On june 6, 2011, vessel one was rented from ahoy boat rentals in beaufort.  They had been to the cape and back and the boat had run fine.  Operator and his passengers stopped to fish while passing through beaufort inlet.  After they finished fishing, vessel one would not start.  They followed the starting instructions given by ahoy boat rentals and it started.  Operator proceeded towards gallants channel.  Vessel one cut off while underway outside the mouth of gallants channel.  Operator contacted ahoy boat rentals to advise them that the boat was not running right.  After five or ten minutes, Operator tried to start it and it started.  He said although it was running, it was running very rough.  When Operator got to the beaufort draw bridge, it cut off again.  Operator said he waited several minutes and attempted to start the engine two times.  It would not start.  On the third attempt to start, vessel one's engine blew up.  This made a bomb like sound and blew the motor cowling twenty feet in the air.  The motor and the water around the motor became engulfed in flames.  Operator used a combination of the fire extinguisher and buckets of water to extinguish the fire.  Later that evening a passenger on vessel one felt very sick and was carried to the hospital to be checked.  She was released that same night.
BEAUFORT                      