A party of Tauranga boaties who poured 160 litres of petrol through a rod holder into the hull of their boat on Sunday are too embarrassed to reveal the individual responsible.
'There were a few of them on the boat,” says Tauranga senior station officer Mark Keller, 'but I was only dealing with two of the guys; and I can say they were evasive.
'They admitted it was their mistake, but said ‘what happens at sea stays at sea'.”
It happened at the Sulphur Point bowser near the apartments at about 6pm.
Tauranga fire fighters were called when the petrol, instead of going into the fuel tank, was discovered sloshing about in the hull.
Firemen were on the scene for about two hours.
First the boat's batteries had to be disconnected. There was a risk a bilge pump would trip and a spark ignite the fuel vapour contained in the hull.
'The last thing we needed was for a pump to switch on. We had to disconnect the battery,” says Mark.
A fireman wearing breathing apparatus, full protective clothing and covered in dry powder, climbed into the boat to do that before the 7.5 metre boat with 200hp outboard motor was retrieved from the water and the petrol was able to be pumped out.
3 comments
Doh!
Posted on 08-11-2010 16:55 | By trudznz
It seems rod holders DO look like filler caps - I remember a flatmate coming home from work (a service station) years ago and telling us about a guy who had done the same thing. He was glad it was the boat owner and not one of his staff who'd done it.
Strike a light!
Posted on 08-11-2010 20:16 | By tibs
Bilge pumps and float switches are waterproof by design and hence most unlikely to trigger a fire. Otherwise they wouldn't last long when the salt water got into them. There were a few of them on the boat and NOBODY smelt fuel. Boaties are usually hypersensitive to this unless otherwise anesthetised. Or perhaps they were all still at sea!
Fill er up
Posted on 08-11-2010 21:08 | By dogsbody
this seems to be quite a common occurence. the urban myths are many and varied, of trailer boats pulling into gas stations and running up several hundred dollars of gas before the owner realises that his boat tank only holds 60. Presume someone was shouting at the boat club. And have to agree with that last comment, shows that the fire boys are a bit cautious, but then you can't always account for some of the dodgy wiring arrangements on some boats. we are a nation of DIYers and sparks do fly.
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