Aug 16, 2017
1
Newport 28 Charleston, sc
we recently came into possession of this Newport 28 sail boat, 1981, and I cannot seem to find out if the mast is grounded. There is nothing about it in the factory manual, and there are no wires that we can obviously see that are grounding the mast. If the mast was grounded via the chain plates during factory build, we would not be able to tell without disassembling those. Not something we want to do. Does anyone know if this model/year was generally grounded during factory build? Or know of any way to find out without hauling the boat? We are in the middle of a trip down the icw from D.C. to Charleston, SC, and we have encountered many storms littered with lightening. Any advice or info would be much appreciated
 
Apr 4, 2016
201
Newport 28 Richardson Marina
I have a 1976 Newport 28 and would have to say NO! These are fairly basic entry level boats for the time and something like a proper ground loop was definitely out of the budget during building.
If you have not found it yet there is a good Capital Yachts page on Facebook with a lot of helpful people there.
 

MitchK

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Sep 22, 2017
102
Capital Yachts Newport 28 Burbank, WA
I have a 82 Newport 28, and I have not been able to locate a ground wire to the keel on mast. I haven't crawled back into the very back of the boat to see if the chainplates are connected to the keel as is done on some boats. Maybe this weekend, I will get a chance to crawl back there and see if there is anything I can see.

Mitch
 
Jan 30, 2012
1,123
Nor'Sea 27 "Kiwanda" Portland/ Anacortes
Why does the OP (and everyone else so far) reckon that 'mast grounding" provides a benefit? If so what are the benefits compared with a mast that is 'ungrounded'?

I
 
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Apr 4, 2016
201
Newport 28 Richardson Marina
Why does the OP (and everyone else so far) reckon that 'mast grounding" provides a benefit? If so what are the benefits compared with a mast that is 'ungrounded'?

I
might help in a lightening strike, might not. I figure if your boat gets struck by lightening buy a lottery ticket.
 
Dec 18, 2019
4
Newport 30 Gulf Coast Florida
Why does the OP (and everyone else so far) reckon that 'mast grounding" provides a benefit? If so what are the benefits compared with a mast that is 'ungrounded'?

I
A grounded mast would help give the lightening a way out, instead of say blasting thru your chain-plates etc. It might even save some electronics. My Newport 30 wasn't grounded either; I wrapped a length of the thickest electrical cable I could find to my rear stay/plate and about 6' underwater. Never had to test it but figure it was better than nothing.
 
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Jan 14, 2014
225
Newport Newport 28 Fair Haven, NY
Catching up on this, I'll have to do some more looking when I get back. My '75 definitely does have a grounding cable coming up out of the cabin top that screws into the mast on the side. I've never actually traced it back down through, to see where it goes, but I'll try to remember to take a look when I get up there before the season starts. Since everything went under the liner for the mast lights, I can only imagine this ground wire is also hidden along the compression post down into the bilge area. I certainly don't remember seeing anything obvious inside the head compartment where it would be. Strange that so many haven't found the same, so I'm certainly curious where mine acquired it's wire from.