Hi Thomas, this is the captain of Swift, 1991 48R. We met in St. Andres. Super sorry you had a lighting strike. We sailed from St. Andres to Livingston and I went through a bunch of lightning and scared the ____ out me. I remember you talking about lightning at St. Andres and my son reminded me of your channel. Great to see your channel. Fair seas.
It is a relief that you are in a safe anchorage, and that there probably are the appropriate supplies if needed. A BIG shout-out to RIck for being such a great friend of Thomas. It is a welcome relief to have such steadfast friends. Best to both, and thanks for going through the hassle of uploading the video, even though you have your hands full.
Now seems like the perfect moment to show us your skills with compass, sextant, chronometer, leadline and kerosene navigation lights! Forget the the electrics and sail free!!!✌️
Very sorry for be free. You are very lucky to have Rick so close, he is one of the best trouble shooters I've seen on the tube. I'm 30 year's an ET. Clark from Temptress, (Emily and Clarks adventure) I believe has some very good ideas for providing a bit of immunization for boats from lightning. Protection is not possible. Clark also has a device to combine lithium and lead. He is an electonic engineer and sailor of old boat.
Sorry to hear about your electrical issues. They say no good deed goes unpunished, but I like to think the opposite...that for every Thomas buddy boat there is a Rick Moore waiting to help at the next harbor. Cheers and good luck sorting Be Free out.
Best luck with the electricals Thomas . Thank goodness you have Rick there to help . Silver lining .... learning new skills and understanding your systems . I hope the fix , or fixes maybe , do not cost too much .
Sorry to hear about your electric problems, We follow you here from Norway. We just got our boat on shore for the winter, so we have a long dark wait before we can put her back in the water...... Good luck solving the electric problem. Best whishes from Jin and Eivind
Must be something in the air. I just had to replace my charge controller. My system is far less sophisticated. Good to have a friend like Rick! Good luck Thomas.
Got a similar hit in NZ , It did effect my electronics BUT just rebooted & all was fine , No Battery problem & the Lightning hit was only 2 meters off the port stern quarter , Had to change my undies , Good luck , One job at a time .
Oh man, that sucks. Seems like the lightning strike was close enough that the EMP might have fried your boat. Sorry to hear that, seems to me that lightening is one of the worst part of sailing. Good luck mate!
Good luck with your electrical issues and here's hoping that by the next episode you have it all sorted out and the fix is not too complex nor expensive. Be safe on Be Free and thanks for taking us on your journey.
You're in good company, with Rick. As we all know, he's knowledgeable in all things "boat". Good luck troubleshooting the issues 👍. Thanks for sharing. ⛵️ 🔧🔨⚡️🔌
Aaw, best of luck troubleshooting - it’s a blessing (in disguise) that electronics are logical things… good to have a Rick friend! You’ll have perfect overview of all electronics after this, I guess we’ll have a future episode with lightning-protected separate systems onboard? Not seaworthy according to Thomas: engine&windlass works but THE BEER IS WARM!? 😱😂
I suffered an indirect lightning strike on my catamaran….took out everything with a wire connected, including my house batteries. Gods luck….it was expensive for me! Thanks, Andrew
Really sucks Thomas,can’t imagine how you be feeling having so many systems down after putting in so much trouble to make sure everything was ok for this and next voyage. Hope the solutions come both fast and cheap
Ryan of “Ryan and Sophie Sailing” is a Founder of that battery company that Rick got his from, maybe he can help you get new Lithium ones. It’s no fun being uncomfortable or not being able to do the things you normally do, but it certainly makes you appreciate them….
Hi Thomas! Well, it definitely looks like you are having some electrical issues, but I'm sure you vill find a solution. Maybe not a cheap one, but a solution anyway. It's always good to have a friend who can help you in such a situation, and you have one. I'm sure that in the next video you're going to tell us how did you fix it all. Good luck man! Cheers!
