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A comment on Missouri disaster: Duck boat’s designer had no engineering training. Parent comment

Re:Missouri disaster: Duck boat’s designer had no engineerin... by MBCook on Tuesday July 24, 2018 @11:36PM (#17606751)
The article says there are versions that don’t have the top, that would fix most of the issue. Wearing lifevest you’d be able to get out safely instead of being trapped inside.
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Re:Missouri disaster: Duck boat’s designer had no engineerin... by evil-olive on Tuesday July 24, 2018 @11:52PM (#17606797)
That would address most of the concern about the boats sinking, because every passenger could safely wear a floatation device.

However, they're unsafe in other ways. The 2015 crash in Seattle, which killed 4, was caused by a snapped axle. When I read that the duck design was "stretched" by someone with zero engineering training, that sounds awfully suspicious.

An additional concern is the the safety & maintenance records themselves. As part of the settlement in Seattle, the company admitted to 463 separate violations:

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/duc...

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Re:Missouri disaster: Duck boat’s designer had no engineerin... by ghaff on Tuesday July 24, 2018 @11:41PM (#17606767)
I suspect that would help a lot. Literal capsizing would still be an issue but filling up with water and sinking would be much less of one.
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