On a boat you can’t simply step outside and call the fire department if something catches on fire – unless of course you happen to be in a marina. We’re planning on spending a lot of time at anchor, so being ready for a potential fire is important. While working aboard ships, we both attended several days of shipboard fire-fighting classes, both in classrooms and fighting “fake” fires aboard old ships. Even with the fake fires my adrenalin got pumping pretty good so I can only imagine how scary a real fire would be.

The standard fire extinguishers that most people carry on their boats really don’t last very long and barely put a dent in a good sized fire. Not to mention they make a huge mess. So we’ve beefed up the standard two fire extinguishers required by the US Coast Guard by adding more ABC extinguishers as well as two fire blankets. Our fire-fighting arsenal has been placed strategically all over the boat including the cockpit.

Yachting Monthly Magazine has made an excellent video on the different options you have in fighting onboard fires by setting fire to their crash test boat.