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Womboat Takes a Strike.

4K views 33 replies 16 participants last post by  outbound 
#1 ·
In regards to Lightning - overall not a good week.

Sigh.

Bear with me for a moment .... We are not very good at trading cars. We usually buy fairly good ones and then drive 'em into ground. The Wombet a Golf, me an Audi, both approx 12 years old. Trouble is they've been damn fine motors but alas this week the Golf repair bill for dead heater is more than the thing is worth and now my dear old A4 is gushing coolant. At least one, possible two new cars when I was hoping they'd both last until we disappeared over the horizon.

Then there was the failure of my repair(s) to our Zodiac after it had a run in with an oyster bed. Oyster won on a tko and despite three attempts on my part is still leaks like crazy.

So there you go not a great week. OK , not tragic just oh crap what next.

What next was climbing on board the Womboat yesterday to collect the Zodiac and send her to someone who is more capable than I. Unhooked the starboard covers to go forward, deflate, roll etc. Didn't even look at port side , nor turn on any of the electrics.

Well, thats that, pack up the zodiac, check the covers and there lying on the port deck is .... one TriColor masthead. What ? Wow that's weird, must have been some bird. Pick up tricolour, hey, what is all this black stuff. Hmmm.

Only then did we wander down below and oh dear .... no electrics on the house side. Engine started OK but no alarms, no lights, no engine instruments. House batteries, dead as dead can be. Barely enough in them to get a feeble glow from the panel diodes and no apparent charge going into them when engine running. Wind generator dead, solar also not charging. Top of the mast looks , through binoculars from another boat, like a blackened charred post nuclear strike mess.

Spoke with our mooring field neighbour who is a liveaboard and yep, last Friday he said the bang was so loud that he thought he had been hit and it turned the bay from night to day.

Now the Womboat has quite comprehensive lightning protection from masthead to keel yet still the anchor light and steaming light circuit breakers, which of course were turned off at the time, were nearly blown clear out of the board. I confess I didn't think to check the wiring where it exits the mast. I hate to think. She has no power running when we are not on board. Emergency bilge pump is left on of course but she takes no water so that would not have been a drain. Lightning ergo, seems to have taken out the house batteries.

Methinks a visit to our friendly insurer come Monday. Well at least they were friendly when they took our premium.

Andrew B
 
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#28 ·
Continental ( Boat US) did not depreciate anything. It was like for like replacement. New models were like for like if they the werent made anymore. I had a Raymarine C80...they replaced with a C90w. If I wanted an E7 I had to pay the difference. I had a Uniden with a wireless remote mic with DSC. NOt made anymnore. So the only one made was a simrad VHF and wireless. No extra charge. We like the wireless mic as you can take it in the dinghy or forward and it operates at 1/4 mile off the mast antannae.
 
#29 ·
Never having had to insure a large boat before, what is the usual approach to depreciation? I know as an asset, in regards to tax, the value of a boat depreciates quite rapidly but this wouldn't make sense in regards to insurance (to me).

Fingers crossed the insurance guys aren't going to be too much of a pain about this.
 
#30 ·
Bent ... I'm trying to get the full drum on the depreciation issue but generally speaking with plant and machinery insurance, up to ten years it is replace, beyond ten years it depreciates 20% per annum. How you insurer handles it may depend on your specific policy.

Hartley ... Overall the two pieces of equipment that are most outdated on the Womboat are the Radar and the Chartplotter in the cockpit. All other instruments were only superceded by Raymarine a year or so back. Of interest is the fact that the new models are in the main less expesnive the the old stuff when it was new,
 
#31 ·
Andrew,
It could be a lot worse. You and the wife are OK, you have a beautiful boat and she's still floating. All else is a bump in the road.

Best of luck getting her back in the water, and hope your insurance company plays fair.

Jim
 
#32 ·
Jim, yes we are fine. and it is not life and limb we are talking about here, merely time and a few bucks.

None of this good people has me down. Oh sure I'm pissed that our summer sailing season is over and that even with the insurance we'll be out a few dollars but really my purpose is to discuss how it all goes with insurers, repairers etc. Maybe we'll all end up with a better idea on how to deal with such events.

cheers all

Andrew B
 
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#34 ·
sorry for your loss and glad you guys are ok. started a thread which asked what could be done about lighting strikes a while back. Consensus in my personal research was grounding straps or plates with sufficient edge surface may mitigate risk of catastrophic damage and sinking at very slight increase in risk of being hit. Think your being grounded and bonded decreased your risk of side flashes. Hence, if you were in the boat the risk of death. Unlike a plane think devices to limit static charge on a boat have little utility. Boat is sitting in it's ultimate ground ( the salt sea) whereas a plane ( or car on it's rubber wheels) is not directly grounded. A plane is usually metal and like a metal boat acts as it's own faraday cage. Wood or GRP structures are a different beast given the material is a fairly good insulator. Hence the extreme heating and pinholes etc. So much juice sufficent to melt metal ( with little impedance) will sure do a number on a glass hull.
 
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