Some of us are talking about the salon and galley as the same space maybe since they are adjacent to eachother.
My impression was itâs an open plan like the saloon/galley of any small sailing cruiser.
I donât think itâs all that unusual for a live aboard dive boat. I ran one that size in the Bahamas for 26 passengers in single and double private cabins, some with private heads and showers so pretty tight quarters. The divers donât seem to mind as they spend most of their time on deck with day and night dives and mostly use the small cabins only to shower and sleep. We were doing 6 day trips.
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You are right, its not unusual. A lot of similair boats have stairways to the bunkroom aft of the galley/salon with entry outside. Some of these boats were designed with it internally to avoid having passengers have to be outside on the weather decksâŚin other words, at night while transiting in heavy weather, one wouldnât have to go outside to use the head or get to their bunk, etc. Obviously this isnât practical for a fire situation if the fire occurs anywhere other than the engine room or 01 deck.
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I had that same thought this morning! I would bet most people in that bunk room were charging phones etc. Not their fault, most of us would be doing the same. I read an article about lithium ion batteries and âthermal runawayâ that scared the hell out of me. Iâm allot more careful with them than I used to be.
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Iâm sure the CG was able to hear the parts of the conversation we werenât. They have the ability to switch antennas for the best reception.
The problem as I see it is the almost full length, probably open plan, salon and galley. One large space which makes it impossible to create separate exits. An exit trunk to the upper deck would be nice but I think that it is hard or impossible to realize. Separate exits will require a serious redesign.
Yeah trueâŚhowever their vhf may have been on emergency battery power at the time of the mayday call and the boat being tucked in on the north side of santa cruz island with uscg sector la/lb being 80 odd miles away as the crow flies to the southeast may have made coms pretty hard.
A stern staircase and a transverse fireproof bulkhead in the galley area to separate the exits will possibly buy enough time to clear the sleeping area.
The vessel need also a dedicated area to charge electronics.
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Wheelhouse electronics probably run off batteries with a redundant back up. If the generators shit the bed the constantvolts wonât charge shit.
In all reality it doesnt matter how well the crew is trained. How vigilant they are, or how competent. Doesnât matter that the uscg has been passing the boat on its annual inspection every year, nor does it matter by reputation it was a good company and boat.
When disaster hits so swiftly as a nuclear missle like this disaster seems to have happened thereâs nothing that can be done when you only have seconds before being vaporized. All we can hope for is finding the exact root cause and how to prevent it again.
I was thinking about the pax electronics, modern batteries are scary stuff when they malfunction.
Many years ago I worked on a similar excursion vessel in my off time for one month. It was classed as T boat. One accessed the berthing area by way of steps [in layman terms] once inside there were bunks on both bulkheads. I looked for an escape for that area and there was a vertical ladder leading to a hatch on deck that was watertight about 8 feet overhead,. Hanging by this hatch was a wrench which the escaping folks were supposed to use to loosen the center dog holding the hatch and lift the 50+ pound thing once they loosened it in order to escape. I asked the owner in these words, âIs this shit legal? If these people are breathing smoke which will be at the top of this space how is this going to work?â By the way there was 0 fire suppression in the space and the smoke alarm sounded on the bridge. His reply? âIt is USCG approvedâ
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Oh i see, misunderstood you. Very good point.
It is going to be a difficult investigation on the cause of the fire and where the deceased were located given the intensity of the fire before the vessel sank to end up upside down in 60 metres of water.
Iâm sure that a number of law firms are ready to move on any suggestion that the crew were negligent in any part of their responsibilityâs.
If ever this should be the reason: Propane or Butane is much denser than air.
If a leak is in the galley, the gas will accumulate downstairs in the dormitory; to my knowledge, the sleeping people will not be disturbed by the slight odor.
Now, a spark, for whatever reason, will set the whole bunk room ablaze, and then the galley.
'This picture gives a good view of the inside of the ship. Note the escape hatch in the ceiling of the shower room which was blocked by the fire.
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Could the USCG have had a repeater antenna on the island?
I expect the vessel was saying the exit was blocked.
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According to this those boats are woodâŚ
This conflicts with everything seen and said so far about the hatch, and doesnât make sense. There might be one for the shower room, but for the bunkroom people would have to go upstairs and then come down again on the other side of the bulkhead to use it.
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