Watch what happens when your bilges fill up with gas
Yachting Monthly’s popular Crash Boat Test has come to a
dramatic end with the much abused Sun Fizz 40 being blown to smithereens
off Bembridge, Isle of Wight.
The body of a dummy can be seen flying through the air as
the coach roof peels off like a banana, the mast collapses overboard and – most
chillingly – the boat’s topsides flex horribly as the blast distends the hull.
Watch BBC South Today’s video report of the explosion
The explosion left the ketch like a giant dayboat, all the
more chastening when you consider that the blast was fuelled only by the amount
of gas you’d expect to find in the cooking system of a cruiser that size.
Yachting Monthly’s technical editor, Chris Beeson, who has
masterminded the series, had Royal Navy explosive experts on hand to control
the blast and the RNLI with a lifeboat standing by.
To find out what Chris learned from the blast see the
December issue of Yachting Monthly.
The Crash Test Boat will be on display at the London Boat
Show in ExCel from 6-15 January 2012.
