Port Richey News

Mercury Marine, a division of Brunswick Corporation, has provided its Mercury University curriculum along with 90hp FourStroke outboard engines and tools to high schools in Florida, New York and Virginia to help prepare the next generation of marine service technicians and address the industry’s workforce shortage.In a survey conducted by the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas prior to the pandemic, more than 85% of boat dealers suggested they had multiple positions in their businesses that were unfilled…

The National Transportation Safety Board announced Thursday its intent to hold a board meeting, Dec. 11, 2018, to determine the probable cause of the Jan. 14, 2018, fire aboard the passenger vessel Island Lady, in the waters of the Pithlachascotee River near Port Richey, Florida.One passenger died and 14 others were transported to area hospitals in the accident that left the vessel so damaged it was declared a constructive total loss.The Island Lady had 53 people aboard when at about 4 p.m. the captain received a high-temperature alarm for the port engine’s jacket-water system.

At least 15 people were injured when a fire engulfed a boat off the coast of Florida on Sunday, causing the 50 people aboard to jump into the Gulf of Mexico and swim to shore, local officials said. A preliminary investigation showed the fire broke out at about 4:17 p.m. EST from an apparent engine issue, said Shawn Whited, division chief with Pasco Fire Rescue. “The captain of the boat said there was an issue with the engine. He said he noticed smoke coming form the engine room and turned the boat around,” Whited said.

Wind and rain from Hurricane Hermine toppled trees and power lines along Florida's northern Gulf Coast, inundating coastal areas with storm surges before it weakened to a tropical storm over land and plowed toward the Atlantic Coast on Friday. Hermine made landfall early on Friday near St. Marks, Florida, 20 miles south of the capital of Tallahassee, dumping heavy rains and packing winds of 80 mph (130 km/h), leaving tens of thousands of households without power along Florida's Gulf Coast. No injuries were immediately reported. It was the first hurricane to make landfall in Florida since Wilma more than a decade ago. A weakening Hermine moved across southern Georgia, blowing winds of 60 miles per hour (95 km) at 8 a.m. EDT, (noon GMT), according to the National Hurricane Center.

The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause of the fire on board the Shuttle Express II was a fractured, improperly installed fuel-injection line on the inboard side of the starboard engine that allowed diesel fuel to spray onto the engine and ignite. Contributing to the cause of the fire was the failure of Paradise of Port Richey, the operator of the vessel, to have a preventive maintenance program, which could have identified the company's ongoing problems with the vessel's fuel lines before the failed line led to the fire. "Proper training on the replacement of the fuel line would have prevented this fire, which could have endangered the lives of the passengers who had just departed the boat minutes earlier," said Mark V. the NTSB.