I feel like this channel gives a pretty realistic picture of living on a seaworthy sailboat. Thomas has a comfortable setup, that seems like it's taken care of following best practices. And guess what, he's still up all night dodging boats dragging anchor or trying to find a buddy sailor who doesn't have a radio or just discovering that his house batteries have mysteriously died. So many UA-cam sailing channels seem to have a disproportionate ratio of beautiful-people-in-swim-suits to boat repairs. Thomas shows the good times, but maybe in a more accurate ratio to the on going struggle and cost of keeping his house ready to sail!
As a Rick knows, you can use the lithium battery without the BMS, as long as you dont over charge or draw down to a too low voltage, just a matter of keeping an eye on the voltage, in an emergency you can do it, just watch the voltage.
Multiple problems like that on separate systems must be for sure caused by the thunder near the boat ..very near looking at the video ... Thunder impacts on boats are very very dangerous .. sailboats can even Sink if there is a direct hit from thunder. There are videos on yt about that also. Avoid Storms at all cost specially if there is Thunderstorms involved.
Hi Thomas, maybe your BMS shut off because of full batteries and your engines alternator did not see enough load and produced an overvoltage, which destroyed your instruments? Is the alternators regulator still ok? I am sure you will manage the issues. All the best for you!
Is there any way of isolating the battery bank and electricals from a lightening strike?? Would it be an option to switch everything off to isolate it??
One thing to keep in mind with electrical is that on average 70% of the time the problem is with the grounding of some part of the system! Just my two cents worth hopefully Thor will stay away from your boat! Or at least keep the lightning bolts at a distance! Lol
As you say many systems are affected, consider what is common amongst them. Troubleshoot by reducing to the minimal equipment stand alone to eliminate any communications buss failure (for example). High energy discharge can cause multiple failures, of course, in which case you may be in quite the technological pickle. There are some reasonably good static dissipation devices that can reduce problems. Note that you need not experience a direct hit to achieve system damage. Proximity and induced currents are quite sufficient to do the job. Consider also some simple lightning arrestors in DC circuits and RF coax, and metal oxide varistors on comm busses to shunt high energy transients to "ground" ...an apparently difficult electrical state to achieve, or so I hear. Good Luck Thomas!
I really wonder why this isn't done much more. The trouble with varistors is, when they fail, they fail to short. However, you can't put a fuse in front, since they're supposed to discharge a huge current for a very short time... Possibly a very slow fuse? I don't know enough about that subject...
Does Starlink work where you are might be better for internet connection in more places where you travel and better for selling products World Wide maybe to .
I'm still not a fan of lithium batteries...yes they are far more efficient then lead acid....but when they give you problems, yikes....good luck......my advice is to bring each battery up on its own...and weed out any of the problem ones....if possible....John
Maybe u can get some money back on the insurance replacing the electrics if it turns out to be the lightning strike/storm. My starter battery died this week and i have to replace it and do some electrician work on my boat aswell.. not looking forward to it.
Damn this Sucks. That other BMS Problem gave me a thought Thomas. If it was a Lightning strike, which seems likely. There is a chance imho, that the BMS in each of your .Lithium Batteries, mat have Sacrificed themselves to save your Batteries ? Worth checking before you Write the Batteries Off ? I've been trying to get Raymarine to think about Ways of adding Lightning Protection to their Network, and everything connected to it to protect every device, maybe something like Belkin Surge and Spike Protectors that do work on Land against Lightning Strikes. Lightning Dissipators for mast top mounting, plus keelmconnection to standing Rigging so that Air and Water Polarity of charge can be equalised, because Air Negative Water Positive and vice versa is Lightning bad news. tbh, that's part of why .I'm sticking with 1x19 Stainless Steel Standing Rigging on my next boat, to assist with Polarity Equalisation. Plus within mastbfurling, the topmofbthe Mast needs to be within one inch vertical with the Base of the Mast foreliable furling, so Mast Bending via variable Tension is right out, so exotic materials for zstanding Rigging are Pointless for a Cruising boat with in Mast Furling. Bes of Luck sorting this out Thomas, and I hope none of your networked equipment is a write off. For perspective for Lightning Struck Computers on Land, Never ending Complete Weirdness and failure of equipment to settle down and start Working Properly was Par for the Course. I had a lot of experience with them, which got me to be an insurance Company approved Computer Repairer. Best Wishes. Bob. 👍🤔
Every lead acid battery destroyed and unable to take a charge??? Hard to understand. Electronics destroyed does not surprise me, but lead acid batteries have heavy internal connections.
