Sailboat Lightning Protection

rgranger

rgranger

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Jan 19, 2010
12,369
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
dlochner said:
Here's what BoatUS says: https://www.boatus.com/seaworthy/magazine/2016/january/lightning-protection.asp

Which boat gets hit is probably just luck of the draw, especially in a marina.
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This is a great article! Thanks for posting. I read it when it first came out.

On the H26, there is no way to easily get a ground from the mast to an underwater plate. Even if I wanted to install one, I'd have to go through the ballast tank. ..... and I don't want to mess with that.... So I have a bucket under the sink with several pieces of chain and a quick snap clip. I have NO IDEA if I am actually doing any good but on the few times I have been caught out in a T-storm, I clip these chains to my shrouds and toss them overboard. My hope is that if I do get hit, the discharge will run down the shrouds and into the water instead of through the boat.
 
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rgranger

rgranger

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Jan 19, 2010
12,369
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
jssailem said:
Uncle NOAA says.
Does lightning strike from the sky down, or the ground up?
The answer is both. Cloud-to-ground lightning comes from the sky down, but the part you see comes from the ground up. A typical cloud-to-ground flash lowers a path of negative electricity (that we cannot see) towards the ground in a series of spurts. Objects on the ground generally have a positive charge. Since opposites attract, an upward streamer is sent out from the object about to be struck. When these two paths meet, a return stroke zips back up to the sky. It is the return stroke that produces the visible flash, but it all happens so fast - in about one-millionth of a second - so the human eye doesn't see the actual formation of the stroke.
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This is one of those (by definition only) sort of topics. By convention, electric current is plotted in the direction of positive charge flow. HOWEVER, in practice it is the electrons that are moving. The electrons fill a positive "hole" and leave one behind so the "holes" migrate in the opposite direction as the electrons. But a positive "hole" is simply some element that is missing an electron and in the time frame of a lightening strike, the atoms are stationary. So there isn't really something positive that is moving during a lightening strike. The only thing moving are electrons... which are negative.

So people who talk about positive charge current are following electric circuit convention and those that talk about negative charge current are describing the flow of the "particle" that are actually flowing.

(I put "particle" in quotes to appease those who want to argue along relativistic lines)
 
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kloudie1

kloudie1

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Nov 6, 2006
9,892
Hunter 34 Mandeville Louisiana
Remember the Brits had it right then with positive grounds on many of the old sports cars !
 
Roland5048

Roland5048

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May 12, 2004
1,505
Hunter Cherubini 30 New Port Richey
Several years ago, watched a 62 foot mast get hit. Went off like a Roman Candle. Took everything off the top of the mast and fried the electronics. There were lots of other tall masts in the marina. This one just got unlucky. Not too long after that while in the Keys on a boat also with a 62 foot mast, a massive squall line came across with so much lightning it rivaled the fireworks we were out to watch. Lots of boats in the area. A small motor boat gets hit. No injuries that I know of. Also in the Keys, a friend's sailboat gets hit. Blows little holes in the hull. Does not sink. No injuries. A few years ago while my boat, 46 foot mast, is in her slip surrounded by sport fishers, one of those a few slips down gets hit, bounces to my boat, fries the electronics and bilge pump. I'm a believer that it's the luck, or bad luck, of the draw. I still believe you're safe though inside the boat, inside that "cone of protection" as long as you are not in contact with any metal. I mean, if you are out there and get caught, what are your options anyway? Maybe a thick pair of rubber gloves if you have to hold that SS wheel? Makes a good case for wooden wheels, though. They also look much more nautical.
 
rgranger

rgranger

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Jan 19, 2010
12,369
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
Roland5048 said:
... Makes a good case for wooden wheels, though. They also look much more nautical.
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Market it as a lightening-proof helm. Somebody would buy it... :biggrin:

After all, someone was able to sell these...
upload_2018-7-12_16-21-17.png


and these...
upload_2018-7-12_16-21-36.png


and my personal favorite....

upload_2018-7-12_16-22-22.png
 
shemandr

shemandr

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Jan 1, 2006
7,069
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
rgranger said:
... So I have a bucket under the sink with several pieces of chain and a quick snap clip. I have NO IDEA if I am actually doing any good but on the few times I have been caught out in a T-storm, I clip these chains to my shrouds and toss them overboard. My hope is that if I do get hit, the discharge will run down the shrouds and into the water instead of through the boat.
Click to expand
This is and has been done for a long time on fishing boats who are too far off shore to make a run for an inlet off Long Island. I don't have any idea if it works but if you're caught in a whiz bang anything that makes you feel better is worth doing. I personally have used the most sincere prayers I'm capable of and that so far has worked.
 
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jssailem

jssailem

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Oct 22, 2014
21,088
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
@DayDreamer41 I think the quote was attributed to Lee Trevino. He was a funny man for a Texan golfer...
“If your caught on a golf course during a storm and are afraid of lightning, hold up a 1-iron. Not even God can hit a 1-iron.”​
 
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