85 Foot Motor Yacht Lost In Torquay

[ChrisB]

Thankfully no reports of injury. Boat has now sunk and anti-pollution measures are underway.

[Vaughan]

This is what happens when Fibreglass catches fire!  It takes a while to get up to its flash point temperature, but after that it goes very quickly indeed.  And that smoke is dreadful.  I hope everyone in Torquay closed their windows!

Interesting to see from photos that fire started right up forward, and not near the engine room.

[Ray]

Will there be a Marine Investigation for this sort of incident or is that only for accidents? Either way I'm pretty sure the insurers will want to know what happened!

[Vaughan]

I would guess there won't be anything left to tell them what happened!  Most GRP boat fires burn out right down to the waterline.  I have even seen the remains of a cruiser, sunk by the fire brigade's hoses and still burning, underwater.

[Ray]

Wow, like a firework then I guess!

 

(Edit ^ misspent youth)

[Vaughan]

I am not trying to say GRP boats are especially dangerous - it takes a fire with a lot of heat before GRP will catch, but once it reaches its temperature, it goes off very fast, unless it is extinguished at once.

As we can see from this, even modern flame retardant resins didn't stop the whole boat burning out.

[ChrisB]

Many years ago now, we decided, very much last minute, to drive down to Luecate.

Unfortunately there was no room on the western crossings and we had to go on the dreaded Dover Calais route. Escaping the madness of the Boulevard Périphérique we chose to make for the N7. We saw ahead the most tremendous pall of jet black smoke. It was so bad that we honestly thought there had been a plane crash at Orly.

It was in fact one of the first Matra built Renault Espace. When we got near only the chassis was left. Yes GRP certainly burns onc it gets going.

 

[JanetAnne]

Fibreglass doesn't burn  (or 95% of all fire blankets would not have the desired effect when used in anger), it's the polyester  resin that holds the glass fibres together that burns. 

Epoxy resins on the other hand are mostly fire resistant.

[Hylander]

On the news this morning it said it had on board 18,000 litres of fuel when the fire broke out.    I fear a lot of pollution in the harbour.

I wonder how it started?    Electrical?

 

[ChrisB]

27 minutes ago, JanetAnne said:

Fibreglass doesn't burn  (or 95% of all fire blankets would not have the desired effect when used in anger), it's the polyester  resin that holds the glass fibres together that burns. 

Epoxy resins on the other hand are mostly fire resistant.

If they don 't actually burn they will melt given the right temperature. Molten rock ie Lava for example, reinforced concrete given a thermal lance. I have to disagree with you with regards to Epoxy, both Epoxy, Polyester and Epoxy Polyester are inherently flammable. There is flame retardant Epoxy but it's mechanical and structural properties are seriously compromised making it only of use where there is no stress.

[ChrisB]

I have often wondered what would happen to a strip epoxy construction if it caught light.  If the wood ignited at around 500°C and the Epoxy at 1000°C you could be left with an epoxy skeleton. Like the sand blasted walls seen in Namibia where there is no brick only mortar left. 

But in real life many products can be deemed fire proof for everyday use.