We have finally returned to our
boat 4 months after it was struck by
lightning. The
boat is on the
east coast and we were on the
west coast working so we could not get back there until this week. Since the initial hit we have had the boat and rig surveyed and
work started on the
repairs. They include the usual replacement of all the
electronics, some
wiring and gauges, etc. We were fortunate that it was mostly the DC side of the systems that were damaged. The strike entered the system via the
VHF antenna and subsequently the
AIS system and then, because they are linked, all the
electronics. The
insurance company has been responsive and has paid for all the
repairs so far. The
surveyor had signed off having completed his eval so we were a little surprised when we started doing our own evaluation and found that there had been a fire in the
water tight forward hold. The
lightning had apparently traveled down the
wiring to the float switch and
bilge pump that services that hold, started a fire that consumed some nylon
dock lines and burned the crusing chute and snuffer in a number of places. We were very lucky that the boat was not destroyed. We contacted the
surveyor who came out immediately to verify the situation. His explanation was that lighning damage is mostly
electrical in nature and that they spend most of there evaluation time on
tracking down shorts via the
electrical panel and since the bigle
pump and float switch were always hot it did not show up on the eval. He apparently did not take the time to open up each
hatch and accessable space to do a complete
inspection. My take on this whole experience is that it confirms the old saying that you have to do your own eval if you want it done right. We will now proceed to a
haul out and probably a new
survey.
Linear Mode
Recent Discussions