News, Inspector warned duck boat company of design flaws last year (engines, accident)

[JD59]

A private inspector said Saturday that he warned the company operating duck boats on a Missouri lake about design flaws putting the watercraft at greater risk of sinking, less than a year before the accident that killed 17 people during a sudden storm.

Steve Paul, owner of the Test Drive Technologies inspection service in the St. Louis area, said he issued a written report for the company in August 2017. It explained why the boats' engines — and pumps that remove water from their hulls — might fail in inclement weather.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/i...220629258.html

[yofie]

I'm wondering: Would the wearing - by those aboard the boat - of lifejackets have saved at least some of the 17 that perished? Or would that not have made a difference, in light of Steve Paul's assessment from last year that found numerous faults with various aspects of the duck boat's design?

[GnomadAK]

They were pretty much intended to be used for one beach assault- never as a passenger vessel. And apparently the captain told the passengers not to don life preservers, in a storm, what was he thinking?

[Cape Cod Todd]

Any seasoned boater knows to check the weather before venturing out. The weather changed, the wind came up and the water got rough. At that point everyone should have put their vests on just in case.



I suspect the Captain of this boat may have been pressured to get one more trip in before the storm.

Cancelling a trip costs money.



This was a tragedy that could have been prevented.