boat explodes when gas pumped into fishing rod holder

[justason]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/06/04/north-carolina-boat-exploded-after-gas-was-pumped-into-fishing-rod-holder.html

this guy should have walked away and called the professionls as soon as the mistake was realized. NO IDEA why he decided to disk with the battery..

 

[Betik]

WOW

 

[TheGreekTitan]

Well, this was someone who put 28 gallons of fuel in a fishing rod holder. Pretty dumb mistake if you ask me. I'm sorry they got hurt (especially the Sea Tow employee), but man that's just unbelievably stupid.

Had to be drunk or something.

 

[haknslash]

Maybe they just wanted a Viking funeral?

 

[Julian]

Of all the things one could think of to ensure the damn thing blew up.....messing with the battery would be the LAST thing one would do!!!! You nearly GUARANTEE a spark when messing with battery cables!!!!

 

[McMark]

Usually when someone pumps gas into a rodholder it's a friend that just wants to help. It's an easy mistake to make.

 

[fireflymedic]

Surprised of the ages of the people sounded like a kid mistake. But I would have ran not walked away from that problem. Burns are the worst. Pain, death from infection even later and scaring, you don't want no burn.

 

[Scuba_ref]

Usually when someone pumps gas into a rodholder it's a friend that just wants to help. It's an easy mistake to make.

I've never had a friend want to put gas in my boat...I can't even get them to bring their own snacks or towels!

 

[haknslash]

I just don't see how you could logically confuse a rod holder for a gas cap. And why did it take 28 gallons to suddenly figure it out? Did they not see gas running all over the floor of the boat or bailing off the side or scupper long before 28 freakin' gallons?!!? How the hell did they not smell all that fuel????

Maybe these guys were huffing fumes (or something else) prior to pumping

 

[Mainah]

Gasoline is dangerous. Gasoline vapors are invisible and more dangerous. My guess is that the vapors ignited from the small spark when removing the battery cable and carried the flame to the pooled gas in the hull. Beware of the vapor.

 

[tdonoughue]

Actually, gasoline is not all that dangerous. It is flammable, but one of the lesser combustibles among hydrocarbons and can be quite difficult to get to burn, believe it or not.

The vapor, however, @Mainah is quite correct, is VERY combustible and is what causes the explosions. And liquid gasoline will vaporize quickly. So what often looks like the liquid gasoline catching fire is actually the vapor above the gasoline igniting. As the boiling point is 85C, once the vapor above gasoline ignites, the liquid below quickly boils into more vapor that makes more of a problem.

Yes, beware of the vapor.