Nationwide Houseboat Recall Announced After Colorado Deaths
Coast Guard Warns Of Deadly CO Threat On Certain Boats
The U.S. Coast Guard has begun a mandatory nationwide recall for houseboats with defective rear exhaust vents linked to more than 100 carbon monoxide poisonings and at least seven deaths.
The houseboats, with swim platforms and generator exhaust systems vented under the boat, were found to permit lethal concentrations of carbon monoxide to build up near the swim platform.
"We have made the manufacturers aware of the problem, and that venting the generator exhaust through the vessel's side is an approved solution. We expect them to correct the problem quickly, " said Ron Weston, Chief of the Coast Guard Office of Boating Safety. "We are in the process of insuring that absolutely all U.S. houseboat manufacturers are aware of this potentially lethal construction design and that they immediately take steps to correct it on boats they built."
Six houseboat manufacturers, including the nation's two largest, have agreed to the voluntarily recall all of their boats with the design problem.
A number of CO poisonings at Lake Powell, Utah remained unconnected for a decade until federal officials linked the carbon monoxide to the drowning last summer of two Parker, Colorado brothers there.
A subsequent investigation by the National Institute of
Occupational Safety and Health and the U.S. Department of Interior
found seven deaths and 74 serious injuries at Lake Powell in the
past decade were caused by carbon monoxide concentrated at the rear
of houseboats.
Investigators found that nearly a quarter of the 3,000
houseboats on the lake contained the potentially fatal flaw: a
notch below the swim platform where the generator vented odorless,
colorless and deadly carbon monoxide gas.
Researchers also found evidence of such poisonings at Lake
Cumberland in Kentucky and Lake Mead on the Arizona-Nevada line.
Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colo., who pushed for a recall in December
and also called for congressional hearings on the design flaw, said
through a spokesman that he still plans to call for hearings
despite the Coast Guard's efforts.
Ken Dixey, the father of the two boys who died last summer at
Lake Powell, agreed the hearings should take place.
"What the Coast Guard is doing sounds like a temporary fix,"
said Dixey of Parker, Colo. "If we have the hearings, hopefully we
could have a permanent fix, so that what is coming out of the
generator exhaust isn't so deadly."
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The houseboats, with swim platforms and generator exhaust systems vented under the boat, were found to permit lethal concentrations of carbon monoxide to build up near the swim platform.
"We have made the manufacturers aware of the problem, and that venting the generator exhaust through the vessel's side is an approved solution. We expect them to correct the problem quickly, " said Ron Weston, Chief of the Coast Guard Office of Boating Safety. "We are in the process of insuring that absolutely all U.S. houseboat manufacturers are aware of this potentially lethal construction design and that they immediately take steps to correct it on boats they built."
Six houseboat manufacturers, including the nation's two largest, have agreed to the voluntarily recall all of their boats with the design problem.
A number of CO poisonings at Lake Powell, Utah remained unconnected for a decade until federal officials linked the carbon monoxide to the drowning last summer of two Parker, Colorado brothers there.
A subsequent investigation by the National Institute of
Occupational Safety and Health and the U.S. Department of Interior
found seven deaths and 74 serious injuries at Lake Powell in the
past decade were caused by carbon monoxide concentrated at the rear
of houseboats.
Investigators found that nearly a quarter of the 3,000
houseboats on the lake contained the potentially fatal flaw: a
notch below the swim platform where the generator vented odorless,
colorless and deadly carbon monoxide gas.
Researchers also found evidence of such poisonings at Lake
Cumberland in Kentucky and Lake Mead on the Arizona-Nevada line.
Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colo., who pushed for a recall in December
and also called for congressional hearings on the design flaw, said
through a spokesman that he still plans to call for hearings
despite the Coast Guard's efforts.
Ken Dixey, the father of the two boys who died last summer at
Lake Powell, agreed the hearings should take place.
"What the Coast Guard is doing sounds like a temporary fix,"
said Dixey of Parker, Colo. "If we have the hearings, hopefully we
could have a permanent fix, so that what is coming out of the
generator exhaust isn't so deadly."
Copyright 2002 by TheDenverChannel.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
