Day 1 on the Hard

After talking with our insurance company, we got the green light to move the boat to a marina and schedule a haul out. We called our trusted marine surveyor who did our pre-purchase survey to see if she had any recommendations for a surveyor (because she spends the summers out West).

Just when you feel like giving up, you have people who step up and genuinely surprise you. Our amazing surveyor happens to be coming back Florida next week and offered to come over to make the four-hour drive from her house to our boat to help us… Reminding us, yet again, why we fell in love with this community!

We know the damage is significant and have started making lists of the things that don’t work. Tom flew the drone to survey the damage at the top of the mast. There was once a weathervane, VHF antenna and anemometer up there…

The lightning cooked both diesel engines, radios, navigation equipment and just about anything that was plugged in at the time. It actually powered on several battery-powered items when it struck so we’re systematically testing every powered device on the boat.

There are a lot of unknowns about our solar array and entire electrical system but we’ll be shocked if they survive. We actually found a hole the size of a quarter in one of the battery chargers in the port engine room where the strike exited. That charger is also now melted to the boat.

On Friday morning we scheduled Boat US to tow us to Stuart, where we got hauled out. Hauling a 22K lbs. boat out of the water is always nerve wracking but it’s a whole lot scarier when you have no power.

Luckily, the day was relatively uneventful after we managed to hand crank in 60 feet of chain and the 75 lbs. anchor. After the two-hour ride, the tow boat helped us inch into the slip at the marina. Several hours later, they pulled us out of the water.

This repair won’t be quick or easy but at least today we made progress. There are still a lot of emotions and unknowns about our future with our boat. But, we will sleep easier knowing she’s safely on the hard and not floating in the intracoastal. On quick inspection, we didn’t see any visual signs of damage to the hull but the thorough inspection next week will be telling.

Thanks for following along...