OK, I hunted down the head sparky that designs lightning protection for airplane controls. I asked if he consulted on the side, and he gladly answered my questions. I described the sailboat problem to him. His answer was "you need to plate your entire boat in a conductive material like copper or gold so it will protect the inside, basically make the whole boat a faraday cage. The option he provided (since this is impratical, but a gold plated boat would be really attractive) was to put a rod at the top of the mast and attach a large cable to it and then run that to a large conductor on the surface of the water. So I said, what you are describing is a lightning rod for a building, his answer "exactly." Now large buildings like the empire state building get hit about 100 times a year with no damage, so this will probably work.
Personally the gold plated boat sounds good. Gold is an awesome conductor, it doesn't tarnish like copper, You will no longer have to wax and buff and compound. You will shine in the sun like a chariot from heaven. The value of your boat will keep going up. Now the plating only needs to be a few angstrom thick so a couple ounces might do the trick.
Criminals might be attracted however.
His other comment about electric devices not plugged in getting zapped, he refused to believe it. I mentioned EMI, EMP etc. he still refused to believe it. Now most of the testing this guy has been doing lately has resulted in failures and multiple redesigns so take this input with a grain of salt.
On another note will a steel boat be a lot better for lightning that a plastic boat? Seems like having the whole boat be a conductor would be a better deal. The guy next to me on the dock had a nice 33 cutter I think he might be selling it.
Personally the gold plated boat sounds good. Gold is an awesome conductor, it doesn't tarnish like copper, You will no longer have to wax and buff and compound. You will shine in the sun like a chariot from heaven. The value of your boat will keep going up. Now the plating only needs to be a few angstrom thick so a couple ounces might do the trick.
Criminals might be attracted however.
His other comment about electric devices not plugged in getting zapped, he refused to believe it. I mentioned EMI, EMP etc. he still refused to believe it. Now most of the testing this guy has been doing lately has resulted in failures and multiple redesigns so take this input with a grain of salt.
On another note will a steel boat be a lot better for lightning that a plastic boat? Seems like having the whole boat be a conductor would be a better deal. The guy next to me on the dock had a nice 33 cutter I think he might be selling it.
