Hi Benny
Only anecdotal evidence; but my boat was hit while on a lift raised up about two foot out of the water. It is believed the lightening strike exited the boat though the dock power cord, as all the electrical outlets on the dock were burned out as well as damaging the circuit breaker in the breaker box for my dock and pool.
I've had a few customers who've been hit at sea. One during an off-shore race, 200+ miles from shore, and with a carbon spar. Talk about $$$$$$$.. The other was hit between St. Augustine and the Bahama's and one was hit between Maine and Nova Scotia at least 90 miles from shore. I have lots more who are hit on moorings but that is where the boats are most of the time.
I have heard of others that had their boats plugged in while at dock/lift that the strike traveled through the shore power cord. I now unplug my power cord when I am not using it to try to be safe. I am just curious if their is anything I could do to reduce the chances of being hit on a lift?
I was told being plugged in prevented my boat from suffering damage to the hull or keel, as the charge had somewhere to go. Don't know if that's correct or not, nor can I find any RELIABLE information either way. Before I moved to Florida I looked up things on lightening there is a lot of stuff but in my opinion non of is definitive.
Sailcruiser - was your adjuster from Charleston? I have been out of town. The boatyard is getting together the estimate for repairs. They are pushing for pulling the mast to rewire and its just easier to work that way than with someone at the top of the mast for a long time.
Hope everything works out with your insurance. I'm waiting for a final settlement amount from USAA/Progressive but it looks like everything will work out okay. It looks like they are planning on replacing all damaged components instead of trying to "fix." They authorized pulling the mast for inspection and rewiring with no questions asked. That was one thing I was worried about but it turned out to be a non-problem. The biggest single cost will be replacing the autopilot as they don't make new wheel autopilots for boats as heavy as my Hunter 40.5 any more. They seem to be willing to be very conducive to "making it right" so we'll see in a few days when the final adjustment amount comes. I'll keep you all posted.
All in all I am very happy with the final settlement from USAA/Progressive. We came to terms on all new equipment that is effectively an upgrade for very little out of pocket. I did upgrade from a wheel autopilot to an internal Rotary Drive (mounted inside the binnacle) and since that was an upgrade, the Progressive agent agreed to pay for the cost of the wheel autopilot and I made up the difference between that and the internal drive. The out of pocket was really from the significant upgrade in the autopilot, and the total out of pocket was only $1500. All in all I consider that very fair. The settlement came to me in the way of a check that included the replacement cost of the equipment plus installation labor. Couldn't really ask for more so yes, I was pleased with the USAA/Progressive settlement. Lets see what happens to my annual insurance rate now? Since it was an act of God, not something I did maybe it won't make much of a difference -lets hope anyway.
Most of us avoid sailing in thunder storms. boats tied up, on a mooring, or on the hard would be the far greatest risk. It's just a numbers game. There is no difference in odds if the boat is moving.
Actually it is worse to have been insulated from the GROUND.
If they had Grounded your boat using the sling hoist, your chances of being hit would have been much more remote.
I now, as of yesterday, pay ≈$25.50/foot/year for a 1997 hull (web search for the market value). I suspect the number of Katrina type hurricanes and lightening strikes here might be a factor. My agent told me that the insurance pool is the combination sail and power boats, and the thefts on Gulf power boats are UP UP and are lumped in. His comment was "What thief can escape in a sailboat!"
. So they should, but don't, isolate the slow moving sailboats. and my Hunter's design for lightening protection., and concussion impact by lightening ionizing air, will explode stuff like wind vanes.
