I spent most of today cleaning up the mess from yesterdays incident. I removed the batteries, fortunately the battery box contained the acid spill and fortunately also seems most of the explosion damage. I was expecting to find acid damage everywhere but seems I have been lucky in that respect.
Once the batteries were removed I used a wetvac to suck out the now naturalized acid and then because the box was put in before the engine I had to cut it up to get it out. The new one going in will require the deck drains to be cut and re-welded at a later stage.
Once the solid debris was removed I sprayed a solution of soda around to kill of any acid, then throughly washed out the bilge and engine bay and anywhere I thought the acid might have reached. All this took about 5 hours. This is how the damage looks today.
The Batteries
Battery box
Battery box
This is a metal bracket through which the
restraining straps pass. Both are ripped
restraining straps pass. Both are ripped
This piece of angle was a right angle &
the other strap bracket
the other strap bracket
The shunt
Where the power dill hit
Judging from a lot of the comments I've had from other sources I am lucky I didn't suffer any personal injury. I have heard some horrible tails. In hindsight I think I was lucky.
On a positive note. The massive whack I gave my knee yesterday seems to have done some good. I have had a long term problem with it. Time will tell!
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Kev do you know what caused the spark that set the explosion off??? In my old sailboat I had traction batteries in an airtight sealed box with a 2.5 cm hose vented overboard. No fan. Glad your safe, hope the knee is going to be OK also. Great blog!!!!
ReplyDeleteHello Kevin
ReplyDeleteThanks. I am going to look into this a lot more. I knew they could do this but never had any idea how powerful the effects could be. I just thought it would be like that little pop we got when we made hydrogen in a test tube at school. I suppose it's quantity.
Oh yes, the spark came from some grinding I was doing on the stern.
ReplyDeleteI once saw the top of a battery go through the roof of a gas station garage! I think the strong box you built contained a lot of the damage. Just glad you're OK.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bill.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right about the box. I really think that took the brunt of it saving more damage and injury.
I hope both your knee and the new battery worked out well! I read the previous post and was glad you took the time to post pictures of the aftermath.
ReplyDeleteI thought it worth blogging. I haven't got new batteries yet but it's on the list.
ReplyDelete