Lightning Strike!

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

About 10 days ago, in a very fierce thunderstorm, we took a strike on or very near the house which fried a bunch of my electronic stuff including my home computer system and wii game console and a bunch of other stuff. It blew breakers in 3 separate panels including one of the AC compressors that luckily came back on after I reset the tripped breaker. I thought I was doing good by getting new circuit boards to fix the broken garage door opener and ice maker infrared sensor which fried but I hadn't gone to check on my Mac 26X since I took it out on the night of July 4th. My boat sits high and dry on a lift at a dock which has electric power run through a cable which goes through a conduit in the ground. First thing I noticed was that my GFCI outlet was not working, some light black marking on the face of it, but I wasn't sure if it was the lightning or maybe just the outlet cover was letting rain in which messed it up. So, I run an extension cord from another outlet to the boat.

Second thing I notice is that the batteries are really dead, they shouldn't have been (all power was turned off) and they are only 6 months old. I charged them for a few hours before today's thunderstorms rolled through and I closed up the boat..batteries still weren't fully charged when I disconnected them. Then I started noticing other stuff, like I have 2 electrical panels with the red dog lighted red rocker switches in them. Two of the switches (running lights and anchor light) were completely blown out of the panel and I found some of the pieces on the floor. So then I start testing stuff and the cabin lights don't come on, the VHF radio and the FM stereo also don't come on anymore. I had looked at the base of the mast earlier and didn't see anything unsual about the 3 wires that go from the mast to the cabin top, except that the original steaming light connection was off, but thats not unusual. Then I look up the mast and my VHF antenna is no longer up on top and there also seems to be some black marks around my spreader light where it attaches to the aluminum spreader.

But none of the wires are melted or anything that you would expect from a direct hit and the boat was not connected to shore power when the strike happned. Then I look at the conduit that brings the AC power onto the dock (the GFCI is attached to a dock pole driven deep into the ground), the gray PVC electrical conduit is breached in a couple places, especially where the conduit enters the ground at the seawall. It seems blown into multiple pieces right there at the ground. But the 10 gauge gray wire inside the conduit seems fine. Again, if a bolt of lightning tried to follow that exact path, I would have thought I would find the wire melted and a lot of blackness but it isn't there. Makes me think the boat took some sort of side hit or tributary hit because it is not very well grounded being up on a lift and all.

Since there is no power to the lift, I can't tell if it is still working, and since I can't lower the boat into the water, I didn't check the outboard either but hopefully it is not hit. At least the cabin pressure water pump still seems to be working. And the DVD/TV player comes on, but it won't shut off anymore with the switch, only unplugging it seems to shut it off, so its affected in sort of an opposite way.

I guess I have a bunch of work cut out for me now, first to fix the AC power to the dock, then to go through all the boats electric systems to troubleshoot them and make sure nothing looks funny. Its strange though, if a lightning bolt actually hit the VHF antenna, I would expect to see a fried RF wire leading from the mast to the boat, but it looks fine. Obviously enough jolt to fry the VHF radio though.

I also have heard stories about lightning blowing holes through the bottom of the boat where the compression post meets the hull/centerboard, so maybe for my piece of mind, I should take a dingy ride under the boat and make sure the hull looks ok too.

[seahouse]

Yipes! Sorry to hear about your bad luck. Any insurance? You will be now spending your sailing time on something other than sailing.

I recall reading an article that indicated that hull damage (perforation) can be more catastrophic when the strike is done with the boat on the hard than in the water. If your boat is already in the water and not taking on water then the hull damage is, at least, not too severe! Good luck with it, Dimitri.

[mastreb]

Boat lightning strikes are a heck of a lot more common than I would have thought.

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Thanks for the commiseration. I do have insurance and I guess I'll give them a call, but as usual, there are probably so many hoops to jump through regarding deductibles and hassle, that it might only be good for catastrophic loss. Plus, when you make a claim, they tend to raise your premiums and get it back out of you later.

As for being on the hard, its on a boat lift cradle so not really in contact with the ground directly. There are multiple theories on whether its best to have a boat grounded or not.

[Andre Emmenegger]

We took a strike a couple of years ago. I'm not exactly sure where it it, but a big 100 foot tree died in our front yard. It blew out a lot of the electronics that you mentioned.

As to the boat, it was on a lift also. What got damaged was one of the motors. The boat itself was fine. I think that there is just a huge surge that happens which spreads out for some distance. It was strange how some equipment was OK, and other things got fried.

