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Iains boatyard · 14-08-2020, 17:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by stormalong

The first rule of lightning strikes is there are no rules. If you get a direct strike all of your electronics are toast. A nearby strike is another matter - damage is less predictable. The only thing you can do is disconnect your VHF and HF radios and hope for the best.

I keep a couple of handheld GPS receivers in a steel box and I have a bail out bag with a handheld VHF and an epirb. The bailout bag is far away from the electrical wiring - in a cockpit locker but even so anything can happen in a nearby strike.

This guy is right after being hit 3 times I know there are no rules to Lightning.
My last direct strike left a Half inch dent in the mast top vaporised everything up there except the Forespar lightning diffuser ? So much for that idea.
Completely fried everything electrical and electronic. Back up items in a Faraday cage ie microwave is your only chance.
A direct hit is no little fizzz!
If you do a little Insurance claim research the stats show Cats are hit twice as many times as Monos. And no I no longer have that link.
You cannot control nature. Pay up and get over it! In MHO.

Snore · 14-08-2020, 17:48

I have found the best defense is simple.

Prayer

Even in a perfectly set-up and grounded boat it is going to be dicey. Had a buddy delivering a FP Helia when a storm hit. He was belted by the metal pole on the starboard side on the main deck. After some temporary paralysis he was able to use his arm, it took a while to get full mobility.

Like I said... pray!

Ianau · 14-08-2020, 20:16

Found this article by a yachtie Electrical Engineer interesting -

https://www.iims.org.uk/approach-mod...ection-system/

and some of the articles in his References list.

boatpoker · 14-08-2020, 22:25

I've taken lighning mitigation courses and investigated a number of vessel strikes.

20,000 to over 200,000 amps moving at 300,000,000 meters per second.

There is no defence and the damage is totally unpredictable.

IslandInfedel · 14-08-2020, 22:41

boatpoker · 14-08-2020, 22:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by IslandInfedel

Every bit as effective as ion dissipators and other scams on the market.

VChild · 14-08-2020, 23:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by japawil

A question for those who have lost electronics due to lightning, where these covered by insurance or is that sort of thing considered “an act of god” and not reimbursable?

I can only speak about BoatUs insurance. They paid for absolutely everything no questions asked. They sent out an adjuster who met with me and the yacht repair company who submitted the bid for the labor to remove and replace. A few of the big ticket items were required to be sent (at the insurance co. expense) to the manufacturer to determine if repairable. As it turned out, almost nothing was repairable so the insurance company replaced instead.

The strike was while hauled out at a yard. It came down the mast and shrouds. It traveled through the SS bowsprit to the windlass. Externally it followed the shore power cord in both directions, blowing a small hole in a nearby shed roof that the far end of the cord was near. It found its way up the negative side of all circuits on the boat and fried virtually everything. After reaching the bow thruster, it exited the hull at the impellers and traveled through the tunnel leaving zigzag scorching in the bottom paint for several feet before finally jumping to one of the steel jack stands and making it to ground.

I have a relatively large electrical system and lots of electronics. Very little survived. This is a partial list of what was lost:

Electric winches, bow thruster, windlass, entire autopilot system, radar, GPS, chart plotter, AIS system, wind instruments, engine panel, 800AH AGM battery bank, battery monitoring system, custom BlueSea electrical panels, interior LED lighting, spreader lights, nav lights, wiring to most devices, depth and speed transducers, air conditioning system (digital panel), radios, external voltage regulator, shore power receptacle and wiring, rotary power selector switch for genset/shore, inverter, Sirius Marine satellite system, stereo system.

Basically a near total considering my insured amount.
Kudos to BoatUs!

John Williams · 15-08-2020, 19:54

Many posts have said it is hard, near impossible to protect from a lightning strike. Our boat suffered a hit to the VHF antenna on the top of the mast. It just wasn't there after the strike. We had recently installed new electronics, all B&G connected by NMEA 2000. We also had an HF radio and normal MF car radio. Everything attached to the NMEA was fried. All instruments and transponders. The HF radio was also gone as was the antenna tuner. The car radio CD player gone. The VHF splitter for the AIS was gone (as was the AIS of course as it was part of the NMEA). Surprisingly the VHF radio was OK. The splitter must have protected it. Our marine electrician just assumed the house batteries were also gone. Our 390 w of solar panels survived, but not the regulators, MPPT etc. The TV also survived.

