Fire!

[chinita]

Ok, not a big one but enough to frighten us.

I returned to the boat from the showers and noticed a weird brown patch on the cockpit cover/bimini.

Puzzled, I touched it and it was hot! Then I saw the smoke.

Dived into the cockpit to find a mirror on the cockpit table. Missus had put it down seconds earlier and gone below to get something.

Sun beaming from the aft, on to the mirror and up to the canvas.

Lesson learned.

 

[sailorman]

To day in East Anglia THAT wouldnt have happened

 

[chinita]

So, you see, how lucky you are!

 

[rivonia]

A good warning to all Yachties in the warmer climes !!

 

[Nostrodamus]

Best take the ceiling mirror above your bunk down otherwise you may have some real problems.

 

[Zanziba]

I recall a tale about a house fire caused by a reading maginfying glass left in a conservatory...

 

[RupertW]

I recall a tale about a house fire caused by a reading maginfying glass left in a conservatory...

We have two chandeliers which consist of rings of magnifying glasses of different sizes hanging down. The curtains and soft furnishings get a little warm where the filament is focussed on them. In 10 years the Sun hasn't yet got into the right angle to be focussed anywhere.

 

[RupertW]

I recall a tale about a house fire caused by a reading maginfying glass left in a conservatory...

We have two chandeliers which consist of rings of magnifying glasses of different sizes hanging down. The curtains and soft furnishings get a little warm where the filament is focussed on them. In 10 years the Sun hasn't yet got into the right angle to be focussed anywhere.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Not yachtie, but we had a balanced central heating flue with a polished stainless steel cover plate over it at a previous house. The grass on the lawn where the reflection hit was often brown after a few days of sunshine. I think the steel was slightly concave, so it focussed the sun's rays.

 

[BSSOffice]

A good warning to all Yachties in the warmer climes !!

We have a warning for boaters in the UK following several fires and near misses http://bit.ly/1jTpx9f