Great boat
Congrats on the new boat Eric. We just bought ours last year and are very happy with its performance. There is no black or white answer. There is alot written on the subject but lots of it, written by so-called experts, is contradictory both with respect to lightning protection as well as corrosion prevention. About the only thing I've seen authoritative sources agree upon is that the so-called lightning dissipators are worthless. The conventional wisdom is that if the boat is hit by lightning, it's far preferable to provide a path to ground than allowing the strike to find it's own path through the hull. I've never seen convincing evidence that grounding everything in common attracts lightning. The analogy I make for myself is that my 80 foot ham radio tower at home with the ubitiquous guy wires holdling it up (hence the mast analogy with shrouds) has been hit twice by lightning and the only thing which I can attribute to saving my equipment (and house) from damage is the grounding system I installed at the base. Personally, which is what this decision ultimately is, I didn't bond the guys nor did I bond everything on the boat (engine, thru-hulls, shrouds, etc) but just ensured the factory grounding system is in tact and maintained properly to ensure good, clean, low resistance connections between the mast and keel. The only sure thing is that bonding everything is no guarantees to prevent damage should you be unlucky enough to be the target of mother nature either from lightning or salt water corrosion of fittings. The more difficult problem is finding someone with long enough arms to reach those keel bolts... Don Illusion
