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On Tuesday (the 4th) we ran into a hellaciously bad summer thunderstorm. The classic squall line rolling up as it hits the western shore of the Chesapeake. Our 348 handled it really well, but let me tell you, I have NO desire to see 7' seas, torrential rain and 56 knot gusts EVER AGAIN. Not to mention that really cool looking water spout and lightning hitting the water so close I could feel the hairs on neck tingle.
I had friends aboard, a family of four, along with my wife. The husband and my wife were abovedecks with me as we attempted to make some semblance of headway. But belowdecks were his wife and two small children. The storm lasted all of about 20 minutes (but seemed MUCH longer) and about halfway into it the mid-cabin CO alarm went off. Which, of course, we could not hear abovedecks in the howling storm. Fortunately the storm ended, I heard the alarm and we got everyone up on deck into the fresh air.
It's not like I had the option of opening any portlights or hatches, the conditions were such that we'd have taken on gobs of water had anything been open. And bringing everyone above deck would've be a disaster, both from not having enough room to get everyone seated *securely* and likely severly traumatizing the children. It was bad enough being tossed like acrobats down in the cabin; seeing THAT much rain, BIG waves and lightning would've left them utterly terrified. As it stands all they did was hurl lunch on the carpet, which of course dried and I just can't get the stain out now...
As it stood, the rear bimini canvas held up for mere minutes until pulling loose from the back of the arch. Fortunately I managed to wrestle it down off the poles before it got lost to the wind but, yeesh, is my back SORE from the strain. If we'd had the full canvas up I'm sure it'd have gotten utterly destroyed. And there's huge bruise on my side from the damned cockpit table that CAN'T BE STOWED ANYWHERE. But all in all, the boat handled itself remarkably well, save for the CO.
In the meantime I'd really lke to find a way to add a secondary alarm of some kind to the CO sensor. This is the second time it's gone off and I've not been able to hear it abovedecks. The first time it was the 'station wagon' effect from full canvas being up underway. Regardless of why it goes off I'd still like something visible and audible from up on the helm.
My question is what measures can I take next time to avoid the CO build up? Should I turn on the blowers and the exhaust fan in the head? And what sort of oxygen bottles or something could I keep onboard in the even things got worse?
And next time if we see clouds on the horizon will already at anchor in a known hurricane hole (Harness Creek) we'll damn well just STAY PUT.
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