Got hit by lightning - suggestions for repair path

[CaptainMarkS]

Gosh, that sucks! Fear of lightning strikes is what made us wait out going from Mexico to Panama until dry season. We also installed a static dissipator, though that might be snake oil. As several mentioned, the worst thing is damage can appear several months later, making proper insurance claims challenging. If it were we, we'd replace as much of the electrics as possible. Please keep us informed of your progress and approach.

[Painless]

If You have access to YouTube, watch “Parley Revival”…..besides documenting his many repairs on his Lagoon, the boat has been struck twice by lightning. He is / was a Chief Engineer on some super yachts and has a good understanding of all his electrical systems. After his second strike he shows going through all the electrical and what the lightening did.
Sorry it happened to You.
Basically all your electronics and electrical a have failed or probably won’t be reliable in the future.

[Bill Balme]

Originally Posted by Piscis

We do have insurance, but i have to check the fine print in the contract. Especially for deductables in case of lightning, how much they will pay for 5-6 year old equipment and for further requirements they are asking now.

John

I hope you have already contacted your insurance company and initiated a claim.
Our lightning strike with similar equipment aboard ended up with a $150,000 claim and was only closed 4 years after the event when a generator problem was determined to be related.
We replaced all standing rigging and boat was hauled while all electronics was replaced.
This is not something you want to skimp on.
Good luck!

Bill

[Siberian Sea]

I wish I knew how to effectively prevent or minimize getting hit. Seems like all kinds of theories about how to prevent or reduce the chance of damage if it occurs but nothing concrete I can discover.

[tomtriad]

Good advice to be sure you're insurance company settles the claim before you repair ANYTHING. Most policies have no fine print for lightning strikes, but check yours thoroughly - if you have an agent ask his advice too. They mayy require you to haul out to prevent further damage (like sinking)

My boat was struck 3 times by lightning. the first time blew a football size hole in the main hull (the amas of my trimaran kept it afloat). All the electronics were fried in that hit, and in the 2 subsequent ones. The power of the strike goes to ground, so fuses will on the positive side of most electronics will not prevent damage; it also arcs across anything it wants to.

Bonding to throughhulls is not a good option unless you want to invite the strike to them. A study commissioned by insurance companies in FL surveyed 700 lightning strikes and concluded that if the boat was bonded it had 2% less chance of being hit, but had 3% more damage. The only way to protect your electronics is to disconnect them entirely (pos and neg) or put them in a faraday cage (microwave oven).

Good luck with your repairs.

[Nicholson58]

We have been struck three times. Th last was a whopper direct hit witnessed by marina mates. Damage was extensive. There was more but this is what I recall.

60 amp main shore power breaker
17 glass BUSS fuses
Vesper AIS
Stereo
Xantrex charger inverter
All mast mounted and deck LED NAV alights
Several cabin LED lights
Alternator
Forward cabin wiring
Paint at through hulls at the transom
VHS radio
Autopilot

Important observation: several devices happened to be powered through a two-pole rocker switch with the switch off. His establishes an air gap in both plus and minus wiring to the device. This was enough to prevent a surge. No damage. All other electronics were wrecked. Note that all modern electronics have a soft start power switch. In OFF, the main power board is in sleep mode. Over-voltage on either the plus or minus goes right through, thus, air gap safety switches.

I have since added air gap disconnects to all electronics. I also added a 48 pin monster plug and receptacle at the base of the mast. Lighting coming, we unplug the mast, open all air gap switches, disconnect all antennae.

I replaced all the wrecked items myself. A lot was old and due to go. Alternators are repairable if you can find a shop or at least a diode and brush set. Probably about $60. Vesper repaired my AIS at a very reasonable cost.

[cottonsail]

I got hit with lighting. The boat was a Pearson 28 (Shaw design). This is a keel stepped mast with an encapsulated lead keel. It absolutely destroyed the wind instrumentation but that was pretty much it. Then we hauled the boat. There must have been thousands of pin holes through the keel. Many heat lamp hours later to get to zero readings on a moisture meter we epoxied the keel. No issues even years later. I still consider myself luck.

[Statistical]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

I have since added air gap disconnects to all electronics. I also added a 48 pin monster plug and receptacle at the base of the mast. Lighting coming, we unplug the mast, open all air gap switches, disconnect all antennae.

The challenge is the current can be in the million volt range. That is sufficient for it to arc across conductors many feet apart. Air gapping the mast means there is no easy path to electrical systems but it can still make amth.

