After a little research, I changed my post. The aft end of the sleeping area was nowhere near the stern.

I have seen a picture where it looked like there was a 2x2 hatch above one of the bunks.

Hard to imagine they drown. Boat went down six hours after the fire began.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1567540832.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1567540832.jpg

Is that a hatch above bunk 10?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1567541108.jpg

It's hard to tell but possible. You wouldn't normally put a hatch in a spot like that but if that was the only place to put it I guess.

I read your corrected post. Still the same answer. The hatch should be at the opposite end of the normal ingress/egress. If the ingress/egress is blocked you can turn around and go the other way.

I agree. I'm guessing that the engine room was aft of the sleeping quarters, which is why the second exit ended up presumably in the galley/mess. Not the best design, to have both exits end up in the same, confined space.

Hell on earth
 

I to listened to the recorded communication from the Coast Guard radioman. We are only hearing one side and there is some thing missing. Garbled information from the boat? Who knows.

We have been in the Conception, the berthing area is open to egress and there is a 2’ x 2’ emergency hatch above one of the bunks. Nobody can be locked in as the conversation goes. This truly is a tragic mystery that I hope the crew can shed some insight to. Everything was varnished dry teak,so that just accelerated the fire

All the pictures and video that showed the exposed areas just above the waterline and deck is where everyone was sleeping.[emoji22]



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Some new info. Apparently doors were not locked and there were hatches. But doors and hatches may have been blocked due to whatever happened? An explosion of some sort occurred after the fire started. Maybe propane tank? Galley apparently was propane fired. Report also stated something about gasoline? Seems odd, that boat wouldn't have any gasoline on board. A boat that size would definitely be diesel powered, so only a generator would maybe be gasoline powered, but why? I think the gasoline report is inaccurate.

Also, the 911 calls were from various sources not all from the captain of the conception. Some from a rescue boat anchored near by and possibly a third boat.

The five crew that were rescued and the only survivors that I am aware of were all awake and on the bridge at the time of the incident.

I can't help but think that what ever occurred below the bridge was sudden, catastrophic and all below decks succumbed rather quickly.

Even assuming they survived the gas and the explosion, a dozen panicked people trying to race through a 2X2 hatch probably wouldn’t go well

Their spec page says Detroit Diesel 8V92 Turbo main engines and diesel generator. I also doubt the compressors for the scuba tanks were gas powered...

I agree but it was 34 of them and no one got out. :(

That was the initial report.
"OXNARD, Calif. (AP) — The bodies of four people killed by a raging fire that swept through a dive-boat off the Southern California coast were recovered Monday as authorities said more than two dozen others remained missing and feared dead.
Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Kroll says the four bodies had injuries consistent with drowning."

https://www.abc57.com/news/coast-guard-responding-to-more-than-30-in-distress-on-boat

I usually slept in the cockpit of the sailboat...not down below. Anyone needing egress up the ladder would have been bad news with it's location in a fire, etc.. Of course there was a 2x2' hatch on the bow....but doubtful anyone would escape via it. In my althletic prime it was very difficult to do....wide awake and unstressed in daylight hours.

Hard to fathom this....so sad.

Just an awful tragedy so sorry for all involved . I read online this morning a story about a female diver that was on this boat sometime in the recent past . She stated she specifically recalled a " fuel smell " but didn't ellaborate . So it could have been LP or diesel or ? Any fuel fumes is an issue on any boat/ship as it only takes one spark to ignite . I suspect when the investigation is finalized it will be LP ignition fire as the cause . What an awful way to go .......... RIP to all that perished .

This is the article I was reading , while she is far from being an expert and assuming she isn't making it up she remembers a strong fuel smell on board . If nothing else it may be one piece of the puzzle .


https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/mom-recounts-her-march-trip-011941978.html

Yer gonna smell diesel on boats...on deck even...I've seen it cause more than a few to hurl over the side....seriously.

Maybe those four managed to escape and enter the water? Injuries were to severe so couldn't stay above water, passed out after entering the water from the toxic effects the smoke or lung damage from fire caused them to loose consciousness? All very possible scenarios. Nothing so far has been reported that only the five survivors managed to get off. Clearly some never got out of the boat as they are still in the boat. I haven't seen a report yet that indicates where the 20 some bodies that have been recovered were picked up from.

Most onboard I am sure succumbed to the effects of smoke, fire, lack of oxygen long before they would have drowned.

Hmmm, the captain of the boat Grape Escape that was anchored just a few yards from the Conception just gave an interview that he saw five guys in a tender at the stern of the conception while it was on fire. Apparently the five survivors had time to deploy a dinghy? That is inconsistent with a report earlier that they were in the water and knocked on the hull of the Grape Escape.

They just reported again, the boat had a gas in the generator. Why would you have a highly flammable gasoline generator when you have several hundred gallons maybe even thousands of gallons of diesel fuel to run the engines? Seems inconsistent with a boat of that size?

It was a wood hull boat built in 1981. It only takes a small amount of diesel to create a stink and it is very hard to get rid of. Diesel had nothing to do with what went wrong. Diesel is very difficult to ignite. Once the fire got going the diesel would have ignited and burned but, by the time the diesel ignited it would have already been an inferno.

Boat had Nitrox refill tank on board to refill the nitrox dive tanks. I wonder where that was stored in relation ship to propane tanks, fire source? If that tank or line ruptured in connection with propane that is a super heated fire.

Nope, that's wrong.
The specs show a couple Northern Lights generators.... they are diesel, not gas.