Would a lightning strike be a deal-breaker?

[S/V Reveille]

Question for the experienced in the group:
After several years of planning and prep... Im getting close to the point where im ready to buy. I'm retiring in just a a couple of months. I'm interested in a particular boat in the 200k neighborhood, but it suffered a Lightning Strike a few years ago. All of the electronics have been replaced and upgraded. It's stated that the only damage was to the electonics. The boat looks to be in very nice condition.
I'm not at the point where I'm ready to make an offer, but wanted to solicit the opinions here on if it's worth pursuing, before paying for a full survey. What other damage, besides electronics should I be concerned with?
Would a lightning strike cause you to walk away and look elsewhere?

The boat is a '95 Tayana 48. It checks a lot of boxes for me. The link is below, and I'd love to hear objective opinions of this particular vessel.

https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/199...na-48-3659296/

Thanks as always... I appreciate and value the wisdom of this forum.

Mark

[Richard Harper]

After replacing all the electronics following a 2009 lightning strike, I have not found any additional damage caused by the strike. If it has been used for a few years after the strike, I think they would have uncovered all the damage.






https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...tml#post341625

[GreenWave]

Not a deal breaker per se. If there was a comparable boat without one then I would gravitate towards one that didn't have a strike.

[slug]

Originally Posted by Mark0808

Question for the experienced in the group:
After several years of planning and prep... Im getting close to the point where im ready to buy. I'm retiring in just a a couple of months. I'm interested in a particular boat in the 200k neighborhood, but it suffered a Lightning Strike a few years ago. All of the electronics have been replaced and upgraded. It's stated that the only damage was to the electonics. The boat looks to be in very nice condition.
I'm not at the point where I'm ready to make an offer, but wanted to solicit the opinions here on if it's worth pursuing, before paying for a full survey. What other damage, besides electronics should I be concerned with?
Would a lightning strike cause you to walk away and look elsewhere?

The boat is a '95 Tayana 48. It checks a lot of boxes for me. The link is below, and I'd love to hear objective opinions of this particular vessel.

https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/199...na-48-3659296/

Thanks as always... I appreciate and value the wisdom of this forum.

Mark

Over the years I’ve been struck by lighting many times

None Of the boats were mortally wounded

Some of these boats were very sophisticated with dense electronic packages, fly by wire controls , PLCs ...

You would be wise to hire a good surveyor , notify him of a past lighting strike , then let him eyeball the boat

Standing rigging can be damaged

The picture is a fractured rod collet after a lighting strike

It was determined that the failure was caused by the lightning discharge overheating the metal

[SVHarmonie]

I agree with the consensus on this one... not an issue. Anything damaged has been found and replaced. You chances of a sudden, big, expensive surprise are very small. No more so than on any other boat!

[Frankly]

Would not be a deal breaker for me. Might require some special attention to the masthead, mast cables and around chainplates. Electronics issues sometimes show up several years later, but so do non surge related problems.


If you believe "lightning never strikes same place twice, might be a value added point".


Frankly

[Captn_Black]

Any advice for wooden mast? Been thinking of a lightning conductor. The hull's steel.

[Frankly]

Assuming the shrouds are mechanically/ electrically connected to the hull you are in decent shape. A stranded #4 or larger copper wire from the masthead to the hull would be an improvement but hard to quantify.

Big aluminum tubing is hard to beat if it is electrically connected to the sea. Bottom line is the lowest impedance (AC resistance) you can gen up between the masthead and the ocean the better.


Frankly

[Suijin]

I would have a rigging inspection done by an experienced rigger as part of the survey. I have a friend who's Caliber LRC sustained significant rigging damage with a strike. In fact the furled jib and foils needed replacement from charge arcing between the foil sections.

Theoretically I would be concerned about the 12v wiring on the boat and its integrity. If anything blew out (nav lights etc), I'd want to replace all of the wire back to the panel for that load.

[GreenWave]

Originally Posted by Captn_Black

Any advice for wooden mast? Been thinking of a lightning conductor. The hull's steel.

Ever seen what lightning strike does to a tall tree?

[NorthernMac]

it was damaged, repaired, and has over a decade and who knows how many nm under its keel to prove it, operationally Id say non issue, plus I like the fact that he was open and mentioned it, would have been easy to just say XYZ replaced, I’d wager shy of a new boat all the fleet has damage history, just a matter of if the old owners are forthcoming about it.

Make mention to the surveyor of it so he can look for resulting repairs

But I’d say, for me, it’s a “meh”

That said, I’d still use it to try to knock the price down a little

[Captn_Black]

Originally Posted by GreenWave

Ever seen what lightning strike does to a tall tree?

Ofc, The Practical Junk Rig book recommends a lightning conductor. Was just wondering if anyone had any alternative solutions to those provided by the book. Suitable sized copper wire is pretty expensive. Perhaps using an old stay from another ship? Though SS isn't particularly conductive normally, so idk if it would be effective.

[Benz]

Originally Posted by Captn_Black

Ofc, The Practical Junk Rig book recommends a lightning conductor. Was just wondering if anyone had any alternative solutions to those provided by the book. Suitable sized copper wire is pretty expensive. Perhaps using an old stay from another ship? Though SS isn't particularly conductive normally, so idk if it would be effective.

A tree has far more moisture content than a seasoned wooden mast: the water boils with the heat and the tree explodes. If you have wire shrouds going to a steel hull, I'll bet you're ok. That wood isn't super-conductive.

To the OP: make sure to check the trough-hulls: if the boat was bonded to them, there might have been damage to them, or the caulking, or the laminate immediately surrounding. The surveyor will be able to best advise.

[Captn_Black]

Originally Posted by Benz

A tree has far more moisture content than a seasoned wooden mast: the water boils with the heat and the tree explodes. If you have wire shrouds going to a steel hull, I'll bet you're ok. That wood isn't super-conductive.

Thanks, I will look into it. The masts are unstayed, so there is no electrical connection between the hull and masthead currently. Securing it inside the hollow mast would be a pain, but having it run down the outside of the mast is feasible, and then bonded to the hull.

[Talos]

Make sure you check out the Talos Lightning Detector .. It doesn't prevent lightning from hitting your boat .. but does provide Situational Awareness helping keep you and the crew safe. www.shoptalos.com