Navico B&G Handset causing fire

[ReneJK]

Last month we were sailing , as one does, between various places . Islands in the San Blas in our case
We dropped the anchor and I go inside making some coffee as we are getting ready to go ashore and exploring the island and beach.
As I am making coffee I smell burning plastic and I think to myself ‘Its a little early for the local people to start burning plastic’ but still I look around not seeing anything , no smoke , no fire , nothing and the smell is considerable less pungent inside as it is outside . so I walk outside to take a better look as to where the smell is coming from and as I walk up to to nav station I suddenly see flames, not just the little ‘nice and cosy’ flames but the ones that are aleady 5-6 feet high licking the bimini hardtop that is above the steering wheel
I kinda panic as I look around and start tossing every burning item overboard , half molten burning lines, canvas that is burning , everything goes overboard and at the same time grabbing a bucket with water and start pouring water of the still burning and smouldering fiberglass , gelcoat and electronics while burning the soles of my feet standing in hot burning and molten fibreglass & gelcoat
The Navico B&G / Simrad V50 wireless handset had absolutely no issues with the water and happily kept throwing out flames so I decided to do the dumb thing , grab it , pull it out of the charger/holder and toss it in the ocean
Somewhere in these 30-60 seconds I must have called out ‘FIRE’ as when I looked up my 12YO daughter was there with the 6Kg fire extinghuisher ready to help put out the fire (Thank you sweetheart !! , you have no idea how proud I am of you !)
If this would have happened 30 minutes later , while exploring the island, or much worse, while we were asleep we would have been ‘just another boating casualty’ on page 18 in a small black lined ad saying something like ‘tragic fire on a sailing yacht causes family to die’ and some good soul would have started a ‘go fund me’ to pay for the funeral
I reached out to B&G / Navico through FB , messaging them privately to let them know what happened and after careful considration ( I assume?) they reached the conclusion that Rene would accept a new VHF under the condition of silence
this is what they offered :
a new (my choice)
V60: V60-B VHF Radio and GPS-500 | B&G Sailing Electronics (bandg.com)
V100-B: V100-B B&G VHF and GPS-500 | B&G Sailing Electronics (bandg.com)
BUT under the following conditions :
in return for this replacement and as a matter of finalising this case and putting it to a conclusion we would like to get your agreement on the following points. We are required to get your approval on the below conditions in order to provide you with the offer for a replacement unit.
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If you wish to accept our offer, we request that:
1- You confirm that the case is to be considered as fully settled and that you commit not to submit any other claim to Navico, either directly or indirectly through third-parties, in relation to the said case.
2- You confirm that you will cooperate with Navico through its investigation and provide information about the said unit, if available and identifiable, as soon as practically possible.
3- You commit to keep the matter, investigation and case confidential, and to refrain from sharing details about the event identifying Navico or its product(s) on your social media/blog/public channels. More generally, you confirm that you will not bring Navico into disrepute on your social media/blog/public channels or through other means.
4- Upon receipt of the replacement product, should you be satisfied with its quality, you remove the negative comments posted on our social media channels (including Facebook).
We would appreciate if you could confirm if the above offer and its conditions would be agreeable to you. If so, we would appreciate if you could revert by email confirming that you accept the offer and its conditions, and confirm which unit would have your preference. We will ensure such is shipped to you shortly upon receipt of your email.
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As you understand by reading this here and now , I ‘kindly' declined to offer as I could never live with myself if this happened to someone else . loosing their boat or worse , loosing their lives
I so badly wanted to share our story , what happened and how Navico took their responsibility and made us ‘whole’ but instead they choose to try and shut down Rene by offering a new VHF radio and shut me up , sadly Rene is not the kind of person that is easily ‘shut up’
And before you are all up in arms and putting me down , please remember this could have been you , your boat and your family , tos those wireless handsets as they are not worth it , even if it ‘only’ happens once every 1000 or more handsets , its boats and lives that are at stake here
so be careful out there

ps were in a marina now where we have a great fiberglass / gelcoat person that will make it look like it never happened , everything molten and damaged will be replaced with new lagoon parts but no one should have to go through this

[wholybee]

Very sorry to hear of your story. You did the right thing to not accept their offer. However, probably not smart to post it here. You very well could have used the threat to say something to have everything damaged, replaced, plus some cash on top. They were obviously very concerned about people finding out about the incident. Now, you probably need to get the lawyers involved.

