Boat Builders Walk Off Job -- Some At Spokane Firm Fear Flaw Contributed To Michigan Deaths

The Arenac County Sheriff's Department in northeast Michigan is trying to determine why four people died there while using a new prototype duck-hunting boat manufactured in Spokane.

The 18-foot craft, called an Outlaw 18, was made by Outlaw Marine, according to the Associated Press. Out of concern the boat may have contributed to the duck-hunting accident, most of the company's employees walked off the job temporarily last week.

A prototype of the boat leaked in tests last summer, and the company last week warned customers not to use its new boats "until we are absolutely certain that the boat has no problems," a company official told the Associated Press.

The boat used in the Michigan incident has not yet been examined. Unless there is something obviously wrong with it, what caused the capsizing may never be known, said Duane Bean, undersheriff for Arenac County.

The victims were identified as: James Ayre, 50, a real-estate executive, former president of the Midland Area Chamber of Commerce and the owner of the Outlaw 18; Howard Swift, 43, a hospital executive; Rod Burnside, principal partner of an accounting firm; and Burnside's 13-year-old son, Brad.

Along with the four people on board, the boat was loaded on all sides with bales of hay, which served as camouflage from the ducks, Keith said.

This morning an Ayre family member in Midland, Mich., said neither the Ayre family nor members of the other victims' families

would comment.

The four went duck hunting Nov. 12 in Wigwam Bay in Arenac County, according to Group Detroit Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Al Keith. The bay joins the much larger Saginaw Bay, which is in the southwest part of Lake Huron.

A snowstorm with high winds started in the area in the early afternoon the same day, and the four were reported missing the following day. The Coast Guard found the bodies widely scattered on Saginaw Bay last night. All were wearing flotation devices.

The overturned boat was recovered yesterday 25 miles away, also on Saginaw Bay, Keith said.

Both Keith and Bean said weather may have played a part in the incident.