Lightning Strikes - Any Real Experience ?

[casual]

A, quick,response.1987 between Marsh Harbor and Hope Town afternoon thunder squall.BIG lighting,was struck no grounding on anything,all eletronics plus VHF antenna smoked I mean really smoked,I was on helm under power,took charge thru body,no permenant damage to me ,Went back to Marsh Harbor to evaluate,Noticed funny sound from engine sound stopped .Up mast replaced vhf antenna with spare bought new vhf installed had communications,spent anpther week or so in Bahamas,heading back to Fl at Whale Key Pasage Trans Locked up,turned out that main bearing in trans failed ceased ect,quick note I contacted Boats US INS,by landline reported claim,they had me dive bottom for damage I reported none visble,Onward,now no trans,and no wind Bermuda High .Lashed dingy to boat and towed in from Whale key to anchorage at Green Turtle waited for wind and finally sailed back to Stuart Fl up ICW to Jensen beach pulled by Dingy NO TOW BOAT US in those days,Boat US adjustor came in and inspected replaced all obious electronics and wiring,never order Haul OUT ,as the bottom had just been painted a couple of months before,Cutting thru the chase On the next haul out in the spring I had rusty water leaking out the bottom of the Keel Pocket,I recontacted Boats US,adjustor came out ect ect.Stripping Bottom revealed Serious crazing and some very obious cracks in Keel Pocket,water infiltration had rusted the ballast,thus rusty water leaking out,Boat became a Total,and was sold for salvage.The BIG question was mis communication,When I dove the hull in the Bahamas after the strike They assumed I had Had it hauled,and inspected,perhaps it would have been seen .In all fairness Boats US did suck it up and Pay the Claim even after spending 15,000.00 paying the first go round,After BOO Koo reasearch and speaking with a retired Engineer from Maine Power or something like that,whose whole life was spent protecting power equiptment from lighting strikes,He Stated when lighting hits its really any bodys gues no matter what you do what will happen,He made clear that focusing all discharge to one point in a Boat is NOT the thing to do.Case in point I didn,t sink.So much for a Quick response.Safe Sailing to all

[teneicm]

Instead of addding to this thread, I started a new one about building a useful faraday cage to protect backup laptops, GPS, etc. Thought people following this thread might be interested:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...kes-75023.html

[Lagoon4us]

Originally Posted by teneicm

Instead of addding to this thread, I started a new one about building a useful faraday cage to protect backup laptops, GPS, etc. Thought people following this thread might be interested:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...kes-75023.html

Very good ill check it out , thanks

[AnchorageGuy]

We have been in lightning storms offshore with strikes in the water all around us. We have never done anything out of the ordinary to lightening protect the boat and have never had a direct strike. We do place our computer and hand held devices in the Oven of our SS stove when the storms are close. We have had a near miss strike hit land very near to us and it took out the radar and VHF but nothing else. The unplugged electronics won't help since side flashes can jump disconnects and the EMP pulse can take out certain parts of electronic. In about 50 years of boating that is as close as we have come. We boat in some of the most active lightning areas on the planet, south Florida, the Chesapeake and the northern and western Caribbean.

[Amapola]

We had a strike at our home dock. It blew the SSB antenna to shreds, and destroyed $5,000 of electornics.