Lighting Strike

[Just Dreamin']

This past Thursday the boat next to us suffered a lighting strike while tied in its slip. When the admiral and I arrived at just Dreamin' I heard a very high pitched tone but could not determine where it was coming from. My neighbor was trying to start his boat as he though a power surge had passed through the marina, no luck in starting. And, he was not aware at the time he had suffered a lighting strike. At first I thought the tone might be coming from his attempts to crank. Nope it was coming from our boat.
After we opened the cabin door I was hit with the very high pitched tone but still not able to fully determine from where. Long story shortened it was my Smartcraft vessel display. The lighting strike sent enough voltage spike to us that our Smartcraft turned itself on. This was a first. The display was sending a engine alarm - Engine 1, Sim J39 no signal. Not good. Good news, the Cummins started right up. Smartcraft gave me RPM reading but no engine signals such as oil pressure, temp, etc. I am fairly certain the J39 code is actually shortened for J1939.
Other issues we ended up with: (a) thrusters (bow and stern) dead - no power showing at control panel and the breaker in port side v-berth locker was okay (I think as I am not sure if these can actually go bad), (b) windlass - dead (sure this is due to being tied into bow thruster), (c) Garmin 5212 MFD locked at initial screen and (d) autopilot can not find controller.
I will be keeping a step by step log of all the troubleshooting steps taken to include what the Cummins tech finds on the Smartcraft alarm signals.
As we were leaving the marina today more and more people were finding issues on their boats. The power of a lighting strike is quite a force even if not directly on your boat.

Mike & Judy

 

[BaseCampAnne]

Oh, dear, that brings back memories of the Ranger Tug that was badly damaged a year or so ago. I believe it was someone on the East Coast...hopefully you can find that string of posts...and hopefully you will not have such an ordeal -🙁

Someone with better recall will hopefully chime in and be helpful.

 

[knotflying]

I would suggest an immediate call to your insurance company to get an incident on record and then have a complete check of the boat with a list of damage. Hopefully it isn't too bad.

 

[trailertrawlerkismet]

Sorry to learn of the lighting strike and affects on your boat. If you end up having a claim with your insurance company try and leave the claim open ended, as additional or undetected electrical problems could surface down the road.

 

[Just Dreamin']

Jim, good advice.
I have spoken with our insurance company and the adjuster is to call tomorrow. Will work through the details with him at that time. I have found Progressive to be an extremely easy company to work with. We have now had to acts of god on the boat in less than a year. Last year hail damage and now this year a lighting strike and not even on our boat - ugh. I see my rates going in a cardinal direction not being east, west, or south if I end of filing. We activated every system on the boat to include running the gen set with all AC circuits switched on. Thus far all DC/AC circuits functioned normal other than those noted in original post.

 

[LADYBUG TOO]

Ladybug, Too was hit last year and the Yanmar stuff on the 6BY260 was quite toasted. Final tab was over $21K. We posted several items including the thruster damage. Most likely the thruster joy stick took the hit. It is basically a small computer chip that talks fore and aft to interface modules on the thrusters. That is an easy fix unless you have to get to the stern thruster. On our R-29 it is sealed and hard to get open. Good luck. At least your engine is running. The info on the display screens usually comes through and engine interface module. It may be toast too. Ours was!

Be glad to share the total experience with you if you cannot find our posts.


Pat and Carolyn, Ladybug, Too

 

[thataway]

Lightning can have lobes which come thru the water, in a marine strike, as well as the direct hit. This is why nearby boats can be affected. The affects can be from a boat which was hit even a hundred feet away. One of the problems with with any electronics is that problems may often crop up down the line. If there are issues with any part of a system, the entire electroncis board set needs to be considered for replacement.