Lightning protection is a bit of voodo science but disconnecting the mast with an airgap might work if combined with another connector remaining connected going to a lighting ground plate on the outside of the hull. Need to be a large copper plate (not dynaplate) and thick conductor.

The two working together might cause the lightning to take the easiest path to ground. Then again even with that it might not. When you are talking about uncontrolled million volts it goes where it wants.

[argonauta1]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

I see a trip to duty free Langkawi in your near future.

Yes, a lightening strike can be a real show stopper. While you can make do with a lash up to get somewhere with a full spectrum repair capability, I do no see Thailand as the best option. I would head for Langkawi. Given the normal routing you are likely to have taken if you are going westabout you probably have been to Rebak Marina. we found it good and close to Kuah which is a good sourcing location. The Royal Lankawi Yacht Club marina seemed less capable at the time we were there. Good Luck.

[AndyinAbudhabi]

Got hit twice in Hong Kong. Fried almost everything. As others have mentioned you really need to test everything before you settle the insurance claim. We missed a few things and the insurance company said no to any claims after settlement.

[capn jlp]

Lots of good advice in the responses above. We too have had lightning damage three times - two nearby strikes (one in our marina when connected to shore power, the other in open water, yes open water off the Florida coast) and one direct hit (at a marina where we had spent the night on a short weekend cruise), a direct hit that vaporized our VHF antenna and everything else at the masthead, exploded our spreader-mounted deck lights, and zapped nearly everything that had anything to do with electricity, some that weren't even plugged in.

My advice: after checking to make sure the boat isn't sinking and isn't on fire anywhere, contact your insurance company, verbally and in writing, and follow their instructions. In the case of our direct hit they had a surveyor to the boat within hours, and arranged for a towing service to escort us to a boatyard several miles away the next morning. They would have towed us, but somehow we were able to start the engine so we preferred to make the short trip (about 5 miles) on our own.

The yard short-hauled the boat to check for hull damage (there was none except for the prop whose blades were bright and shiny where all the paint from a bottom job the week before had been blown off by the exiting surge). They also confirmed that the alternator had been fried, but the starter was OK. That was how we were able to start the engine.

We made it back to our home marina under our own power, using as little battery power as possible. Once we were back another surveyor went over the entire boat with us, identifying everything that appeared to have been damaged whether physically or functionally - and the list was long, very long.

I must commend Allstate Insurance for their assistance. They were professional and courteous, and never questioned anything on the claims (there were two subsequent claims filed for latent damage that showed up after the fact). Their payments were quick and complete.

We now have a 1983 Morgan 41 that's better than new! Completely rewired, all new electronics including a new autopilot, and all interconnected with an NMEA 2000 network with its own WiFi network.

There's arguably no way to prevent a lightning strike, but once you put up with all the hassle, it doesn't have to be all bad. In support of that, somebody at a boatyard told us, "You really ought to plan on getting hit by lightning about once every ten years."

[Scope]

Sad to hear so much is damaged.

Think of a lightning strike as a series of events instead of just one.
Things that were damaged in the first blow, might trigger secondair events damaging more, and more. Putting power on or checking equipment in the damaged system can also cause more damage.

Like a VHF is mostly well surge and reverse polarity protected from the power input side, that can not be said from putting more than 10Kvolt into the antenna output side, which crosses the board an finds it way through every wire connected to the DC switchboard.

As said, switches that connect-disconnect both poles instead of just 1 are in the shorepower as distribution boards a way to cut any current flowing from either side.
Also extra surgeprotectors at the different stages in the electrical system can block (clamp) current flow of to high voltage.

As for repair:
Sadly one has to adapt to the view that any!! part of the electrical system can be or is compromised.

Remember that two bare wires (molten isolation) not touching each other can carry a current and make equipment functioning ok. In case of one wire touching some metal leaking current away and you have RCD's installed you might hope they will trip. Otherwise not. You simply would't know something might be live.
Even an isolation test will show up perfect as long as the bare wires are separated by air.
So still there is a great safety and fire hazard if wires will connect by pushing or vibrating.

Since wires and connectors are more often than not tucked away in the sometimes most unreachable places that might be compromised one has to rethink if a full rewire is the more safe or easy option.
But always communicate this problem and possible extra cost with your insurance. The cost of compromised wires might be more that some easy to replace equipment which always gets the first attention.

