Lightning strike on China Blue

[tonybell]

Sadly we had a direct lightning strike last November in Italy and are still trying to get our heads around it all.
Apart from hull damage and delamination around the seacocks we also have blown all the Raymarine electronics.
We have E80 and E120 plotters with ST 6002 autopilot and S3 computer besides an array of instruments.
We are told that nothing is compatible and so needs upgrading (not covered by insurance).
Has anyone used those electronic repair companies such as "The Service centre" in Poole or "Tinley Ltd" in Lymington.
Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Graham376]

Have you had the covers off to see if circuit boards are fried? My guess would be electronics would have mutiple faults and beyond repair.

 

[macd]

We are told that nothing is compatible and so needs upgrading (not covered by insurance).

Your loss should most certainly be covered, if not a wholesale upgrade (which would be "betterment" in insurance-speak). Some policies would cover the latter, some not. It would be helpful to know the precise wording of the (presumably partial) denial of claim. Who are you with?

Because all the damage from lightning strikes can take a considerable time to become evident, reputable insurers routinely hold the claim open for some time after all the insured repairs are completed. Does yours?

 

[Corribee Boy]

Limited experience but I've used the Service Centre in Poole for a blown autopilot, and they repaired it promptly and for a reasonable cost.

Good luck with sorting all your stuff out.

 

[Yngmar]

You'd be ill advised to try and have lightning damaged circuits repaired. Lightning is nothing like a voltage spike on the power supply that often only damages the supply/input circuits. High voltages are induced directly on the circuit board traces and in components and get everywhere, so the damage will be widespread and often subtle, with some components failing slowly after the event or only certain I/O pins of a microprocessor fried, so a unit may seem to power up okay but then malfunction in odd ways. It would be very costly to repair and likely to produce more faults in the future.

Take the insurance payout and go pick the electronics units you want - see it as an upgrade opportunity. If you're short on funds, shop eBay for used ones and don't forget about the Raymarine refurbished store. Purely electrical parts such as the autopilot drive+clutch are likely to be fine (easy enough to test), so you probably won't have to replace those.

 

[Old Harry]

Who are the OPs insurers & what exclusions were stated

 

[Chris_Robb]

Your loss should most certainly be covered, if not a wholesale upgrade (which would be "betterment" in insurance-speak). Some policies would cover the latter, some not. It would be helpful to know the precise wording of the (presumably partial) denial of claim. Who are you with?

Because all the damage from lightning strikes can take a considerable time to become evident, reputable insurers routinely hold the claim open for some time after all the insured repairs are completed. Does yours?

Many insurers this year had lost a bundle on lightning strikes alone in the Eastern Med. Our premiums have gone up significantly.
As Mac says just because new is incompatible, it doesn't mean they wont pay out. Worth reading the policy closely and understanding what it covers and does not cover and there can be a huge difference in the choice of words - ie when they wont pay on corrosion, there is a huge difference between Galvanic and electrolytic - though for the life of me I cannot remember which way round it is. Read and understand and then go for them. (and tell us who they are)