Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

As I was trying to sleep rather nervously on a remote beach during a brutal storm this morning, lightning crashing around me, the question of how others deal with this came to mind.

When I am lucky enough to be near a shelter of some type, of course I beeline for it. But what about those times when I venture far from civilization-which is pretty much everywhere around here.
Especially considering that we sleep on that boat fairly often. It'd be interesting to hear from Bamby and the others that call the boat home.

What I have going at this point is that my shack frame, which is steel tubing, is direct bolted to the aluminum structure below, thus grounding it to the water. My bunks are wood and not fixed to the floor, so I just pull them away from the wall so that I am not touching any metal, basically a Faraday cage. And then I pray.
I make it a point not to get caught in open water during a storm. I am usually parked next to tall trees, as they are everywhere. How safe am I really?

Just from a quick gut feeling (but without knowing the structure of your shack) I'd say pretty safe.

When parked by tall trees they should take the hit before you do. If so, no problems. You're insulated from the current by the wood. (I'm assuming the wood is dry. May be useful to have rubber under the bunk legs as an extra layer of protection)

Assuming worst case, no tall trees and therefore you take a direct hit. The lightning SHOULD go down the frame as it is at ground potential and the path of least resistance. You may have some pretty severe electric field (EMP really) but if you don't have a pacemaker or some other internal implant you should be OK. Keep the wood dry and put some rubber under the legs.

Again this is just a gut level feeling. (I'm an electrical engineer and my work does involve a bit of electromagnetic interference /compatibility issues, so I've had all the courses on it.)

We've been through "several" thunderstorms in ours and to be truthfully honest I felt about as safe as any other shelter during such a storm. In our case all the boat cabin structure is built entirely out of wood, I can't say wood is actually be a safer choice but it may be less likely chosen as a lightning rod in any event.

Probably the most eventful thunderstorm experience came to us about four o'clock in the morning when we were nosed off on our favorite sandbar. I slightly awakened to thunder striking all around us and wind driven rain pounding on the roof and a cabin wall. Being on a river I knew it would rise rather quickly and float us free from our mooring but yet I was still unconcerned. I'd learned some time ago some folks like to play pranks with drunk sleeping sailors and I'd discreetly set my anchor out the night before to prevent such mischief and knew I wasn't really going anywhere.

Anyway about a half hour later I felt the boat beginning to shift slowly around as she was drifting free as the river raised. Even laying on my bunk I could feel the anchor dragging a bit at first before it grabbed tooth and the boat swung sidewise up against the sandbar and stopped, I just rolled over and went back to sleep again.

Along about dawn my drunken stooper was again interrupted by "the other half" who had awoken with the realization that we'd moved overnight and she wasn't comfortable with our boat parked lengthwise on the sandbar. She was determined I was going to address her plight without the comfort of some caffeine in my system to properly clarify and cleanse what remaining brain matter I still retained. And besides I knew we weren't in any danger of being stuck the water will rise for hours after a gulley-washer event we'd just experienced overnight.

So just to get her goat I put some water in the teapot to boil for coffee, made up my bedding and put it away and then set up the table. I then meandered out onto the front deck and surveyed the surroundings just as I do every morning when we're on the boat. I looked the anchor-line over checked it and them moved it to another mooring point and went in for coffee. The look on the Wife's face as she broke free of the sandbar and into the current a short time later was well "priceless". But then again I do like to fool with her it keeps her on her game.

But back around to your question.. I'm not much concerned about thunderstorms in general. But then again I also chose not to buy a nice stainless steel wheel for my boat I was eying simply because I didn't want to be the lighting rod standing in the cabin. But all in all I feel as safe in my boat as anywhere else I could be in a thunderstorm.

Not to be alarmist, Bamby, but what is your cabin skin made of?
Better check on the makeup of your human skin as well, as your better half may try to puncure it sometime

Good idea to JohnO about putting some rubber under my bunk legs. The only time these issues come up is at night when it is scary to try to move the boat, hence sleep deprivation

As I work in a power plant (D'oh), I am no stranger to EMF and probably have recieved more than my fair share of stray voltage. Perhaps I have built up immunities. I really don't want to find out.

.

