Super Yacht Fire Season It Seems

[Hylander]

I subscribe to a channel named Super Yacht News.   It seems that every week there is a Super Yacht somewhere in the world on fire.        

 

https://youtu.be/wcZCZTAqM0c

 

[CeePee1952]

14 minutes ago, Hylander said:

I subscribe to a channel named Super Yacht News.   It seems that every week there is a Super Yacht somewhere in the world on fire.        

 

https://youtu.be/wcZCZTAqM0c

 

Yes, I subscribe to that channel as well.  That one will have caused a few tears somewhere!! Aluminium superstructure as well! Reminds me of HMS Sheffield back in the Falklands war  At least everyone got off safely.

Chris

Edited August 12, 2022 by CeePee1952
typo!!

[Smoggy]

Phew! At least it's not my one....

I dare say it's well insured and I don't suppose it will leave the owner rushing to the local food bank but still not good to see, unless it's one of poohtin's of course but I doubt he owns anything that small (and all the russian owned stuff is far away from EU hiding).

[mikeyboy1966]

Dodgy Italian electrics

[floydraser]

It would be interesting to hear about the conclusion to this in the future; it's hard to understand how such a fire could take hold in a brand new boat. Fireproof upholstery, fireproof insulation and sprinkler systems, you would think a fire could never get that far out of hand? 

[Andrewcook]

Has someone forgotten to fill the Bost with water to putting the fire out?

[Hylander]

This is interesting.   Why would an expensive yacht like this not have the correct sprinkler system.

 

https://youtu.be/njp-Dbap94s

    

[jeffbroadslover]

I don't think it had anything to do with a disposable BBQ

Jeff 

[Hylander]

11 hours ago, jeffbroadslover said:

I don't think it had anything to do with a disposable BBQ

Jeff 

Nothing so common , does seem strange though,   all these fires.   If I was an insurance person I would be suspicious.    I mean lets face it , if fires were that common on these fantastic yachts then they would never sell one in the first place.

[Vaughan]

59 minutes ago, Hylander said:

does seem strange though,   all these fires.   If I was an insurance person I would be suspicious. 

I think that's a bit "previous" in this case.  We are told there were 7 crew and 9 guests on board, which is hardly the time to start a fire, in which they would all have to be in collusion.  The boat was brand new, freshly delivered to the owner, so he must have already paid for it.

I am surprised at the aluminium superstructure though.  I thought they knew better than that, since the Falklands. Some one has mentioned HMS Sheffield, but the RFA's Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram also had aluminium superstructures.

[floydraser]

Well to add to the theories: The owner is an Italian businessman - maybe he upset someone....

[Vaughan]

27 minutes ago, floydraser said:

The owner is an Italian businessman - maybe he upset someone....

Ah.

Hadn't thought of that . . . . .

[CeePee1952]

1 hour ago, Vaughan said:

I think that's a bit "previous" in this case.  We are told there were 7 crew and 9 guests on board, which is hardly the time to start a fire, in which they would all have to be in collusion.  The boat was brand new, freshly delivered to the owner, so he must have already paid for it.

I am surprised at the aluminium superstructure though.  I thought they knew better than that, since the Falklands. Some one has mentioned HMS Sheffield, but the RFA's Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram also had aluminium superstructures.

I'm no expert Vaughan but maybe the aluminium superstructure was a way of reducing the weight above the hull? (As a side note - I was "unfortunate" to be on Sir Galahad back in the 70's when I was part of the RAC (Royal Armoured Corps not the Royal Automobile Club!) Sales Team. We sailed from Marchwood down to South America to promote various bits of military equipment.  I was sick as a dog when we crossed the Atlantic but the chinese crew looked after us very well!

Chris

[Vaughan]

29 minutes ago, CeePee1952 said:

maybe the aluminium superstructure was a way of reducing the weight above the hull?

It is very light, but it burns!

I have many happy memories of Sir Galahad.  I never crossed the Atlantic in her but several other places - northern Norway, the Med and of course, Belfast.

[ChrisB]

I think you will find most of the superstructures on the huge super cruise ships are Aluminium strengthened with a latice of steel.

Some of these ships are 15 decks high and 500ft from keel to topmost so keeping weight low down is paramount.