At least do a big visual inspection in good light on every inch of wire, connector fuse, board, piece of equipment. Use your nose too!!

Detach equipment the fully from damaged system and wires and test functionality on a known, checked good system (not your boat)
And yes that means also your fridge. A separate 110-240 volt cable with transformer or DC powerbank makes this a bit more easy.

So wires, switches and connectors are a main safety concern. one has to undertake some real effort to check those.

Although not always conclusive still do an isolation test (megger) on all wires and connectors, switches etc.

Only if all tests are ok you might reconnect part by part the electrical components and retest them connected.

You might want to let an professional boat electrician do a final check and have him sign the "checked and OK" for the insurance later on.

Good luck man!!!

[Piscis]

Thanks a lot for all your replies and help.

Quick update on our situation so far and what we have found out...

Good news first. Hulls, rigging, throuhulls, electric cables and wiring are completely intact. No damage to those parts.

Lots of blown fuses through out the vessel. Lots of damaged Raymarine and electronic stuff:

- QUICK Battery Charger: Internal fuses blown. Replaced. Charger working again
- Blue Sea System Breaker Blocks: 4 damaged. Need replacement or repair
- Blue Sea System 8248 DC Multimeter: Fueses blown. Replaced - working again
- RAY 60 VHF: Fuse blown and internal LS not working - to be repaired
- AIS: internal PCB burned. Needs to be replaced
- Raymarine Axiom 9 Plotter: Fried. Needs to be replaced
- Raymarine I70P: Fried
- Raymarine P70S: Fried
- Raymarine Autopilot parts (ACU200, Rotary Motor, Sensors, etc): TBN
- Raymarine EV1/Fluxgate Compas: Seems to be OK, needs checking when AP installed again
- Raymarine Radar: Needs to be checked when Plotter is installed (wifi only unit)
- Yanmar B20 panels: Fried
- Other instruments at helm: needs to be checked when B20´s are installed again
- Anchor light: bulb blown, replaced with LED
- NAv lights: bulbs blown and LEDs damaged. Repaired and replaced
- VHF Antenna: Gone. Get new one
- USB Charging System: 3 of the 6 installed had internal short. Replaced with new ones.
- LED lights: Replaced and repaired, couple fuses blown
- PLASTIMO engine blowers: Internal windings melted. Repaired my electrician. Working better then new units!
- Battery Protect and Galvanic Isolaters: Both OK and intact
- STB Whale grey water shower pump: Fried. Replaced
- Engine compartment LED touch lights: Fried
- FUSION Stereo: at electrician for check, Some internal PCB parts fried
- Windlass: Check later
- 2 Cole Hersee 24059 Solenoids in Engine Rooms fried. Replaced

That is it so far...

For the Radar and the Autopilot, i have to wait until the other Raymarine components are working again, then i will be able to check them. ACU200 shows one burned transistor on the PCB and one small burn mark. A professional, SMD soldering experienced electrician has hands on the ACU200 and the Fusion. Lets see if he can save the units...

Insurance does not pay: Two reasons: 1. I did not have a lightning rod or prevention system installed and 2. Looks like the total damage is less then the agreed deductable.

Thanks again for your help.

John

[Salerosi]

Buenas
Comprobar baterías con equipo de comprobación electrónico
Comprobar alternador, si solo obtienes 12,3 es el voltaje de baterías, diodos o regulador mal, es reparable y si no es mejor cambio
Líneas de mástil de todos los equipos, sustituir
Luces mástil, sustituir
Radar, anemómetro, y resto estuviese en el mastil
Sustituir
Equipos no funciona, probar con alimentación independiente a la instalada, revisar si tienen fusible interno o descargadores de sobretensiones entre + y -
Cargadores AC y alimentación puerto revisar esto mismo .
Consejo renueva instalación completa y coloca fusibles rearmables en DC
En AC y DC coloca descargadores de sobretensiones admosfericas
AC entre línea puerto y embarcación o otra entrada de este alimentador embarcación
En DC todas las líneas alimentación del mástil
Estos descargadores deben estar conectados a placas de cobre en orza o casco independientes, una AC y otra DC

[Salerosi]

En descargadores de mástil
Puedes poner todas las alimentaciones juntas calculando consumos de cada una y trayendo de baterías una línea sobrepase por dos esos consumos y entre esta línea y un bus bar divida cada alimentación colocar el descargador de sobretensiones admosfericas de los Amperios de paso total