RedactedNarrative: On the morning of may 3, 2014, operator purchased a 2003 28 foot classic sport fishing boat from oriental yacht sales in oriental, north carolina.  After the completion of this purchase, operator and co-worker were planning to travel by boat to charleston, south carolina.  At approximately 07:00, operator and occupant left oriental by boat and traveled down the intracoastal waterway to the morehead city yacht basin in order to refuel the vessel (considering that they had only approximately ¼ to ½ of a tank of fuel in the boat at that time).  Once they arrived at the marina, 207 gallons were pumped into the vessel by both operator and occupant with the assistance of a marina attendant.  After refueling, they attempted to restart the vessel with no success, attempting to start both engines before the pair began to try and troubleshoot the problem.  Operator and occupant manually moved the vessel away from the fuel pump to try and get closer to a shore power hook-up, thinking that the problem may be within the battery system.  At that time the dock hand, left to get an extension cord to connect the vessel to the shore power source.  After successfully moving the vessel away from the fuel pump, occupant attempted to restart the engine one final time before connecting to the shore power.  At that point the vessel exploded and knocked occupant unconscious.  
   
  Dockhand was walking out of the office towards the vessel when the explosion took place.  Dockhand then proceeded down the dock to grab a fire extinguisher and started putting out the remaining flames.  Both men were pulled off of the vessel and onto the dock.  Beaufort rescue, m. H. C. Police, m.h.c. fire, atlantic beach fire, uscg, marine fisheries and ncwrc acted as the responding agencies to this incident.  Occupant was airlifted to vidant medical center in greenville, nc due to resulting burns, as well as head injuries.  As previously stated, Occupant was the last person to try and restart the vessel, and was subsequently thrown into the fiberglass canopy which was directly above him.  Operator was initially transported by rescue to carteret general and was later moved by ground unit to vidant medical due to burn injuries.  After the two victims were transported away from the scene, tow boat us towed the vessel to town creek marina where the vessel was pulled from the water.  Dmf officer arrived on scene at town creek marina to begin the investigation while sgt and i were en route.  Once we arrived, we were notified to stay off the vessel until all fuel was removed and the power was disconnected.  While waiting for the vessel to be deemed safe, we began to compile information from dmf and started documenting damage and taking pictures of the vessel.  Tow boat us arrived shortly thereafter and removed all fuel from the fuel tanks and disconnected all four batteries.  During the investigation we found there was no spilled fuel in the bottom of the hull.  However, there were still large amounts of fuel vapors emanating from the engine compartment area.  The entire top of the vessel was blown apart and separated from the hull.  However, there was very little fire damage and the majority of the damage which was present resided on the port side gunnel area.  The engine compartment top was blown loose from the hinges, and a two foot gap remained in the area where it was originally attached.  This is the area where occupant was standing when the explosion occurred.  Photos were taken of all parts and compartments of the vessel.  Additionally, all switch panels and fuse compartments were documented, and it was noted that the blower switch was in the “on” position.  
   
  After a considerable amount of time was taken to document our findings and attempt to locate the cause of the explosion, myself and sgt began to compile an inventory of all the personal belongings in order to secure them for safe keeping until the items could be returned.  This inventory collected on may 3, 2014