Hey Thomas, that's some bad luck with the electrics, hope it's something stupid and not everything fried. If it was a lightening strike that would be even more unlucky! because of your good nature to buddy sail the other boat, you put yourself in a situation and place you probably wouldn't otherwise been in? In a worst-case scenario are the electronics, batteries etc, covered by your insurance? Best of luck and thank you for still going to all the effort to upload the latest instalment, despite everything you are having to deal with.
Hello Thomas that's too bad about your batteries and I hope you can get it fixed I know it's going to cost some money I was electronics of any kind cost you an arm and a leg maybe both arms and both legs that stuff is no joke hope your fridge is going to work again. Anyway thanks for updating us and sharing your story with us God bless you stay safe
I'm starting to wonder why anyone would sail to Panama because of a lot of lightning strikes, hard to get parts most of the time, or it's very expensive. Good luck Thomas
Your electrician issue sound like it could turn out to be a challenge for more than one instrument/component,,,, hidden by lightning is definitely every sailors nightmare. We all hope you will succeed the repair process. About the Internet connection,,,, is it not possible to use Starlink Connection on a sailboat yet ? ,,, just a thought 🤔. Kindly Hans-Henrik
Ohh, Thomas. Scary stuff. Note taken: spare fridge regulator box (I hadn’t thought of that). I’m going to the METS B2B trade show in a month and will ask the RayMarine people (and others) what they would use to protect the Nav System on the power side from lightning strikes. I’m favoring an Uninterruptible Power Supply with stacked surge protection right near the main unit, and maybe the same for the radar. Lightning, it’s the one big risk we face at sea. You seemed to be saying that you have dead lead acid batteries, is that because they got drawn down below a safe level without the Lithium active in the system. Victron have a great little $100 charger which works well at restoring Lead Acid Batteries. I’m keen to learn all of the details of what was affected and what wasn’t. Good Luck.
Hi Thomas, this is the captain of Swift, 1991 48R. We met in St. Andres. Super sorry you had a lighting strike. We sailed from St. Andres to Livingston and I went through a bunch of lightning and scared the ____ out me. I remember you talking about lightning at St. Andres and my son reminded me of your channel. Great to see your channel. Fair seas.
Thanks Rick for keeping Thomas online for us.
What a great guy Rick is to help you out and what an excellent explanation of his thoughts on the situation.
It is a relief that you are in a safe anchorage, and that there probably are the appropriate supplies if needed. A BIG shout-out to RIck for being such a great friend of Thomas. It is a welcome relief to have such steadfast friends. Best to both, and thanks for going through the hassle of uploading the video, even though you have your hands full.
Now seems like the perfect moment to show us your skills with compass, sextant, chronometer, leadline and kerosene navigation lights!
Forget the the electrics and sail free!!!✌️
Very sorry for be free. You are very lucky to have Rick so close, he is one of the best trouble shooters I've seen on the tube. I'm 30 year's an ET. Clark from Temptress, (Emily and Clarks adventure) I believe has some very good ideas for providing a bit of immunization for boats from lightning. Protection is not possible. Clark also has a device to combine lithium and lead. He is an electonic engineer and sailor of old boat.
Hang in there thanks for working to keep us up to date and so glad you've got such knowledgable support
Would be great if you can document what went wrong and the process you go through / went through to remedy the boat’s electrical system. Thanks 😊
Hope you sort out the electrical issues. Thanks for sharing and being so honest. Keep up the great work on this channel.
Thanks for sharing your adventures. Wishing you and Be Free a speedy electrical recovery.
