What’s the future for California dive boats?

[Scared Silly]

Here is what I can pull out my hindsight:

Short term:
1. Dedicated station for charging with power from 6am to 10pm.
2. Outlets in bunks disabled.

Medium:
1. Connected smoke detectors

Long term:
1. Unencumbered escape hatches using a ladder or stairs (no crawling into a bunk).
2. Timed evacuations (eg. all PAX in berths are able to exit via the just the escape hatch in XX seconds).
3. Two independent exits to outside (e.g. exit stairs to the salon to an exit via galley and exit hatch to the salon to the dive deck).

Note the medium and long term will probably needed to become part of the CFRs with no grandfathering of vessels. All vessels will have two years to retro fit.

 

[BoltSnap]

1. Connected smoke detectors

Do you mean that current regulations don't require smoke detectors on liveaboards such as the Conception?

 

[cerich]

I work in the commercial building industry. In most cases the International Building Code requires commercial structures intending to be sleeping quarters to have automatic fire sprinklers. I could see the US adapting something similar in commercial boats. Fire sprinklers saves lives and many states, including CA have tried for many years to make them required in single family homes but have failed many times mostly due to significant costs to the end user. The "selling point" of automatic sprinklers is they reduce most of the human factors, if there's a fire the sprinklers will activate and extinguish or at a minimum; slop down the spread of fire.

You can have a law that says no chargers at night on boats but someone will forget or think "what's the harm" or think they are above "rules"

Fire sprinklers would sink boats. That is why they aren't used

 

[broncobowsher]

Do you mean that current regulations don't require smoke detectors on liveaboards such as the Conception?

Incorrect.

Think of a simple smoke detector you buy for $19.99 at the local hardware store that runs on a 9V. That is what is required. Stand alone.

The "interconnected" part is what is not required. That is wiring connecting all the detectors together. When one goes off it creates a chain reaction and everything goes off. Or at least a signal to the helm that says on is going off in a remote location. Goes from a local alarm to a broadcast alarm.

 

[cerich]

Incorrect.

Think of a simple smoke detector you buy for $19.99 at the local hardware store that runs on a 9V. That is what is required. Stand alone.

The "interconnected" part is what is not required. That is wiring connecting all the detectors together. When one goes off it creates a chain reaction and everything goes off. Or at least a signal to the helm that says on is going off in a remote location. Goes from a local alarm to a broadcast alarm.

I said sprinklers would sink boats and that is not used. In fact only used generally at sea in ordnance lockers.

 

[Stoo]

Part of the problem with all these gadgets and gizmos is that we tend to leave them charging much longer than necessary. For years, I've been diving out of a little eco-lodge in Belize. It relies on solar power for the most part, supplemented with generators.

They operator asks that we plug in our "chargeables" as soon as we get back in, while the sun is still out. Most devices charge in an hour or two tops. At that lodge, when people follow this protocol, we all have fans that work all night. Prior to them "encouraging" this procedure, the fans would generally crap out around 4:30/5:00 AM.

My point is that recharging continues to draw power long after the device is charged, and that there's no need to continue charge devices past "lights out".

I've gotta add that reading about these boats (that I have never been on) my first impression is that they're death traps. A 2' x 2' hatch, stuck in over a bunk and exiting through a cupboard or someplace looks terrifying and seems like a design afterthought. There is absolutely no way that an exit like that would be of much use to evacuate a large number of people at the best of times, let alone during a fire or flooding. Heck, I suspect that a large percentage of the passengers literally wouldn't fit through an opening that size, even if access didn't require a gymnast's ability.

Breaking News: CNN just reported that the boat owners have been served with "warrants", although it didn't report on what the warrants were for.

 

[Slate]

There is absolutely no way that an exit like that would be of much use to evacuate a large number of people at the best of times, let alone during a fire or flooding. Heck, I suspect that a large percentage of the passengers literally wouldn't fit through an opening that size

Being stuck/trapped behind an obese person who couldn't fit through the only emergency exit during a fire would be terrifying and a horrible way to die.

 

[Stoo]

Being stuck/trapped behind an obese person who couldn't fit through the only emergency exit during a fire would be terrifying and a horrible way to die.

Obese or even just "big". I'm 5'10" and weight 190 and I'm the midget amoungst my diving friends. I have 5 friends I dive with frequently, that are more than 6'6" tall. Some are built like rakes, others like bulldozers. There is no friggin' way that they could maneuver through that hatch without a tub of Astroglide.

 

[tursiops]

My point is that recharging continues to draw power long after the device is charged, and that there's no need to continue charge devices past "lights out".

I don't think any of my chargers do this, except for enough power to run a little LED and maybe occasionally test the battery voltage.

 

[Esprise Me]

Part of the problem with all these gadgets and gizmos is that we tend to leave them charging much longer than necessary. For years, I've been diving out of a little eco-lodge in Belize. It relies on solar power for the most part, supplemented with generators.

They operator asks that we plug in our "chargeables" as soon as we get back in, while the sun is still out. Most devices charge in an hour or two tops. At that lodge, when people follow this protocol, we all have fans that work all night. Prior to them "encouraging" this procedure, the fans would generally crap out around 4:30/5:00 AM.

My point is that recharging continues to draw power long after the device is charged, and that there's no need to continue charge devices past "lights out".

I'm not sure this is true of all chargers or devices, but I can think of a fairly simple and cheap solution: outlet timers. They're about $5 apiece and can be programmed in 15-minute increments to shut off power from the outlet to whatever device is plugged in during whatever hours you can't count on someone watching. That way, if you can have someone monitor the charging station until, say, 1 a.m., passengers can leave their things plugged in after they go to bed and get another few hours charge, probably enough to charge fully, then it'll shut off automatically.

I don't know if it's a good idea to disable the outlets in the bunks-- what about people with CPAP machines?--but maybe the outlets could be covered with locking boxes that could be opened just for those who need them.