Duck boat capsizes on Missouri lake; multiple casualties reported

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/07/20...-reported.html

I have never heard of a Duck Boat until today.

According to WIKI:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_tour

The one that sunk had 30 people on it including children. There were life jackets available, not sure if there were enough for all 30 people plus the crew but it doesn't matter now because no one was wearing any anyway.

There is no way you are getting me on that thing. From looking at the photo on the FOX news page I posted above and on the WIKI page, most of them look like a bus converted to a boat!

I bet an old cast iron bathtub will float better than those Duck Boats!

There was an incident with one of those boats in Hot Springs Arkansas about 25 years ago. It had a bad leak and sank fast, the canopy prevented a lot of the victims to escape. Killed about a dozen that time. My SO and I rode one of those a few weeks before that accident.

This one seems to be due to a bad storm that blew thru the area.

The FOX article mentions the Hot Springs accident (very bottom) you mentioned and so does WIKI.

It must be one of the worst ones involving one of these Duck Boats.

Also it seems these Duck Boats accidents are not confined to just on water.

According to WIKI:

On May 8, 2015, a Ride the Ducks boat struck and killed a woman crossing the street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's Chinatown section. Witnesses at the scene say that the woman was distracted by her handheld tablet device and walked into the street against the red light and was struck while in the boat's front center blind spot. The incident is still being investigated.

On September 24, 2015, a Ride the Ducks vehicle in Seattle, Washington crashed into a charter bus on the Aurora Bridge, killing five passengers on the bus, critically injuring eight, and seriously injuring eight more.

I found an old article about it with photo of the collision:

https://www.seattletimes.com/busines...ovements-bans/

On April 29, 2016, in Boston, Massachusetts, a 29-year-old woman was killed after the motor scooter she was operating collided with a Duck Boat, as both vehicles turned onto Beacon Street adjacent to the Boston Common.

Also one of the water accidents according to WIKI, if I am already not getting on a converted bus to boat, I definitely will not get on a Ford F-350 converted to a boat:

On June 23, 2002, the Lady Duck, a custom-built vehicle converted from a Ford F-350 pickup truck, sank while on a cruise on the Ottawa River in Ontario, Canada. Six passengers, the driver, and the tour guide escaped, but four passengers were trapped under the sunken vehicle's canopy and drowned. A review found problems with regulating such vehicles and defects in the makeshift design and the emergency procedures.

Yupper NOT Seaworthy , just saying

Been used as tourist boots for decades. They’re probably generally seaworthy if maintained and operated properly. But sitting a roof is a bad idea, and maintence on these tour boats is mostly unregulated and catch as catch can. I wouldn’t ride in one.

The winds were blowing over 75miles an hour at my house in springfield Missouri that day..50 miles away...we had tornados not far away. And branson got storms too

I have never heard of a Duck Boat until today.

I bet an old cast iron bathtub will float better than those Duck Boats! Originally Posted by CG2014

funny thing they have A pump, ok

A pump that pumps out the water faster than it comes in .

1950ish tech.

Not sure why these aren’t banned yet. Been on the news quite a bit over the years. They float as well as chickens fly.

29 people seems very overloaded to me , and they were so poor the army stopped using them.

Pretty sad to see the interview of the lady that survived but lost 9 family members including 3 children.

Don’t know how she can get on tv after that happened. I would be a wreck.

They are placing flowers in the parking lot and on some of the victims cars. So sad

So there are no government agencies, state or federal, regulating these floating carcasses?

Looks like it's easier to take anything on 4 wheels and convert it to one of these boats than to get a license to cut hair and do manicures and pedicures.

I read the family of 11 was originally on a different tour but they lined up in wrong location and had to take this tour. That’s some final destination shit there.

^ right " when its your time to go "

Duck boats have been re-purposed and NOT used as originally intended. They were designed in WWII to roll off landing craft, go in a straight line in smooth water a few hundred feet and deliver troops on beach or inland.

I checked into owning one, there is a company in Midwest that sells and refurbs them, around 6 figures.

If you ride on one in the water always wear a life preserver.

Hardest part is sealing the prop shafts. I speculate Duck that sank was leaking water into the bilge during normal operation and pumps were barely keeping up. Then add to that the rough swells that enabled more water to be taken on board and the craft just could not stay afloat.

The other Duck made it to shore. Assuming identical craft, what went right with one and wrong with the other?

NTSB will tell us in a year. In meantime more Ducks sinking are likely.