Good luck.

[Octaman]

Sorry to hear this Dimitri,

I was once sitting on the waterfront inside a taverna sipping Greek coffee and watching a very scary and fierce thundrstorm go over us. Late afternoon. This was on the island of Kea in Greece. Didn't have the Mac at the time. As I looked out over the bay and along the dock I actually saw lightning strike a mast. I am probably a very rare case of an eye witness of such a circumstance.

I jumped up and rushed out into the rain as there were people on board the sailing boat that had been struck.
They survived okay but as you say, all their electronic got trashed. The boat was in the water. I actually saw, in that split second, the VHF antenna, 'evaporate'. I just happened to be looking that way when it happend. Shocking! I tell you.
There was an old home right in front of the boat, a few metres from its bow that also got hit; apparently all the plumbing blew up. It was a very low cloud and an alarming experience.

I won't go into what to do in a thunderstorm when on a boat etc. etc. There are books on that.
I feel for you and I hope the outboard is okay. What probably saved you from greater damage is your power cable to the ground that provided an exodus for the amassing energy.

Just goes to show how 'small' we are and need to always respect the powers of nature.

I wish you a speedy recovery.

Octaman

[11steve11]

You shouldn't be afraid of the insurance process. Long ago, I worked with different companies on claims; most companies just send out an adjuster, they review the situation (including your input) and then report back to the company; a check for the amount of damage or loss (minus the deductable) is to you within a few hours to a couple days. The fear of rates rising is not in balance with reality; rates are set by risk rate tables calculated by the insurance and claims managed by the agency; your rate may go up a very small percentage, if at all. Personally, I switched to my current agent because his clients with claims consistantly had positive stories about his willingness to act on their behalf back to the company...his rates are compeditive (not the lowest) and I am amazed how he remembers my family even though I see him about once a year and not in his office.

When shopping for insurance, be wary of agents who always have 'too good to be true' rates or rarely process a claim, they actually have quite a bit of influence on your claim being paid at all and I rarely meet their 'satisfied' customers.

My suggestion, put in the claim; see if your agent is worth what you're paying him.

[mastreb]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120723.html

How lighting actually strikes. Numerous channels of negative ions branch out from a charged cloud, and when one of them finds a path to ground, the bolt appears, creating a virtual wire between the ground and the negatively charged cloud, over which they exchange electrons until they're balanced.

This is why the tallest thing is usually what takes the strike.

[Steve K]

Lightening...... strange stuff.
I was once standing about 3 feet from an iron gate (main entrance to an elementary school) during a rain storm. I heard the thunder and at the same time saw a bolt of lightening cross under the lunch area roof (metal roof about 5,000 square feet), pass right through the iron gate and strike the transformer on the power pole, out front. One of the biggest scares of my, then, young life.

My wife was walking through a parking lot with two co-workers, returning from lunch break, When lightening struck very near the three of them. Their description was that the lightening bolt appeared to come out of the ground about 10 feet away from them and struck a large telemetry array (antenna) on their building, about 75 feet away.

Luckily, no injuries in either story

BB,
SK

[kmclemore]

Yeah, lightning sure is bizarre. Had it hit the plane when we were just about to land at PHL one rainy summer night... it literally lit up the entire inside of the plane with this intense blue glow, almost like being inside of a neon tube - and it simultaneously flamed out the port engine and it went into full shutdown. Very scary stuff, but as we were literally 1000 feet off the runway there wasn't much you could do at that point except point the nose and take it on in regardless... just made stopping a wee bit trickier.

[March]

kmclemore said
Very scary stuff, but as we were literally 1000 feet off the runway there wasn't much you could do at that point except point the nose and take it on in regardless...

Point whose nose? Gotta know if that's all you can do

[Steve K]

kmclemore,

All I can say is WOW

Did your life flash in front of you there for a second
Not a pilot, but..........
Approach has got to be the worst time for something like that to happen, right

SK

[Divecoz]

The One Constant I learned about lightening strikes and being in an industry that tries to prevent them? You can Never Count on anything...

[Catigale]

..only thing worse is loss of thrust on both engines on approach..... ...but there is even a procedure for that !!!

[Andre Emmenegger]

I have taken several lightening strikes throughout the years in commercial aircraft. Luckily, no major problems. With the FADEC engines it may cause some rollbacks but for me, none so far.

It does get a little exciting though.