“What’s all that?” I asked.
You can never get a quick, concise answer
from OW, but the guts of it was that he had been reading about lithium-ion
batteries, and how they’re susceptible to catching fire and exploding. His
handheld VHF radio and cell phone and GPS and some other electronic gadgets are
all powered by lithium-ion, so he planned to build a safe place to keep them on
his boat.
“I’m using the Boeing approach,” he said.
“They’re fixing the battery problem on the 787 Dreamliners by enclosing them in
a steel box that is vented to the outside through a titanium pipe. That way, if
the battery catches fire, there will be no smoke in the passenger compartment.
The passengers won’t even know there’s been a fire.”
“What makes the batteries overheat?” I
asked.
“Boeing doesn’t know yet,” said OW, who’d
obviously been doing his homework, “but their priority is to get all those
grounded Dreamliners back in the air again.”
“Even if the
batteries catch fire again?” I said.
“Even then.”
“So, are you
going to keep your explodable VHF radios and all that stuff in the cookie tin?”
“Yep, and
I’m going to knock a hole in the side of the hull to vent the fumes through
this aluminum tube,” said OW. “If it’s good enough for Boeing, it’s good enough
for me.”
“Why don’t
they just use the old-style, non-exploding batteries that everybody else uses?”
I asked.
“Weight,” said
OW. “It’s all about weight. The whole premise behind the 787 is that it’s
lighter and 20 percent cheaper to fly because it uses less fuel. That was the
promise that prompted so many orders. But they’re already running heavier than
they thought because they had to put in a heftier, heavier frame where the
wings join the fuselage. The designed
version didn’t stand up to the testing.
The wings could have fallen off.
Meanwhile, the lithium-ion batteries are lighter.”
“How
dangerous is this for sailboats with radios and things with lithium-ion?” I
asked.
“Judge for
yourself,” said OW. “In March 2007, Lenovo recalled approximately 205,000
batteries at risk of explosion. In
August of that year, Nokia recalled more than 46 million batteries at risk of
overheating and explosion. A year or so before that, Dell recalled about 22,000
laptop batteries from the U.S. market; and, also in 2006, 10 million batteries
were recalled by Dell, Sony, Apple, Panasonic, Toshiba, Hitachi, and other
manufacturers.”
“Sounds like
lithium-ion batteries haven’t exactly been perfected yet.”
“The U.S.
Postal Service has restrictions about mailing them,” said OW. “And the airlines
themselves won’t let you take spare lithium batteries in your checked luggage
in case they catch fire. Isn’t that the supreme irony? It’s okay if their
batteries in the Dreamliner catch fire, but not if yours in the baggage hold catch
fire.”
“Just as a
matter of interest,” I said, “what are the Dreamliner’s batteries used for? I
mean, it’s all very well if the fire is contained in a steel box, but what
happens when the batteries stop working?
What are they powering?”
“Oh, just
the rudder and ailerons and landing gear and stuff like that,” said OW. “I guess everybody who flies in Dreamliners will
just have to get used to some bumpy landings in future.” He patted his cookie tin and smiled. “But
I’ll be okay.”
Today’s Thought
Exit according to the rule, first leg and then
head. Remove high heels and synthetic stockings before evacuation: Open the
door, take out the recovery line and throw it away.
— Rumanian
National Airlines emergency instructions, quoted in The Times, London, 27 Sep 84
Tailpiece
Adolescence is a period of rapid change. Between
the ages of 12 and 17, for instance, a parent can age as much as 20 years.
(Drop by every Monday, Wednesday, Friday for a new Mainly about Boats
column.)
