Fire on dive boat Conception in CA

[Ken Kurtis]

Exactly. Just brainstorming an alternative here: On boats like this it may not be difficult to make the emergency exit to the weather deck on the port or starboard side or even the aft deck.

I think the biggest AHA moment to come out of all of this is the realization that when the main and emergency exit put you in the same place, it's as if you only had one exit. So to Frank's point about this specific boat (and something I thought about early on) . . .

If you were looking straight down at the boat from a drone, the width is 25 feet. The width of the galley/salon is about 19 feet. So you've got a roughly 3-foot outside deck on each side of the galley/salon. (So you can fully walk around/circle the entire exterior of the galley/salon.) The bunkroom is directly below the galley/salon, but is the full width of the boat.

If you reference the bunk diagram, the escape hatch is directly over single bunks 10U/27U, which are in the middle of the vessel and which bring you up in the galley. If the escape hatch was moved (actually have two of them) and they were over 22U and 5U, they would each be on the outer edges of the outside wall of the galley and would bring you up in that narrow side passageway OUTSIDE the galley/salon.

Since the hatch would now be on an exposed-to-weather-water deck, you'd need to seal it somewhat, but it seems like a relatively easy solution to me.

 

[Ken Kurtis]

CONCEPTION SPECIFICATIONS AND BUNKROOM LAYOUT
Not sure if this has been posted before but this is from their website. Drop-down menus on the specs tells you everything, and drop-down on the bunkroom layout is that diagram that's been shown often on TV:

https://www.truthaquatics.com/conception/

 

[Akimbo]

Since the hatch would now be on an exposed-to-weather-water deck, you'd need to seal it somewhat, but it seems like a relatively easy solution to me.

I may not precisely understand all the descriptions but here's a shot: The door to the salon on boats like this aren't watertight. They are often not much more than a residential sliding glass door. The idea is that the vessel is doomed once green water gets up that high anyway. A weather tight door like this is fast to operate and doesn't require meeting rigid certification standards like a watertight door or hatch.

A hatch through the deck on the port or starboard passageway outside the solon might be workable but would need to be watertight to meet stability requirements and keep water from leaking into the bunkroom during heavy weather.. That would require some sort of dogging mechanism to compress the seal, making it slower to operate and significantly more expensive.

I think an escape tunnel/trunk that is inside the solon, but not open to it, is closer to what Frank and I are describing. The trunk cold then open to the main deck through a horizontal door or go all the way up to the deck above the solon, covered by a rain-tight hatch.

 

[scubadada]

I think the biggest AHA moment to come out of all of this is the realization that when the main and emergency exit put you in the same place, it's as if you only had one exit. So to Frank's point about this specific boat (and something I thought about early on) . . .

If you were looking straight down at the boat from a drone, the width is 25 feet. The width of the galley/salon is about 19 feet. So you've got a roughly 3-foot outside deck on each side of the galley/salon. (So you can fully walk around/circle the entire exterior of the galley/salon.) The bunkroom is directly below the galley/salon, but is the full width of the boat.

If you reference the bunk diagram, the escape hatch is directly over single bunks 10U/27U, which are in the middle of the vessel and which bring you up in the galley. If the escape hatch was moved (actually have two of them) and they were over 22U and 5U, they would each be on the outer edges of the outside wall of the galley and would bring you up in that narrow side passageway OUTSIDE the galley/salon.

Since the hatch would now be on an exposed-to-weather-water deck, you'd need to seal it somewhat, but it seems like a relatively easy solution to me.

I have previously posted my impression of being on the Nautilus Explorer at Los Revillagigedos Fire on dive boat Conception in CA. I found it reassuring that the main stairway exited out onto the dive deck, just outside the door to the salon. The emergency hatch, which was next to my room, exited into the dining room, to the bow of both the salon and the galley. I had made the decision to exit by the main stairway unless that was impossible. As I have also previously posted, I tried out the emergency hatch early in my trip. I sleep with one of my dive lights next to the bed and have all my important documents/possessions in a small dry sack next to me. I'm contemplating whether I should take an independent alarm with me on my next liveaboard.

Good diving, stay safe, Craig

 

[Wookie]

I may not precisely understand all the descriptions but here's a shot: The door to the salon on boats like this aren't watertight. They are often not much more than a residential sliding glass door. The idea is that the vessel is doomed once green water gets up that high anyway. A weather tight door like this is fast to operate and doesn't require meeting rigid certification standard like a watertight door or hatch.

A hatch through the deck on the port or starboard passageway outside the solon might be workable but would need to be a watertight to meet stability requirements and keep water from leaking into the bunkroom during heavy weather.. That would require some sort of dogging mechanism to compress the seal, making it slower to operate and significantly more expensive.

I think an escape tunnel/trunk that is inside the solon, but not open to it, is closer to what Frank and I are describing. The trunk cold then open to the main deck through a horizontal door or go all the way up to the deck above the solon. covered by a rain-tight hatch.

I know you are right, but this is the first vessel I’ve ever seen in my life that isn’t watertight everywhere on the vessel that still has a coastwise (100 mile) route. We sure had to not only have watertight doors, but hatches with combings (knee knockers).

 

[Diving Dubai]

Well the letter of the law is what inspections are made to check. The larger issue is that with a twenty something foot long compartment, with watertight bulkheads at each end, means every exit will be into the compartment above. The trade off is between more and better exits, or USCG insistence on watertight integrity.


Bob

Unless the Regs explicitly say that it's acceptable to have 2 exits from 1 area both entering the same space, then I'd expect the actual wording to be dissected and argued over by brains far smarter than mine.

But even so, a simple solution would be, to divide the upper salon with a fire wall (and having fire doors), and then the enclosed space (fwd?) having another emergency exit either directly outward or to the wheel house etc. The bunk room doors, again to be fire doors which are closed at night.

Much like fire doors in hotel corridors

 

[tarponchik]

You could use USB hubs for charging, which limit/meter the amount of juice going to the batteries.

USB charging takes longer than the wall plug. So, if you plug in after a night dive and they don't allow overnight charging, your batteries are still empty by your morning dive.

 

[dberry]

If we’re spitballing, how about an escape trunk that exits to the weather deck rather than in the salon? I mean a real escape trunk, self closing door on the berthing deck, up a ladder, to a watertight door to the weatherdeck.

Made of 2 hour fire wall.

This might well be a workable idea, but it immediately brought to mind the tunnel scene from "The Great Escape" where Bronson freezes mid-tunnel.

 

[wgw04024]

I'll admit I have not been on a live aboard dive trip (yet). So all I can go on is the types of people I have seen on boats in Key Largo, Cozumel, and Bonaire (not on boats in general). If the exit is not easily exited, and easy to navigate, in an emergency situation, I hope to not be more than 3rd in line...or I'm not going to have alot of hope. With more than a half 6-12 people in a confined space, I just can't imagine that going smoothly.

 

[bigDave]

Guys, just keep in mind (as pointed out by our marine experts here) that solving one problem often creates another.

An example being Germanwings flight 9525. After the events of 9/11, cockpit doors were reinforced around the world to secure the flight deck against hijackers.

Unfortunately that meant a suicidal co-pilot secured the cockpit and nobody could break down the door. 150 souls lost their lives.

David