Respect mother nature. I learned the hard way. www.nathansullivan.com
I also can answer any question and spout off any stat about lightning.
I still have a hard time when it thunders..............especially at night.

TSully980 wrote:Respect mother nature. I learned the hard way. http://www.nathansullivan.com
I also can answer any question and spout off any stat about lightning.
I still have a hard time when it thunders..............especially at night.

Wow, Troy. Such a story. Condolances.

For what it's worth, I have tremendous respect for the 'Mother of the Lake'. Sometimes you just get caugt tho. I'm trying to figure out how to minimize my odds of injury.
As well as the rubber feet on my wooden bunk legs, I am going to wrap my exposed cabin ribs (1/2 thinwall conduit) in rubber hose I think. I don't intend to be touching them during a storm, but it would be an extra layer of protection from sideways static anyway

tuned wrote:

TSully980 wrote:Respect mother nature. I learned the hard way. http://www.nathansullivan.com
I also can answer any question and spout off any stat about lightning.
I still have a hard time when it thunders..............especially at night.

Wow, Troy. Such a story. Condolances.

For what it's worth, I have tremendous respect for the 'Mother of the Lake'. Sometimes you just get caugt tho. I'm trying to figure out how to minimize my odds of injury.
As well as the rubber feet on my wooden bunk legs, I am going to wrap my exposed cabin ribs (1/2 thinwall conduit) in rubber hose I think. I don't intend to be touching them during a storm, but it would be an extra layer of protection from sideways static anyway

Lots of people think that when lightning strikes a car it's the rubber tires that prevents injury to the occupants. Not true. The rubber has nothing to do with it. It's all the metal that provides the lightning a path. So covering the metal with rubber "might" help but your talking about millions of volts. But if lightning of that magnitude were to strike near your boat the little rubber things won't make much if any difference. If your in a car that has a convertible top and lightning strikes the car your going to be injured or killed even with the top up. One key thing to recognize is that prior to a close lightning strike your hair will stand up and your skin feels tingles. That's a key sign to run.. In your case every little bit helps though.

Troy, I am soooo sorry... I can't even begin to imagine that kind of loss.... I truly hope you and your family are "healing" after this tragedy....

Troy,

I remember this happening, sorry for your loss.

tuned wrote: As I work in a power plant (D'oh), I am no stranger to EMF and probably have recieved more than my fair share of stray voltage. Perhaps I have built up immunities. I really don't want to find out.

.

If you're glowing at night you've probably gotten too much stray voltage!

If you can shock people without walking across a carpet you've probably gotten too much stray voltage!

If light bulbs light up when you hol dthem in your hand, You've probably gotten too much stray voltage!

TSully980 wrote:Respect mother nature. I learned the hard way. http://www.nathansullivan.com
I also can answer any question and spout off any stat about lightning.
I still have a hard time when it thunders..............especially at night.

Troy, so sorry for your loss.

JohnO wrote: If light bulbs light up when you hold them in your hand, You've probably gotten too much stray voltage!

Kinda like this? In all seriousness, reading about the tragedy of Troy's son, as well as having a co-worker that was struck a few years back, has caused me to begin reasearch in this area much more heavily. If I learn anything new, I will bring it back to the forum.
There is tremendous amount of info on what to do on dry land if caught in a storm, but when in a covered boat? Not so much

Thanks everyone for the condolences. What more can I say? Time helps.... Doesn't hurt as much as it did. Holidays are a bitch sometimes. It's been over 5 years. Wow!!! seems like yesterday....... It's never good when cops show up at your house and ask to come in.

There is one thing that I do every x-mas that helps me get through all the "family" stuff without Nate. I go to a wal-mart, not the same one every year and I let the management people know I'm there. One time I didn't I was approached by a security guy and management and was asked what I was doing following people around. Here's what I do. I scope out a family (usually without the dad there because I don't want to offend him) a family that looks like they may need some help. When I finally find one I approach them and tell them I would like to help with there x-mas. Then I tell them that I'm doing this in memory of my son. I then we fill up 3 or 4 carts full and I buy it and leave. I have done this every x-mas since my boy died and I feel good every time I do it.

Troy. I am so sorry for your loss and pray God's peace and blessing on you and your whole family.

Sincerely,
Rich