Saturday, July 04, 2009

Thunder and frightening!

In the early hours of Wednesday we had a really bad thunder storm. Now normally storms don't bother me, but this one really scared me! It seemed to be directly above the boat, and when the thunder claps came the noise seemed to boom through the boat.

Because the weather has been so humid and sticky, we have been leaving the porthole stoppers out to let cool air in at night time. Big mistake when a storm comes along. The lightening lit up the whole boat, the port holes lit up like spotlights!

Since being on the boat that must be the closest storm we have had, which got me to thinking. What would actually happen to the occupants inside the boat if it were struck by lightening? Does anybody out there know? Do I want to know or is ignorance bliss?!

To lighten the mood somewhat, I was delighted to see John and Fiona passing by on Nb Epiphany on their way through to Liverpool. Its great when you actually see people who's blog you have followed. Here's hoping they enjoy the trip!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Debs,

Well what about that thunder & lightening this aft eh? (EVEN WORSER) Wow one was right over us & TT's steel hull ctually SHOOK with the force. Reeely weird that was,,,
In answer to your question about if lightening hit a boat, I'd like to think the wood lining inside WOOD prevent it from getting thru... Maybe that's just stupid of me but in my tiny brain it makes sense. Just asked Dave & he reckons it would prob take all the electrics out, but he ain't sure about that either OR anything else that might happen. Ask him about planes getting struck by lightening & hey he knows it all, to the point of me wanting to run down the aisle & get off the plane before it sets off...
So it still begs the question: Do we all need lightening rods on top of our boats to keep us safe???
I mean we could put fancy lights on em, even decorations such as tinsel & baubly things... (Maybe that's just us girls tho,,)

Did you get chance to say Hi to John & Fiona as they trundled on by?? We told them to look out for Tickety Boo! (& Bobbles)

life afloat on nb tickety boo said...

Hi Heth, we didn't get any thunder here today just rain! I managed a quick wave to John and Fiona as they passed, they seem to be really enjoying the trip. Hope to catch them on the way back to get photo!

Take care Debbie

life afloat on nb tickety boo said...

Hi Heth, we didn't get any thunder here today just rain! I managed a quick wave to John and Fiona as they passed, they seem to be really enjoying the trip. Hope to catch them on the way back to get photo!

Take care Debbie

Halfie said...

You should be safe inside a steel narrowboat in an electric storm, just as in a car, as you are inside a Faraday cage. All the high voltage stuff will be on the outside of the boat, even if where there are windows; none of it inside. I would think it extremely unlikely that a boat could take a direct strike anyway: boats are pretty low on the ground (or should that be water?) and trees etc. would attract any lightning coming your way. Unless you're in the middle of the sea, of course. But I've not heard of a narrowboat being struck by lightning.

Debbie said...

Well thats good to hear! Thanks Halfie.