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It is not evident that the [lack of] credentials of the person who designed the vessel contributed to its capsizing. This CNN article goes on to discuss the con

by pg_bot 8y ago

It is not evident that the [lack of] credentials of the person who designed the vessel contributed to its capsizing. This CNN article goes on to discuss the conditions during the day of the incident[0] The town was under a severe thunderstorm warning issued about half an hour before the boat capsized. There were numerous reports of damage throughout the county, including trees down and structural damage, said CNN meteorologist Taylor Ward. The highest wind gust reported in the area was 63 mph. "I believe it was caused by weather, yes," said Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader. Any time you are traveling in a motorized vehicle there is a chance that things turn deadly. Let's allow the investigation to continue before rushing to judgement. [0]: https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/24/us/missouri-duck-boat-investigation/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/24/us/missouri-duck-boat-investi...

crznp 8y ago
The NTSB investigation for the 1999 sinking of a duck boat has concluded [0]: > Until reserve buoyancy retrofits are completed the Board recommended immediate actions to mitigate the danger for vessels without adequate reserve buoyancy including the removal of canopies during water operations or installation of a Coast Guard approved canopy that would not restrict the horizontal or vertical escape of passengers; closing unnecessary access plugs; reduction of through-hull penetrations to the minimum size needed for operation; and installation of independently powered electric bilge pumps. I don't have all the information, but it certainly doesn't look like those recommendations were enacted here. [0]: https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NTSB_Determines_Cause_of_1999_Duck_Boat_Sinking.aspx https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NTSB_Determin...
- larkeith 8y ago
  For clarification, these recommendations were for Duck Boats in general; The entrepreneur in the headline designed a "stretch" duck boat, which was an extended version of a regular one.
evil-olive 8y ago
> Let's allow the investigation to continue This is a strawman - no one is calling for ending the investigation prematurely. > before rushing to judgement. How soon is too soon to "rush" to judgement that these boats are unsafe? The NTSB report regarding the 1999 Arkansas sinking [0] noted problems with their lack of reserve buoyancy. Certainly weather played a factor in the Missouri sinking, but so did the design flaw that causes it to sink or capsize much more easily than a modern boat of equivalent size. That design flaw has been known publicly for almost 20 years. The passengers who drowned in the Missouri sinking weren't wearing life jackets. [1] The 1999 NTSB report recommended removing the canopies of these boats, but if the canopies couldn't be removed, then they recommended not using life jackets. And the main subject of the article is the crash from 3 years ago in Seattle. That happened on land, caused by a broken axle. [2] It turns out the person who designed the "stretch" duck boats didn't have any formal engineering training, and it's not a huge step to imagine that stretching a vehicle in that way could lead to increased stress on the axle. This isn't rushing to judgement. This is understanding the context of decades of previous incidents for better insight into the most recent one. 0: https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NTSB_Determines_Cause_of_1999_Duck_Boat_Sinking.aspx https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NTSB_Determin... 1: https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/22/us/missouri-duck-boat-tragedy-life-jackets/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/22/us/missouri-duck-boat-tragedy... 2: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/ntsb-ruling-expected-today-on-cause-of-ride-the-ducks-crash/ https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/ntsb-ruling-expect...

by pg_bot 8y ago

crznp 8y ago

The NTSB investigation for the 1999 sinking of a duck boat has concluded [0]: > Until reserve buoyancy retrofits are completed the Board recommended immediate actions to mitigate the danger for vessels without adequate reserve buoyancy including the removal of canopies during water operations or installation of a Coast Guard approved canopy that would not restrict the horizontal or vertical escape of passengers; closing unnecessary access plugs; reduction of through-hull penetrations to the minimum size needed for operation; and installation of independently powered electric bilge pumps. I don't have all the information, but it certainly doesn't look like those recommendations were enacted here. [0]: https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NTSB_Determines_Cause_of_1999_Duck_Boat_Sinking.aspx https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NTSB_Determin...

larkeith 8y ago
For clarification, these recommendations were for Duck Boats in general; The entrepreneur in the headline designed a "stretch" duck boat, which was an extended version of a regular one.

evil-olive 8y ago

> Let's allow the investigation to continue This is a strawman - no one is calling for ending the investigation prematurely. > before rushing to judgement. How soon is too soon to "rush" to judgement that these boats are unsafe? The NTSB report regarding the 1999 Arkansas sinking [0] noted problems with their lack of reserve buoyancy. Certainly weather played a factor in the Missouri sinking, but so did the design flaw that causes it to sink or capsize much more easily than a modern boat of equivalent size. That design flaw has been known publicly for almost 20 years. The passengers who drowned in the Missouri sinking weren't wearing life jackets. [1] The 1999 NTSB report recommended removing the canopies of these boats, but if the canopies couldn't be removed, then they recommended not using life jackets. And the main subject of the article is the crash from 3 years ago in Seattle. That happened on land, caused by a broken axle. [2] It turns out the person who designed the "stretch" duck boats didn't have any formal engineering training, and it's not a huge step to imagine that stretching a vehicle in that way could lead to increased stress on the axle. This isn't rushing to judgement. This is understanding the context of decades of previous incidents for better insight into the most recent one. 0: https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NTSB_Determines_Cause_of_1999_Duck_Boat_Sinking.aspx https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NTSB_Determin... 1: https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/22/us/missouri-duck-boat-tragedy-life-jackets/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/22/us/missouri-duck-boat-tragedy... 2: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/ntsb-ruling-expected-today-on-cause-of-ride-the-ducks-crash/ https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/ntsb-ruling-expect...