A few years ago while cruising, I was weighing anchor, and when I got to the
chain (no windlass then) I was shocked, not by what was on the hook, but as in
electrical shock. I dropped it and pulled it in again with the same shocking
results. It wasn't a killing shock, and as the hook was clear of the bottom, I
motored off enough with the hook in the water to be sure I didn't pick up a
live cable, then hauled it aboard, getting shocked as I did it.
Before I tell the cause, any guesses?
K

Over40pirate wrote:
A few years ago while cruising, I was weighing anchor, and when I
got to the chain (no windlass then) I was shocked, not by what was
on the hook, but as in electrical shock. I dropped it and pulled it
in again with the same shocking results. It wasn't a killing shock,
and as the hook was clear of the bottom, I motored off enough with
the hook in the water to be sure I didn't pick up a live cable,
then hauled it aboard, getting shocked as I did it. Before I tell
the cause, any guesses? K

We can wait until you decide to 'fess up.

--
Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
http://kerrydeare.tripod.com

I was going to give this one a pass, and then I remembered...

"Over40pirate" wrote in message
...

A few years ago while cruising, I was weighing anchor, and when I got to
the
chain (no windlass then) I was shocked, not by what was on the hook, but
as in
electrical shock. I dropped it and pulled it in again with the same
shocking
results. It wasn't a killing shock, and as the hook was clear of the
bottom, I
motored off enough with the hook in the water to be sure I didn't pick up
a
live cable, then hauled it aboard, getting shocked as I did it.
Before I tell the cause, any guesses?

You've got an aluminum boat. The chain made a great conductor to ground.
Your boat had an electricity leak of some sort which was unnoticeable
before, as you were in the faraday cage of its hull, but you were barefoot
or otherwise adequately conductive when you were hauling up barehanded and
the chain completed the circuit.

Howzat?

L8R

Skip and Lydia, still looking for our boat

Over40pirate" wrote in message
...

A few years ago while cruising, I was weighing anchor, and when I got to
the
chain (no windlass then) I was shocked, not by what was on the hook, but
as in
electrical shock. I dropped it and pulled it in again with the same
shocking
results. It wasn't a killing shock, and as the hook was clear of the
bottom, I
motored off enough with the hook in the water to be sure I didn't pick up
a
live cable, then hauled it aboard, getting shocked as I did it.
Before I tell the cause, any guesses?

You've got an aluminum boat. The chain made a great conductor to ground.
Your boat had an electricity leak of some sort which was unnoticeable
before, as you were in the faraday cage of its hull, but you were barefoot
or otherwise adequately conductive when you were hauling up barehanded and
the chain completed the circuit.

Howzat?

L8R

Skip and Lydia, still looking for our boat

It's a fiberglass boat, and you get shocked even with the motor not running.
K

1) A fluorescent light on board has some tricky wiring.
2) The old phone magneto you've been using to catch fish wasn't turned
off while you weighed.
3) The fresh breeze off your synthetic sails has been building charge
on your glass hull with no sea grounds
4) Unfriendly SEALs?
5) Leaky submarine power line
6) Other....

Brian Whatcott Altus OK

On 16 Jul 2003 23:36:40 GMT, ospam (Over40pirate)
wrote:

Over40pirate" wrote in message
...

A few years ago while cruising, I was weighing anchor, and when I got to
the
chain (no windlass then) I was shocked, not by what was on the hook, but
as in
electrical shock. I dropped it and pulled it in again with the same
shocking
results. It wasn't a killing shock, and as the hook was clear of the
bottom, I
motored off enough with the hook in the water to be sure I didn't pick up
a
live cable, then hauled it aboard, getting shocked as I did it.
Before I tell the cause, any guesses?

You've got an aluminum boat. The chain made a great conductor to ground.
Your boat had an electricity leak of some sort which was unnoticeable
before, as you were in the faraday cage of its hull, but you were barefoot
or otherwise adequately conductive when you were hauling up barehanded and
the chain completed the circuit.

Howzat?

L8R

Skip and Lydia, still looking for our boat

It's a fiberglass boat, and you get shocked even with the motor not running.
K

From: Brian Whatcott
Date: 7/16/2003 5:14 PM Pacific Daylight Time
Message-id:

1) A fluorescent light on board has some tricky wiring.
2) The old phone magneto you've been using to catch fish wasn't turned
off while you weighed.
3) The fresh breeze off your synthetic sails has been building charge
on your glass hull with no sea grounds
4) Unfriendly SEALs?
5) Leaky submarine power line
6) Other....

Brian Whatcott Altus OK


Nope

Nope? Nope?

If it's not 1) to 5) it has to be 6) Other.
That includes
6a) Figments of the imagination
6b) Shooting pains from the Rheumatiz.

Brian W

On 17 Jul 2003 01:34:26 GMT, ospam (Over40pirate)
wrote:

From: Brian Whatcott
Date: 7/16/2003 5:14 PM Pacific Daylight Time
Message-id:

1) A fluorescent light on board has some tricky wiring.
2) The old phone magneto you've been using to catch fish wasn't turned
off while you weighed.
3) The fresh breeze off your synthetic sails has been building charge
on your glass hull with no sea grounds
4) Unfriendly SEALs?
5) Leaky submarine power line
6) Other....

Brian Whatcott Altus OK


Nope

Hm...


"Skip Gundlach" wrote in message
link.net...
I was going to give this one a pass, and then I remembered...


You've got an aluminum boat. The chain made a great conductor to ground.
Your boat had an electricity leak of some sort which was unnoticeable
before, as you were in the faraday cage of its hull, but you were barefoot
or otherwise adequately conductive when you were hauling up barehanded and
the chain completed the circuit.

Howzat?

Methinks you dissemble. You're selling a custom aluminum boat, you had an
electricity leak due to a faulty wind generator which caused your shock.

Turns out the incident wasn't on the boat for sale. I don't actually get
how you managed to conduct electricity through fiberglass to get your shock,
but the rest of the theory was correct :{))

L8R

Skip

Methinks you dissemble. You're selling a custom aluminum boat, you had an
electricity leak due to a faulty wind generator which caused your shock.

Turns out the incident wasn't on the boat for sale. I don't actually get
how you managed to conduct electricity through fiberglass to get your shock,
but the rest of the theory was correct :{))

L8R

Skip



Since YOU mentioned it, I do have an aluminum 38' sloop for saleand you can
contact me at . However the boat the shocks happened
on
was a fiberglass sloop. that I also own. I suppose it was the wet decks, and
not sure but I may have been barefoot,as it was in southern latitudes. It was
6
or more years ago.
K

Oh, I forgot to mention the 38' aluminum sloop I have for sale is VERY
"offshore capable".
K

"Over40pirate" wrote...
A few years ago while cruising, I was weighing anchor, and when I got to
the
chain (no windlass then) I was shocked, not by what was on the hook, but
as in
electrical shock. I dropped it and pulled it in again with the same
shocking
results. It wasn't a killing shock, and as the hook was clear of the
bottom, I
motored off enough with the hook in the water to be sure I didn't pick up
a
live cable, then hauled it aboard, getting shocked as I did it.
Before I tell the cause, any guesses?


Skip Gundlach wrote:
You've got an aluminum boat.

IIRC he's got an old IOR racer converted for cruising, not aluminum.

My guess was that the boat was in the area of one of those magnetic
disturbances they mark on the charts, and was sailing around the anchor fast
enough that the magnetic field could induce current in the conductive anchor
chain.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King