jmccall001
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2005
- Messages
- 103
1982 Sea Ray 26', 260 hp,<br /><br />On Monday, the wife and I were going cruising for our maiden trip. The boat had been run up with the mechanic and I on Saturday and ran perfectly - new plugs, points, condenser, plug wires, new impellers, polished, new bottom paint after sanding. This boat looked sweet.<br /><br />Fueled up at 3.25 per gallon and waited for the wife. 20 minutres late, and she got onboard. I started the blower motor and ran it for abty 5 minutes while she organized herself. Turned the ignition switch and it sounded as though a 155 howitzer had gone off. Turned around, wife had been ejected from the boat with the explosion that blew off hatch covers, flames, black smoke. My fire extinguisher was rapidly gone and a commercial put out the fire quickly. Wife had broken ankle in two places, bruided in several places, had emergency surgery that night.<br />Post Mortem - when the marina owner and mechanic checked the boat, the blower switch was on but the fuse blown- no surprise since wiring and battery were toast on starbord side. No duct work for the blower was left and the motor would spin but the fan not. Appears as though the noise that I thought was the fan working was the motor running without the fan working.<br />Suggestions: 1. Several times a year check the blower motor AND fan to see they are working.<br />2. If more than 5-6 years old, replace blower and motor and ductwork.<br />Ironically, boat suffered less damage than wife, needs wsiring on the starboard side, new batter and the hull refastened in 10 or 12 places. Only one crack in fibreglass and it is on the upper transom, easily repaired
