used to be able to just say Fuel but apparently BSS thought that might mean that people would put petrol in the diesel tank.

[Emerald Fox]

 

That can't possibly be right. I've seen hundreds of cars exploding in the movies and on TV programs - pretty much every time one crashes.

 

Why are the tyres in American TV shows/movies always squealing? And have you noticed the cops in American shows/movies always leave their car doors unlocked?

And people pull up in their open-top cars and off they go, oblivious to the fact that drunken English football fans are about to stagger past and throw up into them all over the leather seats.

[Lmcgrath87]

Okay so now apparently it was fuel put in the pump out tank.... Guy realised his error refueled properly leaving the petrol in the tank and somehow it caused the boat to to up.

[MtB]

Okay so now apparently it was fuel put in the pump out tank.... Guy realised his error refueled properly leaving the petrol in the tank and somehow it caused the boat to to up.

 

 

I'm intrigued about where this petrol was obtained. In a boatyard? None sell it!

 

Taken to the boat in a jerry can perhaps? This seems more feasible.

 

But what sort of batteau runs on petrol AND has a pumpout bog???

[abraxus]

It was on the Thames. At least three marinas nearby (including Bray) sell petrol.

 

Plenty of small to mid size cruisers run on petrol, and viriually all have pump out bogs.

Edited August 12, 2015 by abraxus

[MtB]

It was on the Thames. At least three marinas nearby (including Bray) sell petrol.

 

Plenty of small to mid size cruisers run on petrol, and viriually all have pump out bogs.

 

 

Only those with outboard motors, I'd suggest.

 

When I worked at Windsor Mariana as a service bod, I don't think I ever encounter a cruiser with an inboard petrol engine.

 

OTOH I didn't work there than long!

[abraxus]

No Mike, not just outboards.

 

Lot's of boats on the Thames are essentially sea going boats. There are plenty of sports cruisers, with bloody great engines that never get above tickover at river speeds. Up to about 28 feet they're often single inboard engines with an outdrive. The popularity of petrol boats is usually due to the cheaper cost to buy, coupled with the availability of petrol, as Bray, Windsor and Racecourse marina's all sell petrol, and yet are virtually next door to each other.

 

Mostly you'll see it with mid range American boats, so at Windsor marina, for example, boats like Carver, Bayliner etc will be petrol inboards, with 5l, 5.7l and 7.5l Mercruiser engines. Not ideal for river cruising, but you get a lot of boat for the money, and it makes venturing onto the tidal Thames, or out to sea, an easier prospect.