The power from the hit to the VHF antenna entered the NMEA 2000 cable to the top of the mast and then the rest was history. The hit was not directly to the transponder on the mast or the wiring.

Total cost of the insurance claim was just under $30,000AUS.

Gerrit Coetzee · 15-08-2020, 21:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by houseofcharm

I always had the wack idea that if stuck in a FL spontaneous storm in my then powerboat, I'd drop a jumper cable into the drink with the other end clamped to a railing of mast light.

And we were hit twice at home, once in FL, moved to NY and a month later hit again. The bolt came through a lawn of huge oaks and maples into a lowly crabapple tree which actually survived.

The EM field as well as direct current in the home's electrics did about $7 in damage including 3500 to a Nissan Z car, fried CPU, exhaust sensor etc.

We were in practice back then and patients vividly all told their lightning tales when I mentioned ours-some wild stories.

I was taught that due to a car's good isolation, that is the best protection against a lightning strike.

Seems then that the car or the boat both acts as the cage to save lifes, but electronics are up to the dice.

This then seemingly support other posters that there is nothing to prevent the strike. I wanted to post a joke and whimsical say, to prevent a strike, take down the mast. But if a car was struct, then taking down your mast is no guarantee either.

I can appreciate that you can maybe lessen your chances of being struct, but then there is the poster who said a boat was struct in a marina that did not had the tallest mast there.

When does it become a situation of, that which you fear you attract?

If I am sailing, unplugging and disconnecting everything, is that advisable?
I am stuck in lockdown in South Africa, boat in the Caribbean. Dropping anchor, attaching jumper leads to shroud and into the water etc etc becomes moot points - I am 1000's kms away.

What about being hit by first lightning strike, or blue lightning, when no storm was expected and you could not disconnect anything?

The oven and microwave thing is like a cage within a cage - but I ask this: How much of this is ado about nothing?

Some suffer damage whilst not even been hit directly, others suffered little damage with a direct hit, orhers saw total destruction.

I know little of electricity and lightning and read with interest for solutions. I can read more into the luck of the draw.

If winches are fried, besides insurance, I think prayer is some solace.

JimJohnston · 16-08-2020, 16:13

Our boat was struck by lightning just 3 weeks ago in the morning of July 20 while we were sleeping. That was a wake up call!

We were anchored at the time in a remote part of N Georgian Bay and the strike took out a very large cable between the mast step and the keel bolt where it had been attached, our chart plotter, VHF (the antenna was gone) and auto-pillot. We were anchored in a rock strewn area where to sail out would have been difficult and since the battery powered auxiliary wouldn't start our only choice was to get towed out. Thankfully intermittent internet (email) and a hand-held VHF to talk with the CG was working.

After the strike, our major concern was emptying the very nearly full holding tank. But we had food and water to keep us for a few days.

Got towed to a marina and now the boat is in the hands of the insurance and the marina. So now we are spending time at home avoiding covid19 happy to still be alive. And insured.

boatpoker · 16-08-2020, 16:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimJohnston

Our boat was struck by lightning just 3 weeks ago in the morning of July 20 while we were sleeping. That was a wake up call!

We were anchored at the time in a remote part of N Georgian Bay and the strike took out a very large cable between the mast step and the keel bolt where it had been attached, our chart plotter, VHF (the antenna was gone) and auto-pillot. We were anchored in a rock strewn area where to sail out would have been difficult and since the battery powered auxiliary wouldn't start our only choice was to get towed out. Thankfully intermittent internet (email) and a hand-held VHF to talk with the CG was working.

After the strike, our major concern was emptying the very nearly full holding tank. But we had food and water to keep us for a few days.

Got towed to a marina and now the boat is in the hands of the insurance and the marina. So now we are spending time at home avoiding covid19 happy to still be alive. And insured.

A common misconception is that lightning will take the path of least resistance. In fact it takes all paths and will jump several feet where there is no direct path. This often results in hundreds of "side flashes" where the bolt will jump through the hull to get to the water. I've seen hundreds of small holes in a hull from such "side flashes"