Electric current in my flooded boat, felt tingle, how close to dying why didn't it kill me?

How much voltage and current was it, how close did I come to dying and why didn't it kill me?

-Was parking my boat in garage after a difficult day on the water I was in a rush and exhausted.
-Boat had a few cm of water sloshing around in part of it.
-Leaned over to grab things in the boat while placing one hand on the painted aluminum edge
-After maybe a half-second I thought I felt a tingle in my hand and forearm but wasn't sure
-Stupidly I touched the boat again this time confirming that the boat was electrified and causing tingling
-I let go of the boat confused about what was causing this. Then to my horror I see the thin brown extension cord dangling down from the plug on the ceiling just enough to reach the boat and water. The end of extension cord was partially submerged. (not cord in picture)
-I grabbed the cord midway up lifted it out and unplugged it
-I mistakenly left the extension cord dangling off to the side after I vacuumed the boat earlier. When backing in later the cord ended up inside the boat. Extension cord was a thin gauge 2-prong variety. Plug above was not GFCI
-The distance from the end of the cord to where I touched the boat was about 1 or 1.5 meter
-Part of the floor of the boat is painted and part is bare aluminum, the parts I touched were painted.
-I was wearing thick crocs foam sandals standing on a concrete garage floor

-This was 4-hours ago. Felt a bit like licking a 9v battery, something I had done as a kid, but more intense and over a greater area. Hand and forearm felt and worked ok afterwards. Now feels 95% normal, but slightly fatigued or heavy and a slight sense of after-tingle, if that's a word.

Wondering just a ball park estimate of how much voltage and current I experienced. How close did I come to dying and why didn't it kill me?

(current photo is different, drying the boat out, I will of course unplug everything before moving the boat, and secure away the extension cord, and also drain the boat better before taking it home next time)

NoviceBoater wrote:

I'm just struggling to estimate how much voltage and current I've experienced.

Once you come to some conclusions in this estimation, please report them (or move the topic to the forum for... fairies).

You can guess:
1 to 5 mA: A distinct tingling sensation
from 20mA: muscle spasms start, it is impossible to let go of the object
from 50mA: damage in the body.

So you have experienced:
120V and up to 20mA, due to the high resistance of e.g. foam, paint, concrete, etc.

In the States it is 120V, in Europe 230V, probably in Europe at 230V it would not be good for you and would end badly - according to Ohm's law: I=U/R

Install an RCD urgently.

gulson wrote:

Install RCD urgently.

Don't listen to this.
Urgently, then disconnect the power supply to this room.
The attached photo documents the state of risk of electrocution due to the use of the room in blatant disregard of the rules provided for rooms with an installation serving mains voltage.

In your case, the conditions impose a much stricter solution than the RCD.
You must use a reduced voltage supply, called SELV.
You have a so-called wet environment.
An RCD breaker doesn't do the job, it's the wrong way to go.
In Poland, a standard RCD has a minimum tripping current of 15mA and a maximum of 30mA.
However, this is already a current with obvious negative effects.
15mA hurts, and 30mA already causes muscle tightening.
You are asking questions that are completely out of the category you should be asking.

Bottom line. If this is the case, get rid of the extension cord and buy a new one.
Necessarily with a plug terminated with an airtight cap (minimum IP55, better - IP67). If you have the opportunity - install GFCI equipment in the garage.
This avoids accidental water entering an open socket.

Simply immersing an electrical cable in water should have no effect.
Unless the insulation of the extension cord is already damaged enough to cause leakage into the external environment.
This is particularly common if the extension cord is rubber insulated (older solutions).
Rubber has a tendency to soak up moisture and to age and form microcracks.

The tingling sensation itself basically indicates that it was a rather 'gentle' welcome to the current on a good day.
It's a matter of what path the current took, what resistance it encountered along the way and how you have the installation resolved.
In this case, the current flow was mainly through water, between the submerged pins.
Water is a low resistance insulator, so it does not always cause a short circuit. Especially if it is clean and has little electrolytic matter.
In your case, the flow to the boat's housing was rather 'peripheral', and the sheer resistance of your body and floor did not create a flow path of sufficiently low resistance.

In truth, to electricians, such 'shocks' happen quite often - we say 'the current has said hello'.

Unfortunately, you'll have to pay more attention to the culture of your own work and keep an eye on the tools and fixtures you use during the work.
The good news - you will live.

NoviceBoater wrote:

I was wearing thick foam Crocs sandals, standing on the concrete floor of the garage

They saved you, you had a few milliamps of electricity, that's why it only tingled.

NoviceBoater wrote:

I foolishly touched the boat again, this time confirming that the boat was electrified and causing the tingling

No, as if it was pancctrified you would feel one shot like a needle prick and that would be it, nothing more. A tingling sensation means that there was an AC current flowing from that extension cord and you were closing it to the ground.

I would give an RCD to the installation (even one for 10mA although this can be a nuisance in garage use), for those circuits in the garage, now it wouldn't work because there was too little current, but if you didn't have flip-flops it would probably save your life.
Well, and a lesson for the future, you need to look after your extension leads and not leave them switched on because you never know where the socket will land.

Added after 2 [minutes]:

Mateusz_konstruktor wrote:

An RCD switch doesn't take care of the problem, that's not the way to go.

Of course it does, it has saved me several times. I myself have duplicate ones in the installation, just to make at least one work.

Janusz_kk wrote:

Mateusz_konstruktor wrote:

An RCD switch does not fix the problem, that's not the way to go.

Of course it does, it has saved me several times. I myself have duplicate ones in the installation, just to make sure at least one works.

Shock protection is not just about someone's survival, it's about protecting against any shock.