[Bikertov]

As the boat was so new, only handed over in July, maybe there was an issue like a wiring fault - a chaffed cable or something - that sparked the fire ?

Presumably, with a value of c.£25m, the insurance company will want to investigate the cause and a report will be released in due course   

[Turnoar]

On 12/08/2022 at 08:57, floydraser said:

It would be interesting to hear about the conclusion to this in the future; it's hard to understand how such a fire could take hold in a brand new boat. Fireproof upholstery, fireproof insulation and sprinkler systems, you would think a fire could never get that far out of hand? 

Sprinkler systems mostly help but aren’t fireproof. Imagine a scenario where a car catches 🔥 in a sprinkler protected underground car park. Sprinkler activates but fire has taken hold and fuel tank of said car ruptures and the fuel spreads on top of the flood, on fire, and sets light to neighbouring cars. This has actually happened and informed design approaches accordingly for at least 25 years or so. Gas suppression systems might be more appropriate, so long as the risk to the crew can be managed. Compartmentation and consideration of the property and person risks, which may sometimes conflict, call for fire engineering expertise and it would, or hopefully will, be extremely interesting to hear the conclusion in this instance, I agree with you though that this boat should not have gone up in smoke! That said I’m not clear what the regulatory regime is in this regard nor whether, eg, Lloyds standards or whatever standards such super yachts might be constructed to, even apply or are insisted upon by insurers.

[Hylander]

Crumbs if they are not catching fire , they are sinking , every day it seems a super yacht is coming to a sticky end somewhere in the world.

Give me a normal boat on the Broads any day.

 

https://youtu.be/EpgA-M_WKnA

 

[Smoggy]

So that's where that plug came from....

[Hylander]

Watching footage this morning of the sinking of the super yacht mentioned before.    As it sank the automatic life rafts deployed.   I had not realised that on these boats when a boat sinks these automatic life rafts spring into life and detach themselves ready when you are to get away from the situation.     I dont know about anyone else but the sinking of any vessel is about one of the saddest things I can watch.  

[Bikertov]

3 hours ago, Hylander said:

Watching footage this morning of the sinking of the super yacht mentioned before.    As it sank the automatic life rafts deployed.   I had not realised that on these boats when a boat sinks these automatic life rafts spring into life and detach themselves ready when you are to get away from the situation.     I dont know about anyone else but the sinking of any vessel is about one of the saddest things I can watch.  

The video suggested it may have sunk due to a below water door seal being faulty - how can a boat like that be designed with such a serious flaw ?

[FlyingFortress]

6 hours ago, Hylander said:

Watching footage this morning of the sinking of the super yacht mentioned before.    As it sank the automatic life rafts deployed.   I had not realised that on these boats when a boat sinks these automatic life rafts spring into life and detach themselves ready when you are to get away from the situation.     I dont know about anyone else but the sinking of any vessel is about one of the saddest things I can watch.  

Liferafts have had hydrostatic releases for a very long time. As the water pressure increases then the release mechanism actuates and the natural buoyancy of the liferaft pulls it towards the surface. A fixed rope then pulls on the liferaft capsule actuating the CO2 bottle which then inflates the raft that then detaches the raft from the sinking vessel. Very simple but very clever like most good designs. I am assuming this is what you saw bearing in mind there may be a newer and cleverer way of deployment recently introduced.

Re sinking of a vessel it is particularly sad when it is your own vessel disappearing beneath the waves as I experienced on Christmas day 1990. 

What did you do for Christmas FF?

The doggy paddle in the North Sea in Force 10.

Everyone survived BTW 🙂

[Hylander]

Goodness me,   I would have died of fright , let alone doggy paddle in the North Sea.    How were you rescued I am intrigued.

 

 

[Smoggy]

26 minutes ago, Hylander said:

Goodness me,   I would have died of fright , let alone doggy paddle in the North Sea.    How were you rescued I am intrigued.

 

 

I would hazard a guess that if you were in the same position proper fear would only kick in once on the lifeboat and safe, when it's happening adrenalin does a good job in most cases.

[Hylander]

Thats good to hear.   Being a scaredy cat to start with doesn't help.   I am not that keen on water, even though we had our own boat for years.