Sorry to hear about your electrical issues. They say no good deed goes unpunished, but I like to think the opposite...that for every Thomas buddy boat there is a Rick Moore waiting to help at the next harbor. Cheers and good luck sorting Be Free out.
Best luck with the electricals Thomas . Thank goodness you have Rick there to help . Silver lining .... learning new skills and understanding your systems . I hope the fix , or fixes maybe , do not cost too much .
Thanks to all of you for doing what you are doing.
Good and speedy fix
Man! That blows but at least your still hanging with Rick. It will all work out. Good luck Thomas
As a friend said: being a sailor means fixing stuff in exotic locations.
I agree with your comments about Rick’s floating power plant 😅😅😅
Cruising = making repairs in paradise!
Good motivation to fix the power when the beer is warm. Looking forward to cold beer👍🍺
Sorry to hear about your electric problems, We follow you here from Norway. We just got our boat on shore for the winter, so we have a long dark wait before we can put her back in the water...... Good luck solving the electric problem. Best whishes from Jin and Eivind
Must be something in the air. I just had to replace my charge controller. My system is far less sophisticated. Good to have a friend like Rick! Good luck Thomas.
Got a similar hit in NZ , It did effect my electronics BUT just rebooted & all was fine , No Battery problem & the Lightning hit was only 2 meters off the port stern quarter , Had to change my undies , Good luck , One job at a time .
Oh man, that sucks. Seems like the lightning strike was close enough that the EMP might have fried your boat. Sorry to hear that, seems to me that lightening is one of the worst part of sailing. Good luck mate!
Good luck with your electrical issues and here's hoping that by the next episode you have it all sorted out and the fix is not too complex nor expensive. Be safe on Be Free and thanks for taking us on your journey.
You're in good company, with Rick. As we all know, he's knowledgeable in all things "boat". Good luck troubleshooting the issues 👍. Thanks for sharing. ⛵️ 🔧🔨⚡️🔌
Aaw, best of luck troubleshooting - it’s a blessing (in disguise) that electronics are logical things… good to have a Rick friend! You’ll have perfect overview of all electronics after this, I guess we’ll have a future episode with lightning-protected separate systems onboard? Not seaworthy according to Thomas: engine&windlass works but THE BEER IS WARM!? 😱😂
Good luck Amigo!
Looks like you’ll need a trip ashore for ice to keep the beer cold i this is not an expensive fix thanks for another great episode
Man so sorry your having these issues
No good deed goes unpunished. is the fraze that comes to mind.
Found you threw captain rick moore! Excited to be a subscriber of your channel! 🤙💖
Wow, another big learn moment...great work Rick. Reckon you'll manage as always Thomas. Team work & good friendship works. Cheers
Dang the Bad Luck…Electrical/Electronics are WAY BEYOND most Folks…Good Luck…Continue to Stay Safe and Enjoy 😎
Sorry to hear about your power problems. Best of luck getting them sorted out a soon as possible.
I suffered an indirect lightning strike on my catamaran….took out everything with a wire connected, including my house batteries. Gods luck….it was expensive for me! Thanks, Andrew
Really sucks Thomas,can’t imagine how you be feeling having so many systems down after putting in so much trouble to make sure everything was ok for this and next voyage. Hope the solutions come both fast and cheap
Ryan of “Ryan and Sophie Sailing” is a Founder of that battery company that Rick got his from, maybe he can help you get new Lithium ones. It’s no fun being uncomfortable or not being able to do the things you normally do, but it certainly makes you appreciate them….
Good luck Thomas, hate you had this huge problem.
Hi Thomas!
Well, it definitely looks like you are having some electrical issues, but I'm sure you vill find a solution. Maybe not a cheap one, but a solution anyway.
It's always good to have a friend who can help you in such a situation, and you have one.
I'm sure that in the next video you're going to tell us how did you fix it all.
Good luck man!
Cheers!
