Wrong hole.

[Tim Wagner]

Once on a fishing trip to Lake St.Clair, we couldn't get into the marina at the Belle River.
It was roped off with hazard signs.
Turns out that one of the attendants there pumped 47 gallons of gas into one of the ROD HOLDERS of a charter boat. I guess it was about a 28 foot cuddy.
It went down into the bilge and once the automatic pump kicked on, it pumped the fuel out into the marina.
Once we were able to get in there, the owners of the boat had everything from the boat laid out on the dock drying out after being cleaned.
The captain wasn't too happy
Pretty crazy and a horrible mistake.
Guess its best to stand by and make sure they're pumping the gas in the right orifice

 

[royal0014]

Re: Wrong hole.

Yep, that story has been told many times here. Probably many more times that don't get told............

Bad enough when the kid at the marina does it, but then there are the owners who do it with their own boat!


<<)))(((>>

 

[jim372]

Re: Wrong hole.

you would think that someone pumping gas would know what a gas inlet would look like and a built in rod holder looks like
jim

 

[Expidia]

Re: Wrong hole.

Wow, I was worried about opening this thread from the title . . . Pfweew

 

[sasto]

Re: Wrong hole.

Wow, I was worried about opening this thread from the title . . . Pfweew

never crossed my mind........but you! ....

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Wrong hole.

Once on a fishing trip to Lake St.Clair, we couldn't get into the marina at the Belle River.

Was it in 2006 ???? being from Belle River it was about 4 years ago that I heard that story told by some of the locals

 

[perchin]

Re: Wrong hole.

Wow, I was worried about opening this thread from the title . . . Pfweew

hehe...I had the same reaction...

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Wrong hole.

Many marinas by policy hand the customer the nozzle and let him choose his hole. This story is why.

The story of this happening is told everywhere; I'm sure it happens occassionally. On two boats I have with inboard tanks, the fill hole is within a foot of the rod holder and in a hurry, I have started towards the wrong hole, but never got in it. So I can see how it might happen; aren't almost all accidents a function of someone not paying attention?

 

[Tim Wagner]

Re: Wrong hole.

As for "wrong hole". Well I figured that would attract attention. Got ya!
Yes that was about 2006 I think.
It would have been the week leading into the 4th of July. (I guess the 3rd for you Canadians)

 

[eastont]

Re: Wrong hole.

you would think that someone pumping gas would know what a gas inlet would look like and a built in rod holder looks like
jim

Not if you look at some of the people working in some of the gas depots.

 

[itsaboattime]

Re: Wrong hole.

Wow, I was worried about opening this thread from the title . . . Pfweew

I gotta admit my eyebrow went up.
thought "this should be good."

 

[mommicked]

Re: Wrong hole.

......"Thats what she said!" Reply works for all kinds of comments at work or play,a little to the left/right,raise/lower it,too long/short,too hard/soft,its stuck,let me have it/do it.its too loose/tight etc.the list goes on.its always good for a laugh at work.try it sometime it can be contagious at work

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Wrong hole.

But on "The Office" they demonstrate how "that's what she said" gets tiresome, fast.
All depends on your audience's level of humor I guess.

 

[SkeeterDuke15]

Re: Wrong hole.

yikes, when i was around 15 i pumped gas into the oil tank on a lawnmower...boss wasnt too happy.

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Wrong hole.

had a similar deal here a few years back.
transient came in with a custom boat, about 38ft.
someone had removed the original diesel engines and installed a pair of SX250 yamahas.
one blew a powerhead.
I replaced it and seatrialed it and all was well.
customer called said he would be there on satuday and could we place the boat in the water and fuel it.
we did, a dock hand started fueling it.
I walked out the shop door by the fuel dock about the time the rule 2000 kicked on and started spraying gas everywhere.
I grabbed a 5 gallon bucket and had the dock hand catch what he could while I jumped onboard and pulled the auto pump fuse.
thats when we found the original engine bay had been converted to a fuel cell that held about 550 gallons. the gasoline fill had been relocated BUT they left BOTH diesel fill ports in place and the fill port hoses simply dangled in the bilge.
the dock hand had opened the port labled diesel on the port side and started filling, the stbd side about 4 ft fwd of the stbd diesel fill is where the port labled GAS was.
luckily not much got spilled, 3 or 4 gallons but we did have to remove about 75 gallons of gas from the bilge.
made for an interesting afternoon anyway.
kinda like the 6:30 am call about diesel fuel in the loading area, found almost 200 gallons of it in the pond.

 

[DaNinja]

Re: Wrong hole.

Not if you look at some of the people working in some of the gas depots.

In a similiar vein, I'm pretty sure the dock girls here were not hired for their degrees in fuel handling.

 

[AviatorJim]

Re: Wrong hole.

Happens in airplanes too. Had a guy who was supposed to fill the aux tank of a saberliner, told him where the fuel cap was, but he missed it and poked the nozzle into the sextant port. About 20 gallons after is should have been full he noticed it was running out the bottom of the plane. Had to bring the jet back to base on a flatbed to be cleaned, and have a new interior installed.

 

[DaNinja]

Re: Wrong hole.

And also, that's another reason to put your passengers on the dock and open an engine hatch during refueling.

My LOTO neighbors may chime in, but we had a guy gassing his 38 Special at a local marina back a few months ago. According to a relative, the guy smelled gas after the refueling and decided to turn on the bilge pump, (I doubt that since it's wrong on a couple levels. I think they meant bilge blower.)

Well, the boat promptly exploded and burned with all 200-some gallons of gas onboard. He dove of the boat, but suffered very serious, life threatening burns. I haven't heard an update on his condition.

Fortunately he was by himself and didn't have a cuddy full of family/guests. I think if he had monitored the refuel more closely with an engine hatch open, he may have caught the issue before it got to a catastrophic end.

 

[Nandy]

Re: Wrong hole.

The spark must have been from somewhere else, arent those blowers (and the bilge pumps for that matter) for marine used (therefor sealed to keep sparks off igniting gas)?

 

[j_martin]

Re: Wrong hole.

The spark must have been from somewhere else, arent those blowers (and the bilge pumps for that matter) for marine used (therefor sealed to keep sparks off igniting gas)?

The pump's are sealed, but the switches aren't. If the fumes got behind the switch panel, it would set it off.

Another thought is that the crimp and idc splices I've seen in boats are likely to spark with little provocation.