How noisy can it get in a steel boat in a hailstorm?...

Well after today....VERY!

In fact I am about to go out and survey the damage (to boat and camper)

It was forecast on XC Weather  (great iphone app that shows quite a lot of detail) that it would be a day of sunshine and showers and high humidity that will bring thunder storms in the afternoon. We had a lot of wispy  low cloud with a solid dark grey bank above it. High up you could hear the rumble of thunder but no sign of the lightening. The rain was only coming down in spits and spots at this stage and the odd boater and dog walker was out and about. Deb was trying to get a top coat on the bilges whilst we have got some room to maneuver before the geni goes back in (probably Monday or Tuesday next week) but I could see that the cloud was darkening severely to the Southwest. I guessed that we had only a short while before it bucketed down so we closed the engine hatch and headed inside. I took a quick piccy to send to Jess (she is not too good with thunder bolts and lightening) but the rain soon turned into hail.

Swapping my phone for the video camera just in time to get some footage of the storm that lasted quite a while. Needless to say I am glad we were not out cruising in it as I think it could have caused some real damage. Its a couple of minute video that I tried to take through a crack in the front doors so sorry in advance for the funny angles and door frame close ups!

Now that's what I call a big hailstone. What are the chances of my nice new solar panels still working after that?

On the plus side my homemade hummus went down very well for lunch and we even managed to get a satellite signal back to watch the tennis!