Fell asleep on the couch watching a movie and ended back in the v-birth around 5 am. Thought I smelled something heating up and took a quick look around, found nothing suspicious and settled back to drift off to sleep.
Thirty minutes later my wife screams, the boats on fire!!!!!!!!!!! (the worst nightmare any boater can think of) We both immediately jumped up and out of the v-birth and sure enough, I had an electrical fire below the front bilge access panel. I immedately told her to disconnect all power to the boat and I shut down all DC breakers. I then pulled back the carpet and for those who have the same set-up, there is a finger hole which to pull up the panel of wood. I could see flames just below. I got a fire extinguisher ( I keep more than six onboard and handy ) and aimed in the finger hole and extinguished the flames. Whew...
By the way, discharging an extinguisher in close quarters will suck the surrounding air of oxygen and leave you breathless and gasping for air!The forward bilge pump locked up and overheated the wiring, fusing power and ground and causing the fire. The wiring was damaged to about 15 inches before it was put out. Slight scorching of the hatch and under carpet but no real damage, surprised it didn't go up in a big ball of flame.
The pump had had come loose from it's strainer and sometime over the past week or so, must have pickup some debris and jammed the impeller. Remember now... I had a water leak in the fresh water line and water would run to the front, cycling the front bilge pump...
I gutted the damaged wiring, repaired it and bought a new pump and float switch and all is now good.
Interesting note: I couldn't understand why the breaker didn't shut off power in this circumstance. I discovered that the wiring did not have an inline fuse between supply power and float switch. This systems uses two power feeds, one constant from main bilge breakers for automatic pump activation, via float switch and the other for manually activating pump. The individual breaker/switch's will trip but unless there is fuse protection in automatic mode, the breakers may NOT trip!! I rewired the float switch with an inline fuse, as should be.
Had we not be down there this weekend, we could have had a disaster, our boat and possibly others as well. Plus we keep our beloved dog on board when we are in the restaurant or in town running errands. The thought of devastation really hits home guys!
Please, please take the time to insure that you have checked and double check everything. Leave nothing to chance!!! It's easy to get excited about springtime boating and launching but all that can be lost in just a few minutes! Also, please put up some smoke detectors!!!! I did not have one. But I will have at least two now!! And fire extinguishers are cheap, keep up to date and handy.
Sorry for the long report but if this refreshes and instills being careful and diligent this boating season, it's well worth this read.
Thanks.
