If you ever thought carbon monoxide poisoning could not happen on your boat, read this

[HangOutdoors]

Great! I think it is important, that if possible, to raise awareness of this. Hopefully it could save someone from a tragedy. Personally, I wanted to know what is occurring with CO so that is why I am simulating different things to see what happens. My OCD gets the best of me with stuff like this.

 

[JBehrens]

Thanks for posting, looks like a good idea to add a detector to the boat. It's rare that I think about CO on the jet boat, just isn't come to mind but we do a lot of no wake driving in the harbor. You just never know.

CO on the houseboat has always been a massive concern even with dry stack exhaust. A few years ago we got woken up at 3am by a CO alarm going off in the kitchen of the houseboat, freaked everyone out.

 

[AmesJainchill]

Here is an article I was reading. Some very interesting Info. Look at the part where a bunch of boats in the same area in Lake Havasu created increase in CO levels. Wonder if you are in an area with a lot of boats and no wind with many boats running/idling how that shakes out.

Drowning & Carbon Monoxide: Are We Missing Something? - White Mountain Forensic

All very good info in this thread!

That Havasu article reminds me of the first few years of the Woodward Cruise and how thick the atmosphere was with classic car exhaust (considering it was like a 5 mile long traffic jam)! I haven't been to it since around 2000, but I do remember stinking terribly like exhaust by the end of the night. ?

I've thought about this topic of CO on the boat in the past, but never pulled the trigger on a detector. Now I feel like my ocd is creeping in and I'm feeling the "need" to know the exact values at various locations on the boat. Gonna just go ahead and pick up the Sensorcon Pro Kit today. Hell, even though I have detectors in the house, maybe I'll get some exact values at certain spots and sniff it around the basement looking like Peter Venkman in Dana's apt! ?

 

[HangOutdoors]

This what I have ordered and am using. I have two of them. I am just sticking them at random spots now to determine what is going on. When done, I will put one on the swim platform next to the seats and the other on the cockpit back wall or in the corner by the rear cockpit seats and mount with adhesive and velcro.

I like the gas detector you linked @AmesJainchill to check things out, but that only works in when you are checking. I considered something similar. I wanted something that will always be there and proactively monitoring.

They have low detection down to 9ppm as well.

Amazon.com: Car, Vehicle, Aircraft Carbon Monoxide CO Detector | Fast Low-Level 9ppm Alarm | Vehicles, Police, Pilots, Travel, Bus, Trucks | Metal Body, Small 2oz |: Electronics

 

[AmesJainchill]

I think the one I bought can just be clipped to your belt or whatever to detect and alarm based on how it is set, then I believe it also has the pump/wand setup to check specific areas as an added feature. Plus the water resistance I figured would help. Hopefully it will do what I'm primarily looking for it to do to simply check levels as I'm using the boat. Guess I'll find out first hand in a couple days! ?

 

[3 green tornados]

This was 100% avoidable if the captain of the boat was a responsible person. In an instance like this the boat captain should be held accountable for the death of this young woman. As the boat captain, if you are allowing someone to hang on to the swim platform while the boat is still running you should be held accountable. Maybe lawsuits are the only way to bring attention to the public.

@3 green tornados I use a carbon monoxide detector on my new MasterCraft while surfing, it's CARB 4 rated and has catalytic converters and my detector will go off every once in a while in the right conditions when we stop to pick up a downed surfer. The alarm is set to go off at 25 PPM and I've seen the detector display 250 PPM, but it quickly dissipated.

@ripler - good to know I haven’t seen them.
Where are the catalytic converters located?

here is a link to a study done by NIOSH and the CDC:

http://freshairexhaust.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Boat-CO-Concentration-w-Catalytic-Converters.pdf

 

[ripler]

@ripler - good to know I haven’t seen them.
Where are the catalytic converters located?

here is a link to a study done by NIOSH and the CDC:

http://freshairexhaust.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Boat-CO-Concentration-w-Catalytic-Converters.pdf

My MasterCraft has the catalytic converters built into the exhaust system. I'm not familiar enough with the boat yet to know exactly where in the exhaust system they are.

 

[tpspeier]

This what I have ordered and am using. I have two of them. I am just sticking them at random spots now to determine what is going on. When done, I will put one on the swim platform next to the seats and the other on the cockpit back wall or in the corner by the rear cockpit seats and mount with adhesive and velcro.

Amazon.com: Car, Vehicle, Aircraft Carbon Monoxide CO Detector | Fast Low-Level 9ppm Alarm | Vehicles, Police, Pilots, Travel, Bus, Trucks | Metal Body, Small 2oz |: Electronics

After reading these articles, I am going to mount a detector by the rear seats as well. This model doesn't appear to be waterproof. The same company makes an IP67 rated model:

Carbon Monoxide Meter by FORENSICS | Waterproof for Boat, RV, Camping | 3 year Sensor | 2 year Battery - - Amazon.com

Carbon Monoxide Meter by FORENSICS | Waterproof for Boat, RV, Camping | 3 year Sensor | 2 year Battery - - Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

Would the waterproof model be better?

