HELP, LIGHTNING STRIKE

[Bobg]

Sat morning a boat 4 sllips down from me took a direct hit of lightening,.
   I thought I was OK, but that evening while on the hook, I noticed my cabin lights would blink every 7-10 seconds, and the reverse polarity light was on.I would hear a tick noise each time, seemed to be coming from the shore power charger, even though  I was on the hook,also I was losing battery power, everything seemed to work that day, had it on Auto Pilot, all nav stuff, CD radio, VHF, fridge, cabin lights ect, all seemed to work, My daughter, (who can hear better than me) said the ticking noise was going on all day but thought it was normal.  I thought I better disconnect the batteries and save them for the morning engine start,
   thats when all hell broke loose, even shutting the batteries off, the ticking noise stayed on, when I disconnected and connected the battery terminals, a lot of sparks were evident even with everything on the boat shut off, there are a lot of negative battery sparks,  my reverse polarity light is on also,
  I left the cabin bank batterys disconnected, activated the spare starting battery and fired up the enging and took off, all the panel lights came on, even though the switch was off and the battery selector switch was in the off position, I thought I would hit the bilge switch, and immediatly, all panel stuff died, and the battery volt gauge went from about 13 to 2-3 volts, AND  the alternator went from putting out 14 volts, to 12, which declined on the way home.  NOW, when I try to hook up the house bank, sparks fly and everything comes on even with the battey selector swith in off position, and all panel selection switches off,
       this is long winded, but "any ideas?  it is a 1988 catalina

I did a search in the archieves and got some ideas, but any help would be greatly appreciated,

[Howard Armstrong]

i think you need to start by isolating the AC system from the DC system. At some point you may need to test one circuit at the time. i disconnected everything in the DC ele. panal then added each circuit back or testing with a multimeter until i found all the shorted out wiring. it sound like your charger may have taken the hit so that would be the first thing i disconnected.
Sorry, you may have a long way to go. dont wait too long before you call the insurance company.
Howard

[Bobg]

Thanks Howard, I did contact the insurance co. they may want to pull the boat and check the thru hulls, and bench test all the removalbe equipment, I am heading up to the boat tomorrow and will do as you advised.  the boat next to me did have his charger fried, thanks again  Bob

[Ron Hill]

Bob :  You're on the right track with the call to your Insurance co.  They'll get you an electrician and start checking all system as well as the hull/rigging.

Sounds a though you were plugged in to shore power as well as the boat that took the lightening strike.