Grounding improves your chances, but...
Robin, The link Phil gave you is excellent -- read it. From my own worrying about lightning over the years, what I've learned is that it's quite unpredictable. The best you can do is protect your boat as much as possible, but even then, lightning may still zap through the boat in ways and directions you'd never believe. Putting sensitive electronics in a metal box is a new one to me. I don't know if that would work or not. My advice to protect those things would be to disconnect them from anything else metal on the boat, i.e., disconnect the power supply and antenna cables. That should improve your chances. However, I've read stories about lightning going right through fiberglass hulls, leaving holes, and in some cases, sinking boats. I've since given up worrying about lightning. Protect your boat as best as you can, disconnect sensitive electronics, and hope you don't take a strike. If you yourself are in a storm, stay away from the large masses of metal in the boat, like the engine. Eric Lorgus