 

[HangOutdoors]

Probably. I have had mine get wet and they are fine. I pull them off since I used velcro and throw them in my bag where I keep my portable vhf and other things when the boat is not in the water. They didn't have the IP67 rated ones when I was looking for one in stock or available. If mine ever crap out I would probably by those.

 

[OurCrew]

Here is a detector you could mount by the bacI somewhere, it’s waterproof

Carbon Monoxide Meter by FORENSICS | Waterproof for Boat, RV, Camping | 3 year Sensor | 2 year Battery - - Amazon.com

Carbon Monoxide Meter by FORENSICS | Waterproof for Boat, RV, Camping | 3 year Sensor | 2 year Battery - - Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

 

[OurCrew]

After reading these articles, I am going to mount a detector by the rear seats as well. This model doesn't appear to be waterproof. The same company makes an IP67 rated model:

Carbon Monoxide Meter by FORENSICS | Waterproof for Boat, RV, Camping | 3 year Sensor | 2 year Battery - - Amazon.com

Carbon Monoxide Meter by FORENSICS | Waterproof for Boat, RV, Camping | 3 year Sensor | 2 year Battery - - Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

Would the waterproof model be better?

It is waterproof it says this on the page
sorry I missed your post while writing mine but I listed the same one and ordered it for my boat

Carbon Monoxide Meter
Most Robust. Water-Proof.
Designed to handle a beating for first responders, travelers, campers, and occupational safety workers. A rugged waterproof, shock-proof, dust-proof Carbon Monoxide Meter. Long battery life of 2 years using a 9V lithium battery. Passes 20 ft drop test. Waterproof up to 3 ft. Highest protection grade = IP67. Rubberized housing for "soft-touch" feeling.

 

[Farny]

Last summer I was sitting on the back "step through" portion of our boat while coaching nieces and nephews on wakeboarding and surfing. I'm talking about the "back of the rear seats" too, with one leg over into the tub, and one on the back deck. After a couple hours of that, we went back to the cabin for lunch and a break. When we got back, I was dizzy, couldn't eat, and felt like absolute hell. Later I came to the conclusion that I must've inhaled too much exhaust gas while sitting back there - this is a real issue for sure!

FYI last night I contacted the Surf Pipe Exhaust company that makes surf pipes for vdrives and asked them if they could make me a custom pipe(s) for my Yamaha. Looking at the blown up diagram of our exhaust system, it doesn't seem like much of an effort to create a pipe with a rubber gasket that vent exhaust further down into the water.

Even last Sunday when I was putting on my wakeboard I noticed that, as the boat rocked in the waves, exhaust "burped" up between the rear transom area.

Ever come up with a retrofit surf pipe for our boats?

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

https://jetboaters.net/threads/surfing-behind-255xd.32981/page-4#post-634873

 

[Ribs77]

Ever come up with a retrofit surf pipe for our boats?

I'm also interested in this. Haven't really seen any solution, but wondering if jet-ski specific mods for the same engine could possibly be fitted to direct exhaust further underwater?

Yamaha 1.8 Free Flow Exhaust System Upgrade

Unlock performance with the Yamaha 1.8 Free Flow Exhaust. No drilling, OEM fit, ideal for mods. Upgrade now at Cabrera MotorSports.

www.cabreramotorsports.com

 

[anmut]

I'm also interested in this. Haven't really seen any solution, but wondering if jet-ski specific mods for the same engine could possibly be fitted to direct exhaust further underwater?

Yamaha 1.8 Free Flow Exhaust System Upgrade

Unlock performance with the Yamaha 1.8 Free Flow Exhaust. No drilling, OEM fit, ideal for mods. Upgrade now at Cabrera MotorSports.

www.cabreramotorsports.com

I've contemplated this A LOT - I think a small downpipe could be fitted easily to the current exhaust exits, but my main concerns are:

• There's only three bolts holding the current exhaust "flap" to the hull, if a pipe was attached there, it might stress the hull to much at high speeds.
• Adding a pipe that hangs below the hull would open up the boat to hitting obstructions.

In my mind, you'd need to develop a pipe that could drop underwater at surf speeds and either 1) be set at hull depth when not surfing or 2) automatically pop-up at a certain mph.

 

[Julian]

Probably. I have had mine get wet and they are fine. I pull them off since I used velcro and throw them in my bag where I keep my portable vhf and other things when the boat is not in the water. They didn't have the IP67 rated ones when I was looking for one in stock or available. If mine ever crap out I would probably by those.

So what sort of results have your CO detectors had? Have they alarmed?

 

[Farny]

I'm also interested in this. Haven't really seen any solution, but wondering if jet-ski specific mods for the same engine could possibly be fitted to direct exhaust further underwater?

Yamaha 1.8 Free Flow Exhaust System Upgrade

Unlock performance with the Yamaha 1.8 Free Flow Exhaust. No drilling, OEM fit, ideal for mods. Upgrade now at Cabrera MotorSports.

www.cabreramotorsports.com

Free Air Exhausts said they could do one when I asked, I was a little skeptical