I feel like this channel gives a pretty realistic picture of living on a seaworthy sailboat. Thomas has a comfortable setup, that seems like it's taken care of following best practices. And guess what, he's still up all night dodging boats dragging anchor or trying to find a buddy sailor who doesn't have a radio or just discovering that his house batteries have mysteriously died. So many UA-cam sailing channels seem to have a disproportionate ratio of beautiful-people-in-swim-suits to boat repairs. Thomas shows the good times, but maybe in a more accurate ratio to the on going struggle and cost of keeping his house ready to sail!
As a Rick knows, you can use the lithium battery without the BMS, as long as you dont over charge or draw down to a too low voltage, just a matter of keeping an eye on the voltage, in an emergency you can do it, just watch the voltage.
I wonder if a surge protector prior to bms would work and or prevent the next BMS sacrifice?
Next time you see that Buddy Boat you were trying to help, run like heck and don’t stop until they are off of your radar. LOL 😂.
Multiple problems like that on separate systems must be for sure caused by the thunder near the boat ..very near looking at the video ...
Thunder impacts on boats are very very dangerous .. sailboats can even Sink if there is a direct hit from thunder. There are videos on yt about that also. Avoid Storms at all cost specially if there is Thunderstorms involved.
Hi Thomas, maybe your BMS shut off because of full batteries and your engines alternator did not see enough load and produced an overvoltage, which destroyed your instruments? Is the alternators regulator still ok? I am sure you will manage the issues. All the best for you!
It's an easy fix, you'll see.
Hey Thomas, hate to hear about your electrical problems. Nice to have captain Rick around to help. You need to get that beer on ice lol
Thomas, I wish I had my own private jet and money to bring you all the equipment you need to get back to "normal"
seems your battery just as flat as be Free...lol,, party with Rick as 2 free souls.. Great suff. !!
Is there any way of isolating the battery bank and electricals from a lightening strike?? Would it be an option to switch everything off to isolate it??
👍👍👍
How did you solve it? Was there a short? Were you able to charge up your batteries?
sorry for my ignorance.. a 0.3V drop after the bms is considered a large drop?
One thing to keep in mind with electrical is that on average 70% of the time the problem is with the grounding of some part of the system! Just my two cents worth hopefully Thor will stay away from your boat! Or at least keep the lightning bolts at a distance! Lol
Don't just go swapping BMS... those most likely can be repaired cheap. Find yourself a Navy ET ;)
Rick is also an electrician.
Did you have your electronics and batteries grounded to the keel?
As you say many systems are affected, consider what is common amongst them. Troubleshoot by reducing to the minimal equipment stand alone to eliminate any communications buss failure (for example). High energy discharge can cause multiple failures, of course, in which case you may be in quite the technological pickle. There are some reasonably good static dissipation devices that can reduce problems. Note that you need not experience a direct hit to achieve system damage. Proximity and induced currents are quite sufficient to do the job. Consider also some simple lightning arrestors in DC circuits and RF coax, and metal oxide varistors on comm busses to shunt high energy transients to "ground" ...an apparently difficult electrical state to achieve, or so I hear. Good Luck Thomas!
I really wonder why this isn't done much more. The trouble with varistors is, when they fail, they fail to short. However, you can't put a fuse in front, since they're supposed to discharge a huge current for a very short time... Possibly a very slow fuse? I don't know enough about that subject...
Does Starlink work where you are might be better for internet connection in more places where you travel and better for selling products World Wide maybe to .
So, trying to save those other sailors has led to a lightning strike…? Damn.
I'm still not a fan of lithium batteries...yes they are far more efficient then lead acid....but when they give you problems, yikes....good luck......my advice is to bring each battery up on its own...and weed out any of the problem ones....if possible....John
Maybe u can get some money back on the insurance replacing the electrics if it turns out to be the lightning strike/storm. My starter battery died this week and i have to replace it and do some electrician work on my boat aswell.. not looking forward to it.
Rick fixar nog detta. Ser ut som det kan vara fel på jorden alltså jordfelsbrytare. Lycka till. Med vänlig hälsning, Tomas
Jordfel inte jordfelsbrytare 😅
får håpe dette ordner seg. Gode ønsker din vei.
