floatfan
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2011
- Messages
- 184
So it turns out I'm not the only boater who has a SHT to his credit. Here's my story...
A few years ago a buddy and I went down to my recently deceased grandfather's place at Lake Seminole in southwest GA. His health had failed him the past couple of years so he hadn't been able to get out in his old 1960 or 61 Glastron with same year model 40hp Johnson Seahorse in a while. My grandfather was quite the "engineer". He taylored this old ski boat to fit his needs...a night-fishing rig. He'd taken all the seats out (that way he could set a couple of old folding lawn chairs in it), fabricated and attached every kind of rack you could imagine (pole holders, 5 gallon propane tank holder to power the lantern hanging over the side, lanter holder, etc etc etc) onto this boat. He'd even made a top and walls out of old tarps/tablecloths and 5 or 6 rolls of duct tape on a frame made from old push lawnmower handles. To say it was "rigged" is an understatement. My buddy and I spent an entire weekend removing all these contraptions from the boat so we could get her back to her original glory (growing up, I always thought the old Glastron looked like a Batman boat). Next weekend, we make the drive back down there, along with my girlfriend at the time. The house is about 200 yards from the water, so we had to tow it from the boat house to the neighborhood boat ramp. I'd prepped ahead of time by checking the lower unit oil, charging the battery, checking the impeller. My grandfather had 2 batteries in it for all his night fishing rigs, but since one was an old car battery and we weren't going to be running any electronics on our brief test run, I removed one of the batteries. I just rehooked up everything that was originally hooked to the main battery and patted myself on the back for putting Granddaddy's old boat back in the water.
After a short cruise on the water, we re-trailered the boat and pulled it back up the road to the house. When I started backing it towards the boathouse, I saw smoke coming from the boat! Oh no!!! Throwing the truck into park, I ran back to the boat to discover the little 6 gallon plastic fuel tank was ON FIRE! Quickly grabbing the powder extinguisher canister on the dash of the boat, I realized what in 1961 was a extinguisher where you'd shake the powder onto the fire had in it's 45+ years on the boat turned into a solid rock. I take off running into the house to get an extinguisher, only to realize the door is locked since we've been gone to the water. Ran back to my still running truck, shut it off and fumble through the myriad of keys while running back to the door. Finally get inside the house, grab an extinguisher and get back out to the boat. All the while, I'm waiting for a boom or the whole boat to suddenly be engulfed in flames while hooked to my truck. When I get back out, I realize my buddy has tossed a bucket full of water TOWARDS the gas tank fire...completely missing it. I toss him my keys and tell him to unlock the trailer from the tongue and unhook and get the truck away while I work on the fire. Long story shorter...I got the fire out no problem.
Turns out when I rehooked all the wiring to the battery, I also hooked the jumper that went to the 2nd battery. While loading the boat or driving back up the house, the wires had touched and melted the insulation on the wires, which were also touching the top of the gas tank. Somehow the plastic caught fire and burnt a couple of large holes in the top of the tank, but never actually ignited the fuel inside the tank. Lesson learned about wiring! We hadn't been drinking that day to that point, but that gave us reason to down a few while our nerves calmed down. My girlfriend was steady taking pictures the whole time. I've attached a couple of them that I had on this computer. I have pictures of the gas tank somewhere...but these will give you an idea of the fun.
This one is me making a mad dash to the house for the fire extinguisher while my buddy runs to get water...
Here's the trusty home fire extiguisher after saving the day...and the water my buddy threw in the boat
A few years ago a buddy and I went down to my recently deceased grandfather's place at Lake Seminole in southwest GA. His health had failed him the past couple of years so he hadn't been able to get out in his old 1960 or 61 Glastron with same year model 40hp Johnson Seahorse in a while. My grandfather was quite the "engineer". He taylored this old ski boat to fit his needs...a night-fishing rig. He'd taken all the seats out (that way he could set a couple of old folding lawn chairs in it), fabricated and attached every kind of rack you could imagine (pole holders, 5 gallon propane tank holder to power the lantern hanging over the side, lanter holder, etc etc etc) onto this boat. He'd even made a top and walls out of old tarps/tablecloths and 5 or 6 rolls of duct tape on a frame made from old push lawnmower handles. To say it was "rigged" is an understatement. My buddy and I spent an entire weekend removing all these contraptions from the boat so we could get her back to her original glory (growing up, I always thought the old Glastron looked like a Batman boat). Next weekend, we make the drive back down there, along with my girlfriend at the time. The house is about 200 yards from the water, so we had to tow it from the boat house to the neighborhood boat ramp. I'd prepped ahead of time by checking the lower unit oil, charging the battery, checking the impeller. My grandfather had 2 batteries in it for all his night fishing rigs, but since one was an old car battery and we weren't going to be running any electronics on our brief test run, I removed one of the batteries. I just rehooked up everything that was originally hooked to the main battery and patted myself on the back for putting Granddaddy's old boat back in the water.
After a short cruise on the water, we re-trailered the boat and pulled it back up the road to the house. When I started backing it towards the boathouse, I saw smoke coming from the boat! Oh no!!! Throwing the truck into park, I ran back to the boat to discover the little 6 gallon plastic fuel tank was ON FIRE! Quickly grabbing the powder extinguisher canister on the dash of the boat, I realized what in 1961 was a extinguisher where you'd shake the powder onto the fire had in it's 45+ years on the boat turned into a solid rock. I take off running into the house to get an extinguisher, only to realize the door is locked since we've been gone to the water. Ran back to my still running truck, shut it off and fumble through the myriad of keys while running back to the door. Finally get inside the house, grab an extinguisher and get back out to the boat. All the while, I'm waiting for a boom or the whole boat to suddenly be engulfed in flames while hooked to my truck. When I get back out, I realize my buddy has tossed a bucket full of water TOWARDS the gas tank fire...completely missing it. I toss him my keys and tell him to unlock the trailer from the tongue and unhook and get the truck away while I work on the fire. Long story shorter...I got the fire out no problem.
Turns out when I rehooked all the wiring to the battery, I also hooked the jumper that went to the 2nd battery. While loading the boat or driving back up the house, the wires had touched and melted the insulation on the wires, which were also touching the top of the gas tank. Somehow the plastic caught fire and burnt a couple of large holes in the top of the tank, but never actually ignited the fuel inside the tank. Lesson learned about wiring! We hadn't been drinking that day to that point, but that gave us reason to down a few while our nerves calmed down. My girlfriend was steady taking pictures the whole time. I've attached a couple of them that I had on this computer. I have pictures of the gas tank somewhere...but these will give you an idea of the fun.
This one is me making a mad dash to the house for the fire extinguisher while my buddy runs to get water...
Here's the trusty home fire extiguisher after saving the day...and the water my buddy threw in the boat
