Hobie Forums

A fire caused by gasoline, which is probably the most likely thing on a TI to cause a fire, is classified as a Class B fire. Water is not recommended for Class B fires because it can disperse the gasoline and thus spread the fire.

The fire extinguisher I referenced is suitable for Class B fires and is very resistant to salt water exposure as it has few working parts and they are not exposed. I would recommend using this as a first response because it's easy to store on a TI in a way where you could reach it very quickly. But I would also recommend having a real fire extinguisher stowed onboard in a safe location also in case this did not put out the fire completely.

With small amounts of fuel, water will extinguish a flammable fuel fire without spreading it.
BTW- I couldn’t find where it stated the Tundra is suitable for Class B flammable liquids. It only mentions grease in the specs. It does say not to store in areas exposed to heat. Could be a problem in direct sunlight. I’d like to know what’s in it, as it’s not allowed to be sold in California.

I'm not a fireman, nor an expert on extinguishing fires, but the experts do specifically say not to use water on a Class B (gasoline) fire.

Here is one rated for Class B fires. Here is another. As you can see they get very favorable reviews. These use expandable foam to smother fires. It's highly doubtful sunlight alone will cause any issues with them. I've had mine onboard in full sunlight at 90+ degrees since 2015. They're only rated for 3 years use so at the end of last season, after buying a replacement, I decided to try the old one out on a gasoline fire I made on my gravel driveway. It extinguished it in seconds.

These are, of course, certainly not the best fire extinguishers available, but for an easily storable, easily reachable, first response Class B suitable extinguisher for the TI, this is probably the best bet. Certainly better than water or a bulky extinguisher stored inside the hull which would be difficult to retrieve in time, and most certainly better than nothing.

I did a quick search on outboard fires and it seemed every thing I could find involved the electrical system.

My Suzuki 2.5 has a very minimal electrical system and even then its extremely low power/ energy.

Im going to keep the fuel storage above deck in a container intended for gas as is legally required. The fire extinguisher is going on the list that also includes one of those at sea hurricane survivable life rafts.

My cupped hand to fling water on the outboard will have to do for now..

Now if someone can find a case where one of these 2 or 2.5 hp outboards that dont even have battery charging capability actually did catch on fire.. I will change my priorities.