Yes, after 20 years of boating I finally experienced the worst nightmare - an engine fire. After two hours running my 2005 40 PC with 440 Yanmar's on a beautiful day, I smelt burning oil and lifted hatch to find the transmission and stbd turbocharger in flames. I shut engines and generator down, called a Mayday using MMSI button, then put out the fire with an extinguisher. The automatic halon system did not trigger.
Coast guard took the women off the boat leaving two over-60 males to accompany the tow boat back to the Marina.
Fire was due to an overheated ZF 80IV transmission that melted the dip stick and hot oil blew up towards the stbd turbocharger. The filter caught on fire. Engine was fine, felt no vibration, engine oil pressure and temp was fine. I do not have transmission oil temp or pressure gauges. I had changed the transmission oil just two weeks earlier, cleaned the filter, and oil level was right at the correct mark on the dip stick. I had noticed shaft spin at idle on that side but was able to stop it with my foot. Boat ran well.
Starboard engine was removed and the transmission was totally burnt, plates broken inside. I had a transmission failure last year with the port ZF unit and had replaced it with a ZF 85. The ZF 80's were manufactured probably in 2004 and on the boat diesel web site people have posted problems with this transmission unit - issues with the damper ring/plate.
I learned a few important lessons:1) Have a game plan, a checklist of things to do and an order in which these tasks must be accomplished in case of fire or sudden water ingress; 2) set up the Coast Guard MMSI service on the radio - this is a free service offered by Boat US. I had this and it saved me valuable time when dealing with the fire 3) My wife knew exactly what she had to do and helped others on the boat, got the flares and life jackets on, and got the red flag and whistle out. while I was busy with the fire and the radio. 4) Ideally, Battery shut off switches should be outside the bilge and easily accessible. I could not shut my batteries down because of the fire in the bilge. 5) Need to check my automatic halon system and refill that extinguisher. 6) Get the new type of extinguisher that does not leave a powdery white residue on everything. 7) Need a way to get off the boat and some kind of dinghy would have been useful. 8) Ladies run into the cabin first to grab their pocketbooks and cell phones - I just bought a small waterproof ditch bag to keep on the boat.
Regards insurance, I have a standard deductible, but also had mechanical breakdown coverage that covers boats up to 10 years after manufacture. My insurer covered the entire cost minus the 2% deductible.
Coast guard took the women off the boat leaving two over-60 males to accompany the tow boat back to the Marina.
Fire was due to an overheated ZF 80IV transmission that melted the dip stick and hot oil blew up towards the stbd turbocharger. The filter caught on fire. Engine was fine, felt no vibration, engine oil pressure and temp was fine. I do not have transmission oil temp or pressure gauges. I had changed the transmission oil just two weeks earlier, cleaned the filter, and oil level was right at the correct mark on the dip stick. I had noticed shaft spin at idle on that side but was able to stop it with my foot. Boat ran well.
Starboard engine was removed and the transmission was totally burnt, plates broken inside. I had a transmission failure last year with the port ZF unit and had replaced it with a ZF 85. The ZF 80's were manufactured probably in 2004 and on the boat diesel web site people have posted problems with this transmission unit - issues with the damper ring/plate.
I learned a few important lessons:1) Have a game plan, a checklist of things to do and an order in which these tasks must be accomplished in case of fire or sudden water ingress; 2) set up the Coast Guard MMSI service on the radio - this is a free service offered by Boat US. I had this and it saved me valuable time when dealing with the fire 3) My wife knew exactly what she had to do and helped others on the boat, got the flares and life jackets on, and got the red flag and whistle out. while I was busy with the fire and the radio. 4) Ideally, Battery shut off switches should be outside the bilge and easily accessible. I could not shut my batteries down because of the fire in the bilge. 5) Need to check my automatic halon system and refill that extinguisher. 6) Get the new type of extinguisher that does not leave a powdery white residue on everything. 7) Need a way to get off the boat and some kind of dinghy would have been useful. 8) Ladies run into the cabin first to grab their pocketbooks and cell phones - I just bought a small waterproof ditch bag to keep on the boat.
Regards insurance, I have a standard deductible, but also had mechanical breakdown coverage that covers boats up to 10 years after manufacture. My insurer covered the entire cost minus the 2% deductible.