[Rhodes22-list] Gasoline spill under the floor

[brad haslett]

Barry,

This will shock a lot of folks on the list but I
disagree with Bill on this issue.  Relax, and don't
torch the boat.  I fly 30 year old airplanes, 2/3 of a
football field long, with LOTS of really nasty stuff
(like drums of purfume) spilled in the bellies over
the years (they clean-up OK).  Rummy is right, let it
get lots of air, and sunshine.  The incident that Bill
related was pretty predictable.  Even the slightest of
vapors in a confined space, baked in the sun, and
given ignition will light.  That is precisely what
happened to the TWA 747 that blew up after taking off
from JFK.  Yours is a different situation in that the
boat is not sealed as tight as a fuel tank and the
vapor pressure will never get so high as to explode. 
Having said that, don't smoke while you're cleaning
it.  Keep flushing with water, pumping out the bilge,
and soon you'll have the gas/water solution well
beyond the point of ignition.  The smell will be
difficult to deal with but obviously it has been
handled by others before.

Brad Haslett


--- Bill Effros <bill at effros.com> wrote:
> Holy Shit! Barry.
> 
> "No more fire danger?"  I think not.
> 
> I can only tell you a story from my misspent youth.
> 
> Along with some friends, I completely disassembled a
> 1955 Oldsmobile 
> Rocket 88 when I was in high school.  We were going
> to put it back 
> together again, but we never got around that.
> 
> When we took off the gas tank, we were very
> concerned about our safety, 
> so we got a garden hose and immediately started
> running water through 
> the tank night and day for five days.  We then
> stopped the water and 
> sniffed.  There was still a slight gasoline odor
> which we felt no amount 
> of water was going to get rid of.  So we put the
> tank in the shade, 
> outside, to let it air dry.  We did this for three
> days, and when we 
> were done the gasoline odor was almost gone.
> 
> So we put the tank out in the sun, and left it there
> for a week.  By the 
> end of the week there was virtually no odor at all. 
> We felt it was 
> completely safe.  "But how can we be sure?" asked my
> friend Matt.  
> "Light a match, and throw it in."  Said my friend
> Bob.  "It's the only 
> way we can be sure."
> 
> And so we did.  The flames that came shooting out of
> that gas tank were 
> between 10 and 20 feet long.  The gasoline continued
> to burn for roughly 
> 5 minutes.  No one got hurt.  But it's a lesson I've
> never forgotten.
> 
> Now you may think I'm exaggerating, and maybe I am
> -- it happened a long 
> time ago.  But ask yourself this question "Would I
> be willing to put my 
> boat to Bob's test?"  I wouldn't do it, and quite
> frankly, I wouldn't 
> ever want to go on that boat.
> 
> After the fire in the gas tank burned itself out,
> and our pulses 
> returned to normal, Bob said "I'll bet if we throw
> in another match, it 
> won't light up again."  And so we did.  And Bob was
> right.  There was no 
> gasoline left in the tank.
> 
> This is the only method I know to be completely sure
> you have gotten rid 
> of all spilled gasoline.  I would not recommend this
> method for your boat.
> 
> Bill Effros
> 
> 
> 
> 
> b.ivers at att.net wrote:
> 
> >   After a sail on Pyramid Lake. (60 mi. N. of
> Reno) I was cleaning and detailing our 76 model
> R-22. It was the end of a perfact day. After
> flushing the Yamaha 9.9 I decided to disconnect the
> fuel line, when the phone rang. The call generated a
> couple more calls and I dropped the disconnected
> fuel line in the deep opening at the aft end of the
> cockpit. I did not know the connector had a bad
> o-ring. Overnight it siphoned 4 gallons of gas under
> the cabin floor.
> >   Up to now what I have done is wash with a
> fiberglass friendly degresser and 20 gal of water
> and go for a drive to slosh the liquid around. Then
> using a syarange to evacuate all the liquid and
> clean it up as best I could. I have done this twice
> with very good results. BUT there is still a slight
> smell that is not plessant.
> >   I am looking for remedy for aftersmell. Ther is
> no more fire danger so I might use a small 6" fan
> and draw air out of underspace via the 5" inspection
>  hole in the center of the cabin. Any other ideas. I
> cannot wait for all the match jokes, flamming r-22
> jokes and usual jabs and pokes. Hit me Rummy I
> deserve it.  Barry
> >__________________________________________________
> >Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help?
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> >
> >  
> >
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