Well this was the scariest weekend Ive had sailing....Sunday morning a wave of storms came up the chesapeake bay. We were anchored in Worton Creek and around 8:30am we were hit by a bolt of lightning...or at least a finger. Just before it hit, I had the engine running charging our battery banks.....I had just shut the engine off and the only electrical divice actually turned on was our Heart battery monitor and the propane silinoid switch , that was it.......I was standing in the compainionway when the lighting and its sound hit what sounded like just above my head.....my wife and kids were in the salon...they saw the sparks...right down the mast to the keel.......I imediatly checked our through hulls...all fine..then saw smoke in the engine compartment....the alternator was smoking but not badly......after further checking we were in the regrouping stage ...and found the battery monitor and propane switch were fried.....auto pilot shot, depth gague reading 80 feet in 13' of water...wind indicator shot......checked the fuses they all seamed fine.....latter we started the engine and the alternator was charging as usual............Still taking stock of what happened.......calling the insurance company today......having our mechanic go over the boat this week to find out the full extent of damage....scary as S**T!... Weird thing is the night before we had dinner with our anchorage neighbors and had the full dicussion of lightning systems and " faradas? theory...bonding vs non bonding......as it tuns out we are bonded but do not have a lightning disipitator.....not sure if it would have helped...... any one on the chessy fair worse? Rob
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Lighting strike - inspection
you might want to have the boat haulded and have the hull checked (below water line) for any damage. Check with the insurance company they should/oughta cover it. As well as a total check of all the rigging,I thinking more like replacing the rigging after lighting struck the mast. Sorry to hear about your bad week end hope they improve !
you might want to have the boat haulded and have the hull checked (below water line) for any damage. Check with the insurance company they should/oughta cover it. As well as a total check of all the rigging,I thinking more like replacing the rigging after lighting struck the mast. Sorry to hear about your bad week end hope they improve !
Storm
Glad to see that you and your family is ok that is number # its only a boat... I would also haul the boat
Glad to see that you and your family is ok that is number # its only a boat... I would also haul the boat
Just talked with Boat US
They will pay to pull and short hual it...just called my marina and told them to do so. Insurance company also said I am fully covered for the strike less my deductible. However they want all electronics pulled off the boat sent to a repair shop.if they can not repair then they have to specify in writing they are not repairable then BoatUS will pay for new instrumentation...here comes the beuracracy. I agree Thanks god everyone is ok! It is just a boat.
They will pay to pull and short hual it...just called my marina and told them to do so. Insurance company also said I am fully covered for the strike less my deductible. However they want all electronics pulled off the boat sent to a repair shop.if they can not repair then they have to specify in writing they are not repairable then BoatUS will pay for new instrumentation...here comes the beuracracy. I agree Thanks god everyone is ok! It is just a boat.
You should be fine....
Happened to us a number of years ago on a friend's boat while I was at the helm. The only damage that resulted was to the masthead wind transducer and VHF antenna being melted, and to the instruments' seatalk capability. Repair facility certified "no fix" and BUS wrote a check for $8000 or so after the deductible. This covered the haul, survey, repair examination, dropping the mast, new instruments, transducers and installation...less the deductible. Absolutely 'no hassle' and boat was back in the water shortly. Friend had high praise for their handling of the matter all the way around.
Happened to us a number of years ago on a friend's boat while I was at the helm. The only damage that resulted was to the masthead wind transducer and VHF antenna being melted, and to the instruments' seatalk capability. Repair facility certified "no fix" and BUS wrote a check for $8000 or so after the deductible. This covered the haul, survey, repair examination, dropping the mast, new instruments, transducers and installation...less the deductible. Absolutely 'no hassle' and boat was back in the water shortly. Friend had high praise for their handling of the matter all the way around.
Another strike further south
Probably a different storm cell but about the same time. I was racing Sunday morning outside of the Severn when a squall came through (probably around 1030 - 1100). One of the boats in the fleet got struck. He lost most of his electronics but the bigger deal was the carbon fiber mast. I'm not sure if there is an easy way to tell if it is still usable.
Probably a different storm cell but about the same time. I was racing Sunday morning outside of the Severn when a squall came through (probably around 1030 - 1100). One of the boats in the fleet got struck. He lost most of his electronics but the bigger deal was the carbon fiber mast. I'm not sure if there is an easy way to tell if it is still usable.
Unlike previous weeks,
we chose to stay in the marina with the thunderstorms forecast and after a nice day of day sailing Saturday, awoke Sunday with the storm overhead and decided, just about the time you got hit, to write off Sunday and left the boat. Last Sunday we left an anchorage on Money Creek and rounded Grove Point coming out of the river and got hammered. An hour later it was pretty much gone. I know July is always rife with thunderstorms but this year seems a bit more so. Now that it is officially August, I am planning a weekend cruise to either the Elk or Sassafrass, hoping the T storms will abate. Good luck with your repairs and red tape.
we chose to stay in the marina with the thunderstorms forecast and after a nice day of day sailing Saturday, awoke Sunday with the storm overhead and decided, just about the time you got hit, to write off Sunday and left the boat. Last Sunday we left an anchorage on Money Creek and rounded Grove Point coming out of the river and got hammered. An hour later it was pretty much gone. I know July is always rife with thunderstorms but this year seems a bit more so. Now that it is officially August, I am planning a weekend cruise to either the Elk or Sassafrass, hoping the T storms will abate. Good luck with your repairs and red tape.
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