Sorry you have lost all your batteries.
👍💥🙌💙💜
Damn this Sucks. That other BMS Problem gave me a thought Thomas. If it was a Lightning strike, which seems likely. There is a chance imho, that the BMS in each of your .Lithium Batteries, mat have Sacrificed themselves to save your Batteries ? Worth checking before you Write the Batteries Off ? I've been trying to get Raymarine to think about Ways of adding Lightning Protection to their Network, and everything connected to it to protect every device, maybe something like Belkin Surge and Spike Protectors that do work on Land against Lightning Strikes. Lightning Dissipators for mast top mounting, plus keelmconnection to standing Rigging so that Air and Water Polarity of charge can be equalised, because Air Negative Water Positive and vice versa is Lightning bad news. tbh, that's part of why .I'm sticking with 1x19 Stainless Steel Standing Rigging on my next boat, to assist with Polarity Equalisation. Plus within mastbfurling, the topmofbthe
Mast needs to be within one inch vertical with the Base of the Mast foreliable furling, so Mast Bending via variable Tension is right out, so exotic materials for zstanding Rigging are Pointless for a Cruising boat with in Mast Furling. Bes of Luck sorting this out Thomas, and I hope none of your networked equipment is a write off. For perspective for Lightning Struck Computers on Land, Never ending Complete Weirdness and failure of equipment to settle down and start Working Properly was Par for the Course. I had a lot of experience with them, which got me to be an insurance Company approved Computer Repairer. Best Wishes. Bob. 👍🤔
What a fkn nightmare!!!
Every lead acid battery destroyed and unable to take a charge??? Hard to understand. Electronics destroyed does not surprise me, but lead acid batteries have heavy internal connections.
Boats, if its not an arse its an elbow. For a captain, the bilge is more important than the bikini.
Hey Thomas, that's some bad luck with the electrics, hope it's something stupid and not everything fried. If it was a lightening strike that would be even more unlucky! because of your good nature to buddy sail the other boat, you put yourself in a situation and place you probably wouldn't otherwise been in? In a worst-case scenario are the electronics, batteries etc, covered by your insurance? Best of luck and thank you for still going to all the effort to upload the latest instalment, despite everything you are having to deal with.
Hello Thomas that's too bad about your batteries and I hope you can get it fixed I know it's going to cost some money I was electronics of any kind cost you an arm and a leg maybe both arms and both legs that stuff is no joke hope your fridge is going to work again. Anyway thanks for updating us and sharing your story with us God bless you stay safe
I'm starting to wonder why anyone would sail to Panama because of a lot of lightning strikes, hard to get parts most of the time, or it's very expensive. Good luck Thomas
Your electrician issue sound like it could turn out to be a challenge for more than one instrument/component,,,, hidden by lightning is definitely every sailors nightmare. We all hope you will succeed the repair process.
About the Internet connection,,,, is it not possible to use Starlink Connection on a sailboat yet ? ,,, just a thought 🤔.
Kindly Hans-Henrik
Watch the last 5 or so episodes of Sail Life. Mads recently got Starlink, there are a few options...
Ohh, Thomas. Scary stuff. Note taken: spare fridge regulator box (I hadn’t thought of that). I’m going to the METS B2B trade show in a month and will ask the RayMarine people (and others) what they would use to protect the Nav System on the power side from lightning strikes. I’m favoring an Uninterruptible Power Supply with stacked surge protection right near the main unit, and maybe the same for the radar. Lightning, it’s the one big risk we face at sea. You seemed to be saying that you have dead lead acid batteries, is that because they got drawn down below a safe level without the Lithium active in the system. Victron have a great little $100 charger which works well at restoring Lead Acid Batteries. I’m keen to learn all of the details of what was affected and what wasn’t. Good Luck.
Just say rick sad that Amazon. It’s holding his gifts. In your birth. Shipping issues once your ready to roll no issues.