Stillraining-
You don't want the lightning bonding ribbon to make any sharp bends... and having the grounding plate is as direct a line with the mast is probably the best idea. Having the grounding foil or wire turn will likely lead to lightning sideflashes, and given where your fuel tanks are, that's probably not a good thing.
Lightning + Fuel = BOOM!!!!
And as Wayne has pointed out the 4' linear edge figure was for a boat in salt water. If the boat is in fresh or brackish water, it will need more plate edge exposed.
One of the best grounding strips I've seen in a long, long time was a 1/4" thick plate with 15 3/8" x 2" threaded copper studs attached to it, that was 2" wide by six feet long, and embedded in the hull of a boat. The boat was a cold-molded wood and fiberglass/epoxy composite trimaran.
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Sailingdog
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Telstar 28
New England
You know what the first rule of sailing is? ...Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take
a boat to the sea you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of the worlds. Love keeps
her going when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home.
—Cpt. Mal Reynolds, Serenity (edited)
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