About two weeks ago there was a horrific fire at a marina that we had considered moving our boat to a couple of years ago. The name of the mariina is McCotter's here in North Carolina in the little town that we affectionately refer to as "The First Washington. The reasonis becasue it was established as a city way before Washington, DC. Fire investigators have surmised the cause of the blaze that totally distoryed 26 boats might possibly be due to a faulty shore power connection. I have known boaters over the years who have discovered that if they do not have a solid connection with the shorepwoer cord it can short out and cause all kinds of problems.
Luckily no one died in the fire but there have accounts of people jumping in the water to escape the heat and flames.
It's a sober reminder to all of us to check our connections. Here is the story that was on Cruising Net:
[U][B][COLOR="DarkOrchid"]http://www.CruisersNet.net [/COLOR][/B][/U]
Glenn Druhot
Carpe Diem
New Bern, NC
35* 6' 10" N / 77* 2' 30" W
2001 C36, Hull #1965
Std Rig; Wing Keel; M35B
We stayed a night at a marina near Kingston two years ago and while there the staff came around and checked the power cord of every boat in the marina (about 400 boats). Anything that wasn't a sealed unit was removed from power and a tag was placed on it telling the owner to get a new one. I was told by one of the staff that it was on orders from their insurance company due to fire risk. They had apparently sent a letter to all the owners advising them of this and the drop dead date to get it fixed. And on the drop dead date they fixed any remaining problems themselves. Hope no one had any cheese in their fridge!
While many sailors and boaters take safety and maintenance fairly seriously, there are WAY too many who do not. I don't blame the marinas for taking a hard line with those who failed to heed the notices.
We anchor out about 98% of all the overnights we do and I never gave a lot of thought to the extra safety that affords by not being in a crowded environment where someone else's problem can quickly and catastrophically become your own.
Duane Ising - Past Commodore (2011-2012)
s/v Diva Di
1999 Catalina 36 Hull #1777
Std rig; wing keel, M35B, Delta (45#)
Punta Gorda, FL
http://www.sailblogs.com/member/diva-di/
Here is a related article submitted in the letters section of last Novembers issue of Lattitude 38.
[url]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_mO6r9lYXEeg/TO1Q_LnsBeI/AAAAAAAAA-E/gKPmk5w0Xy...
Click on page to make it readable.
Cepheus dream
C36 MK I # 825
MK I Tech Editor No Mas
I am a believer in CRC Plastic Safe Electrical Contact Cleaner and CRC Plastic Safe Lubricant available at Home Depot. When I moved to the desert I found several of my mid-century circuit breakers in my house panel burning hot during the peak air conditioning season. A shot of cleaner followed by the lube restored the connections. I have treated all of the light bulb bases and all electrical connections on the boat. It does a great job of stopping the green corrosion. The shore cord plugs and lock rings are much easier to hook up when lubed occasionally.
[U]PLEASE REMEMBER TO DISCONNECT THE SHORE POWER AND THE INVERTER BEFORE ELECTRICAL MAINTENANCE[/U]
Mark Andrews
S/V Grace
86 C36 #995730
San Diego
Last fall at our marina I was approaching our finger dock when I heard a loud pop and arcing. I turned around to see a neighbors AC adapter (50a to 30a) melting and smoke coming from the dock area around it. Fortunately we got the breaker off and allowed everything to cool down before it got out of control. The owner said he knew the adapter was going bad but hadn't gotten around to replacing it yet. Well - he took care of that ASAP after the failure. If we hadn't been around there would/could have been a serious fire.
_____________
Harold Baker
S/V Lucky Duck
Duncan Bay Boat Club
Cheboygan Michigan - Lake Huron
1989 C-36 mkI TR/WK M25XP
My prior boat, a C30, came with a 25 foot shore power cord. Since I went into my slip bow first, I bought a 2nd 25 footer, and a connector specifically designed to connect 2 shore power cords, sealing the connection. At the end of one season, I found that the connections were burned and blackened, with the surrounding yellow plastic melted. Since then, I've paid much more attention to ensuring that the connectors on both ends are clean and corrosion free.
A few years ago a guy at the marina bought an older C30. He was a few slips away from me and stopped by often with questions, mostly electrical. I looked at his system and it was a mess, the PO had all sorts of bad wiring. But the guy wouldn't listen to my advice, even trying to hook up a DC TV antenna to 120 VAC. I finally told the marina owner about it, fearing that a) the guy might electrocute himself or b) start a fire that would affect other boats. The marina owner said something to the guy, who has never spoken to me since, evidently knowing where the complaint had come from. I'm OK with that.
Gary and Cathy Price
1997 C36 Mk II Tall Rig/Wing Keel Imagine...
Hull # 1617
Worton Creek, Md.
Northern Chesapeake Bay