I had a similar incident with the builder of my house. I wound up quite favorably because it would have cost the builder a lot of money if my neighbors found out what I knew. It started similar to you, and I didn't sign the paper, but countered with a list of demands. They didn't hesitate to accept, wanting that paper signed as quickly as possible.

I do think it is important that this incident is documented publicly, however. Had your boat sank, the news headlines would be "Another boat fire because of Lithium Batteries!" Instead, this brings attention to the fact that *small* batteries in handheld devices are dangerous.

[Snore]

First, I have now lost respect for B&G!! And they’re fast becoming the one I recommended.

I find it interesting that they were going to give you a radio with ANOTHER wireless controller?!?!??? If the core issue is the battery, why would someone get another controller with a lithium battery??

Finally, as you know, you got lucky. Imagine a lesser person on a night watch. They go below to use the head and come up to flames. Would they have the presence, and fortitude to throw the device over the side? (BTW were you burned?). Would they get a fire extinguisher on it fast enough?

Scary…

Oh yeah, kudos to your daughter! Her presence of mind to allow her training to kick in should be commended…. Extra ration of rum… Errr chocolate milk!

[ReneJK]

I know we were ‘lucky’ in terms that we didn’t lose the boat , was I hurt ? Yes , I was standing in burning gelcoat and fiberglass that kinda ruined my plans for the week

Lawyers ?
I have legal counsel involved but since I declined the offer they saw no objections in me sharing this as I am really not looking for monetary gain or lawsuits that are out there to be won

If only 1 other sailor out there saves his boat , or one other family keeps what they want to be doing without seeing their boat burn down I have done my part in exchange of turning down a 500-600 radio

[wholybee]

Originally Posted by ReneJK

I know we were ‘lucky’ in terms that we didn’t lose the boat , was I hurt ? Yes , I was standing in burning gelcoat and fiberglass that kinda ruined my plans for the week

Lawyers ?
I have legal counsel involved but since I declined the offer they saw no objections in me sharing this as I am really not looking for monetary gain or lawsuits that are out there to be won

If only 1 other sailor out there saves his boat , or one other family keeps what they want to be doing without seeing their boat burn down I have done my part in exchange of turning down a 500-600 radio

I respect that position. But I also feel that this is probably an unlucky happening, that could have been a cell phone or laptop instead. It probably isn't a fault in the design of the B&G equipment, or indicative of their broader product line at all. Rather, just a risk present will the battery chemistry.

I could be wrong though. Both Samsung and Apple have recalled products due to battery design problems and fire risk. Maybe B&G has thus far been able to cover it up.

[Chotu]

Really makes you think. We carry very risky devices on flammable structures.

I have:

Handheld west marine vhf
A couple phones
Kindle
A rechargeable electric caulking gun
A Bluetooth speaker
Bluetooth headphones
Little self contained DVD player
Fitbit on my wrist
A shaver
Laptop

All with chances of the same happening.

At least there is no electric bike or battery powered tools in my case. Even bigger fire hazards with bigger batteries.

These things are all a great convenience but I think we forget the risk sometimes on boats.

Glad you came through OK and had the presence of mind to put that fire out. And that you were able to find it before it spread even further.

[Dave Smithers]

Thanks for sharing this. I hope that you and your family weren’t injured as this could have ended quite badly.

I’m a little unclear as to what could have triggered the fire? Was it potentially due to leaving the handset on charge? It may not necessarily be confined to just B&G VHF equipment so knowing what could have triggered this will allow the rest of us to put in place mitigation measures and risk management.

[Jamme]

Thanks for sharing. I hope you recover soon from these scary moments and are able to safely continue your journey. Fair winds.

[NorthCoastJoe]

We should all think about where we leave battery powered devices. Many of these devices we keep close to our exit routes. In the Channel Islands people were trapped by fire blocking the only exit from sleeping quarters on a dive boat.

I have been very casual about where my tool batteries, computer, portable radio, or phone spends it down time, something to think about.

As a retired firefighter, I have several large fire extinguishers on board throughout the boat. All of them are easy to reach in seconds. If you just have the required minimum, in my opinion that is not enough if you have to fight a fire. A fire blanket or welding gloves are also good to have on hand for tossing burning objects.

You sound very lucky that you did not have melted plastic sticking to your skin.