Lighting strike on an all electric boat????

[nwdiver]

Originally Posted by makobuilders

nwdiver, depending on how serious and concerned you are, you may consider selling your boat for a steel boat, and then installing a hand-started diesel. Smaller lifeboat engines have decompression releases with hand cranks (and an electric starter as well). It sounds like you're considering major alterations to your boat, so perhaps picking up a good project boat and doing a complete overhaul may be a good way to go.

Been there done that in the last millennium, now I'm looking at all electric.......except for this one little issue.........

[nwdiver]

Originally Posted by billknny

If you have ever been involved in repairing a boat that has taken a direct hit by lightening you would know that all those "backups" you carefully put in your magic Faraday cage will be worthless, because you will have nothing to plug them into! Other than self contained handheld devices, everything else you put in there is a fantasy designed to give you a warm fuzzy feeling BEFORE you get struck.

In most cases some of the instrument and power wiring has shorted or melted. In severe cases ALL of the wiring is scrap. You literally remove every thing that was part of the electrical or electronic system and toss it in the dumpster. One 50 foot sailboat I knew got a $50,000 insurance check for one lightening bolt.

A direct lightening strike is a time machine. It takes ANY boat right back to the 19th century.


All you who think that you don't need traditional navigation skills, pay attention.

I once in the last millennium had a steel gaff rigged boat with a hand start motor I sailed to Australia with a sextant......she also had no refrigerator, water maker or electric lights.........been ther done that and could do it again....

But would prefer not to...