Carbon Monoxide Poisonings Lead to Recall of Houseboats

The Coast Guard has issued a mandatory nationwide recall for houseboats with rear exhaust vents that have been linked to more than 100 carbon monoxide poisonings and at least seven deaths in Arizona.

Coast Guard spokesman James O’Dell said at least 500 of the vessels, and perhaps thousands, could be recalled.

Six manufacturers, including the country’s two largest, already have agreed to voluntarily recall boats with the design flaw, which allows carbon monoxide to build up near swim platforms on the backs of the houseboats and overcome swimmers in the water and passengers on board.

“This is what I have been looking for all along,” said Dr. Robert Baron, who headed a federal investigation into some deaths at Lake Powell in Arizona, where the problem was discovered. “I feel we will finally remove the poisonous exhaust from where people recreate on these boats.”

The Coast Guard began issuing recall notices Feb. 23 to manufacturers that had not responded to a Dec. 21 notification of the defect.

The poisonings at Lake Powell remained unconnected for a decade until federal officials linked the carbon monoxide to the drowning of two Colorado boys there last summer.

A subsequent investigation by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and the Interior Department found that seven deaths and 74 serious injuries at Lake Powell in the last decade were caused by carbon monoxide concentrated at the rear of houseboats. Similar cases were reported at Lake Mead.