Lightning Strike

[wmcminn]

My Catalina 400 was hit by lightning while at the dock, no one aboard. All instruments malfunctioning as well as bilge pump, battery charger. Some "spider webbing" around some of the thru hull transducers and rudder.

No problems with the AC side of the panel. Probable entry thru the VHF antenna which is gone.

Any ideas on how to follow up?

Thanks,
Wally

 

[higgs]

Call your insurance. They should pay to have your boat surveyed and you can go from there. They should also pay for the haulout. Better for them than paying for a sunken boat. Any electronics still working should not be considered reliable and damage to bronze through hulls, which may need to be replaced, can be very difficult to detect.

 

[duality]

God i hope you dont have boat us!!!!!! i also have a catalina 400 that was struck by lightning in may!!! they still havnt settled the claim!!!!! my last conversation was with them 10 days ago, he agreed to send me a written letter to instruct me on what exactly what to do. have not received it yet. i have a feeling that since i have been writing about the poor service that they are playing with me. he now wants me to remove everything on the boat and sent back to the manufacturers for bench testing. a kindred member of this site told me about his lightning strike on labor day and boat us settled within 2 weeks with no bench testing!!!!

check the posts here with key words "12v circuit destruction!!!!!!"

i will be posting an update soon!

mike

 

[AXEL]

I have BoatUS. My C30 was hit by lightning several years ago. Blew off the VHF antenna, took out some electronics and the alternator. BoatUS had the boat towed for haul out and survey. Within a week 3 weeks of the hit I had a check in hand which paid for all the damaged electronics, alternator replacement and installation, new standing rigging and installation, and mast wiring. And I had change left over. Top notch service!
To the OP, check your alternator, if malfunctioning, do not run the engine, ask insurance for tow.

 

[gettinthere]

Duality
Something sounds wrong. I had a strike on labor day. Boat us was fantastic. You mention "he", is this the surveyor? The only minor issue we had was with the surveyor boat us sent. He wanted everything to go through him. We did not do that, we dealt direct with the insurance people and the yard doing the work.

 

[Chief RA]

I was told many years ago by an old salt to wrap the anchor chain around the mast and drop anchor over the side before departing the boat. I can see where this might work as a shunt around your fiberglass insulated hull. This might not keep the strike from going down your mast wiring but hopefully the wiring would be melted right away and keep the current going to the anchor in the water. What do you guys think? Chief

 

[RichH]

The individual links of a chain make only 'point to point' contact with one another ... a really lousy electrical connection.

My experience with BoatUS for 2 lightning strikes ... outstanding and FAST. But, like all insurance claims you need to build 'rapport' with your claims agent and the surveyor. You need to become your own 'advocate' to help the claim process along.

 

[Chief RA]

With the amount of current from lightning I would think the weighted chain would offer small resistance to such amperage! Current tends to take the path of least resistance as well. Chief

 

[RichH]

Actually the point to point contact is a high resistance effect ... very little surface area in contact.

 

[Chief RA]

What part of "path with least resistance" did you miss? High resistance to milliamps, virtual short to mega amps lightening! Chief

 

[rufus1138]

chief i would be very very skeptical about the chain idea for non electrical reasons, why not bond to the mast and use a jumper cable or something and drop a spike over the side away from the finger pier, mabey put a zinc on it somewhere too, ive seen a few boats in my marina do this with jumper cables just clamped to the shrouds and suspending a zinc in the water near the boat.

 

[Chief RA]

Rufus: Might work if tied to mast but could blow shrouds if connected to one of them. If jumper cables were used they might blow too. I think thats why the old guy said use anchor chain! Chief

 

[rufus1138]

i just cant stop the horrified mental image of an anchor snatching the mast base out, the idea of a chain around my mast base is like putting a noose around my neck and jumping up and down in some bushes hoping the rope doesnt snag on anything.

 

[walt]

Regarding electronics blowing, what you do between the bottom of the mast and water isnt going to matter much. The picture below is from this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_field

All that current coming down from the sky to the water (however it gets to the water - and it doesn’t need to be through your boat or mast) is going to create an enormous magnetic field. This magnetic field propagates and creates currents in any conductors that it encounters (more current when the conductor is aligned with the lightning current. The only way to deal with this is to either buy insurance or attempt to reduce the effects of the generated current everywhere that it might occur. You can do this.. but not with chains or battery cables or any of that sort of thing.

 

[rufus1138]

good point walt.

 

[Chief RA]

Walt: Thats secondary induced current flow. Not near as serious as a direct hit! Nothing you can do will completely protect you, but it might help to shunt the current as much as possible. Thats all that I think was intended to portend. Chief

 

[rufus1138]

yeah but the induced current can and will fry the pcb's in all the toys. especially from a direct hit, lol didnt you see back to the future...1.21 gigawatts, its a bolt of lightning!!! great scott.

 

[Benny17441]

Duality most of us have had good experience with boat US. We don't know the particulars to determine whether the company has a valid reason or not to withhold your claim. I would just say it seems time for you to contact an attorney to handle the claim for you.

 

[Compromise]

I have had what has been termed an electrical event which fried almost all of the electronics on my B41. This was back in June. My insurance company sent a surveyor who still hasn't sent a report in and contends it was an internal short from the central control panel that caused the problem. The two electronic repair companies I contacted said no, it was EMF induced. How would one go about proving it one way or another?

 

[gettinthere]

You already proved it with not one but 2 opinions. Bring in a real surveyor not a fool.