A Season Lost

[LADYBUG TOO]

Ladybug, Too tugs at her lines, still dead in the water since lightning hit my home and shore power system. Yanmar Atlanta just could not believe the ECM computer was "dead" as they had never had to order one. Well it is "dead" and a new one is on the way for $2,300.00. The "core charge" is $3,500.00 so obviously the damaged computer has been sent to Atlanta. Other casualities have been repaired but one interesting issue has been the GPS. Radar, depth sounder and the chart based on last known position functioned but the display did not read the GPS. The display has been removed and sent to Kansas (wonder if "Dorothy" is still there). The Tech found that the network was not terminated properly to the GPS port on the display and while it worked for a fairly long time, he is convinced that it was more susceptable to the strike. I guess Garmin will decide my fate on that one. So far the deductible has been eaten up and I will be at the mercy of the insurance company. It has been quite a learning experience as I have never owned a boat that I could not repair myself. I hate being at the mercy of others to get my stuff working. Of course it could have burned up at the dock with over 140 gallons of diesel aboard between the main and the generator tank.

Pat, Ladybug, Too

 

[mspaugy]

I sure hope everything works out for you. Is there any way to avoid lightning damage on a boat? Something that can be installed to prevent this kind of damage to electronics like a surge protector in a house?

 

[knotflying]

Man, I feel for you. This has been a long saga and seems to have a way to go. Hopefully the day will soon come that you are on the water and this is just a bad memory.

 

[baz]

...snip... Is there any way to avoid lightning damage on a boat? Something that can be installed to prevent this kind of damage to electronics like a surge protector in a house?

I'm wondering if a lightening strike of this kind can be avoided if the Tug is docked under cover with the dock's covering material being all metal.

I can't recall, but did the lightening strike cause the shore power to surge and destroy the electronics onboard or was it a direct lightening hit ?

Making a note to myself to check with my Ins. Co. to understand my coverage for this type event....

I do hope all turns out well for Ladybug Too.

 

[LADYBUG TOO]

Thanks for the comments. There is an entire section of NFPA 70 (National Electrical Code) concerning grounding boats but in my case the intensity of the strike in the vicinity of my home ground just overwhelmed everything. It is suprising that some of the electronics survived but the similarity of things that failed in the house and on the boat all revolved around small printed circuits. You can actually see the burned spots on the controller boards on the boat and the boards lost in the house. It just melted the etched circuitry. I am a loss to explain why it took out some of the LED's but not all. I have been dealing with control systems in the water and wastewater industry for years and we have used all kinds of surge protection. Isolation systems like APC's for computers seem to offer the best results but in the end when nature decides to zap something, nature is usually the winner. I did not get any complaints from the insurance company about the source of the damage. I have Progressive through USAA. They seem to be easy to work with but we have not reached the final tally yet.

Pat, Ladybug, Too

 

[knotflying]

USAA is very good and we have progressive for the boat through them. USAA has the best service that I have ever experienced. Banking and Insurance cant be beat.

 

[CanuckBoater]

Very sorry for the grief you're going through.

We had a powerboat and parked it between sailboats during a vicious lightning storm.
The 'rationale' was obvious - lightning should hit the highest object.
Nothing in the marina was hit that day, but it was a long night aboard.
To this day, I wonder if we did the right thing.

(And, btw, the 'right' thing to do that night was call a taxi and sleep in a hotel 10 miles away. Worst lightning we'd ever seen and the thunder was deafening)