simple question - what is the most dangerous thing on a boat?

I was surprised that gas did not make a bigger appearance in the thread

Dylan
Or Carbon monoxide, but both of those are no real danger with a few sensible precautions.

When I used to have to do Failure Mode and Effect Analysis, we thought in terms of the product of (likelihood x severity) so a 1 in a gazillion chance of wiping out a small town might score less points than a 1 in 1000 chance of a badly bruised finger.

It's the moderately probable, medium impact accidents where safety can be most easily/significantly improved in many cases.
Food for thought anyway.
 
The anchor and anchor chain if you dont have an electric windlass.
I am reminded of this as I sit at home recovering from a double hernia op yesterday.
Although not the sole cause the number of times I have man hauled because the manual windlass is slow.
I also once nearly took off two fingers when the chain I was paying out got wrapped around them!
 
Booze & inflexible schedules must be factors which most often cause bad decisions & journey-plan variations resulting in things going wrong. Not much different from on the road.

I wonder what the figures would suggest are most hazardous aspects of time on board...or how we're most likely to suffer injury or death - fire, deep/cold water, ghastly flesh wounds/concussions from being clobbered or gouged by unyielding moving parts...or exacerbation of existing conditions?

Jolly old subject for Christmastide, isn't it. Pun not intended, but enjoyed. :biggrin-new:
 
Thinking about it, yes the road trip down ( I have the honour of being passenger in a car which comprehensively crashed into the poshest house in a village - had to be Cocking village didn't it - ) and the dinghy trip on & off the boat, after 30 odd years I managed to go overboard at the mooring then found I was 4th experienced member to do it; no need for marina berk holders to smirk, last I heard 13 berth holders drowned at the nearby one alone and that was years ago.

No, thinking about it, the most seriously dangerous thing on a boat is a calendar, as someone ( sorry ) previously said; all my heavy weather experience is via trying to ' get to the office on Monday ' or ' relocate the boat by Sunday ', without putting myself under such idiotic constraints I'd probably have another 10 years posting on here than I have, I'm sure most here would feel ' couldn't I do a bit more heavy weather to the clock then ? ' ! :)
 
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It's not on the boat, but a slippery pontoon has caused me my only (to date) big boat mischief. An outboard nearly caused a much bigger problem, but no harm done. Oh yes, and I've seen a couple of meths fires with paraffin stoves - I'm convinced gas is safer.
 
It's not on the boat, but a slippery pontoon has caused me my only (to date) big boat mischief. An outboard nearly caused a much bigger problem, but no harm done. Oh yes, and I've seen a couple of meths fires with paraffin stoves - I'm convinced gas is safer.

Safer unless it goes catastrophically wrong. Meths fires can look impressive but tend to go out once the meths has burned off, as long as you don't have flammable things in the galley they're not going to do any real harm.
 
I've seen a couple of meths fires with paraffin stoves - I'm convinced gas is safer.

Always surprises me how some people seem proud of not keeping LPG on board. Isn't it easy to be perfectly safe, by ensuring ventilation is adequate and pipes are in good order?
 
Always surprises me how some people seem proud of not keeping LPG on board. Isn't it easy to be perfectly safe, by ensuring ventilation is adequate and pipes are in good order?

I don't think people are expressing pride in not having gas aboard.
There are very few gas explosions on boats fortunately. Introducing a heavier than air explosive substance in the confines of a boat seems to be heading for a Darwin Award, but I don't criticise the multitude of sailors that do this without incident. Each to their own.
 
I don't think people are expressing pride in not having gas aboard...Introducing a heavier-than-air explosive substance in the confines of a boat seems to be heading for a Darwin Award...

I wasn't meaning anyone in particular...just wondering why LPG should quite often be seen as a serious risk (sufficient to deter some from enjoying its benefits on board)...when surely, any boat which is ventilated sufficiently to keep her closed areas dry and fresh, isn't likely to accumulate quantities of explosive gas billowing about at floor level.

I guess almost every potential danger mentioned in this thread, assumes a degree of neglect or oversight by victims.
 
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