York River Ouse Boat Deaths

ShaneAtSea

ShaneAtSea

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Two best friends were killed by carbon monoxide from a leaking heater as they slept on a boat following a night out, an inquest has found.

Ronnie Holmes, 60, and Stephen Jewitt, 63, were found dead in December 2019 on a motor cruiser which was moored on the River Ouse in York.

The two men were discovered by a police officer after family members had raised the alarm.

The coroner's court heard there was no carbon monoxide detector on the boat.

York River Ouse boat deaths: Carbon monoxide leak killed friends

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Very sad.

An investigation by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) concluded that carbon monoxide had accumulated in the main cabin from a diesel heater which Mr Holmes had bought on eBay.
Rob Loder, from the MAIB, said once lagging was removed by the investigator, the heater's exhaust was found to be leaking.
The exhaust pipe also had a silencer fitted which was not suitable for a marine setting, he said.

Heaters of any age, marine or otherwise can leak but it's worth thinking about if you love cheap eBay parts.
 
DrSpock said:
Very sad.

An investigation by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) concluded that carbon monoxide had accumulated in the main cabin from a diesel heater which Mr Holmes had bought on eBay.
Rob Loder, from the MAIB, said once lagging was removed by the investigator, the heater's exhaust was found to be leaking.
The exhaust pipe also had a silencer fitted which was not suitable for a marine setting, he said.

Heaters of any age, marine or otherwise can leak but it's worth thinking about if you love cheap eBay parts.
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I posted it because ive seen a few people asking about installing heaters.

You can buy a Co2 alarm for less than £20 and it could save your life

Carbon Monoxide (CO) | Boat Safety Scheme | Go Boating - Stay Safe

(y)
 

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Ebay.
New Chinaspacher or secondhand ex post office D2 ?
Would be useful to know.
Details probably in a MAIB report.
 
Terrible heater exhaust system, inadequate ventilation, and lack of carbon monoxide alarm.

Also seems to me that the CO concentration probably wouldn't have reached danger level had the heater drawn its air from outside, rather than from inside the accommodation. The recirculation would make any contamination cumulative.

That the crew had been drinking (not that I think there's anything wrong with that in itself) would, I imagine, make it less likely they'd notice or react to the emerging problem.
 
Well the frequency is decreasing with the advent of reliable CO monitors .
Its not every year theses days .
How long ago was Windermere ?
There will always be CO poisoning on heated boats as there will be CO deaths with un regulated poorly services gas appliances in tenanted property.

The common denominator with Boat heater CO deaths seems to be lash up exhausts .
I recall the Windermere one he used copper pipe soldered in and the heat melted the solder joints = it leaked .

The boat in the pic has a whiff of DIY metal plate fabrication about it .
Apologies to any official builder reading this .
 
Our Chinese heater is in the outer cockpit and we also have a CO alarm either way Inwoul still not run it at night or any other combustion heater to be honest. This applies in our caravan and camper van also. Just get a good duvet and switch heating off when you go to bed and on again when you w@ke up
 
One might suggest that , Mlud, there was an suggestion in a previous post, that items bought from ebay were ,by inference , the cause of this tragic event.
This proved not to be the case..
The units sold on ebay are somewhat cagey about applications mentioning boats in the initial advertisng blurb but ithe word vanishes later on .
Howver will be buying a second carbon monoxide detector this morning for the boat.
 
oldgit said:
Howver will be buying a second carbon monoxide detector this morning for the boat.
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Just prompted me to buy a second one £13 Amazon and 10 yr battery life. My existing (Pilot) gas alarm system runs from the bow thruster/ elec toilet battery which can be switched off.
Just thinking of a problem which would make me have to switch the battery off and consequently render the CO detector useless.
Rare occurrence but for £13 I’ve got it covered.
Just as an aside the Pilot system picked up my over heating batteries overnight when I was on the boat recently after 2 years of battery neglect.
 
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oldgit said:
However will be buying a second carbon monoxide detector this morning for the boat.
Click to expand...
One CO alarm in each sleeping cabin and one in the main saloon/galley area is what I have .
I had one alarm with a 7 year battery pack up after a year so replaced it with one that has replaceable batteries.
 
oldgit said:
One might suggest that , Mlud, there was an suggestion in a previous post, that items bought from ebay were ,by inference , the cause of this tragic event.
This proved not to be the case..
The units sold on ebay are somewhat cagey about applications mentioning boats in the initial advertisng blurb but ithe word vanishes later on .
Howver will be buying a second carbon monoxide detector this morning for the boat.
Click to expand...

I think if anyone claimed it might even be ebay that was at fault I suggest they don't understand what ebay can and does sell. It is the Year 2021 you know
 
oldgit said:
One might suggest that , Mlud, there was an suggestion in a previous post, that items bought from ebay were ,by inference , the cause of this tragic event.
This proved not to be the case..
The units sold on ebay are somewhat cagey about applications mentioning boats in the initial advertisng blurb but ithe word vanishes later on .
Howver will be buying a second carbon monoxide detector this morning for the boat.
Click to expand...
The heaters from eBay are fine on a boat. They don’t come with a marine fitting kit ie a suitable exhaust. And if you want to use it on a river or code it the right fuel line either.
The instructions with the Chinese ones are shockingly bad. But there is enough info on the net.
 
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