Carbon Monoxide death

I doubt there's anyone who hasn't heard the term "Station wagon effect" which comes from the days when station wagons had a 3rd seat facing backwards. Parents would often put there kids there and leave the back window open with tragic effects. Unfortunately too many people don't recognize that the same thing happens with boats. They assume that all the fresh air moving past them will push the exhaust away from the boat, but it actually has the opposite effect. The boat forms a vacuum behind it that can actually suck the fumes toward and into the cockpit. Hopefully this mother reposts this story every spring as people start launching. So tragic.

Fortunately the water toys aren't so much the problem if they're kept a proper distance from the boat as the fumes dissipate and drop. It's when they hang close to the stern of an idling boat or get the station wagon effect while in the boat slow cruising that it gets them.

It was a ski boat. "He was at the back of our Malibu Skier most of the day". I'm sure nobody would allow their child to ride the swim platform. Undoubtedly an aft sun pad or backseat, and yes idling through a no wake zone could cause enough Co to accumulate unless you think the parents had their kids suck on the exhaust pipe.

It's amazing what people are unaware of despite warnings. (Ever think about the roll-over warning on the sun visor in your truck or SUV?)Everybody assumes it'll never happen to them or they'll recognize the dangers in time. Cemeteries are filled with such people.

That's why I prefer the in person basic boating courses. There's a ton of stuff that gets covered in the general banter with the instructors.

(Comments like "not sure if idling in a no wake zone will cause enough of station wagon effect for CO to accumulate back there" where the proof is in the dead child earn sarcasm. Sorry if you don't like my sense of humor.)

Last week I was on a 52' Tira it was a cool night and when I arrived in the morning in Port Colborne to go down the canal a 13 mile run down to lock seven we were following a full size ship doing about six knots .
As it was a cold night the Captain had all the curtains up. About and half hour in to our run sitting back and having a coffee we heard a beeping noise. We checked all instruments every thing ok but still beeping. I went down below and in forward
stateroom the Carbon Monoxide detector was going off.
We opened up all the curtains and air was cleared up in a few minutes.
As NYCAP says station wagon effect

Low freeboard is meaningless. Co fumes are heavier than air. They go to the lowest point. If the child's face is below the gunwale it wouldn't matter if the freeboard was 3". And a CO detector added to the radar arch will be good at warning people as they come aboard to retrieve the bodies. Even in most boat cabins the factory installed ones are in the wrong place. Again CO gas sinks. The detectors should be as low as possible. Be warned when the gas is at your knees, not your nose.

Roger, All too common. that's why nobody should be allowed to stay below underway unless a forward hatch is open. We almost had a huge disaster here not long ago: https://dailyvoice.com/new-york/nas...isoning-on-boat-at-long-island-marina/790033/

I have carbon monoxide detectors on both floor of my house
The Tira I was on was diesel

Diesel produces less CO, but not no CO. We installed CO detectors in all the staterooms on Valhalla.

Thank you professor. I'll contact that woman right away and let her know her son isn't really dead.