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Lightning Anyone?

11K views 32 replies 18 participants last post by  Hudsonian 
#1 ·
Ahoy,
Anyone here ever been in a boat while it was struck by lightning? I plan to live a board next year and always wondered if this is something for me to worry about. All information is valuable.
thanks!
 
#27 · (Edited)
A couple of years ago we were on our way home from Cape Breton's Bras d'Or Lakes in the middle of St. Georges Bay about 12 miles from any land when the sky darkened up REAL fast and we doused sail and fired up the engine to prepare as best we could for the fireworks display which we were sure was imminent. A bolt shot from cloud-to-cloud directly above the mast on our Aloha 27. Never have I been so close as to smell ozone and I'm in no hurry to repeat the experience.

Just remember... if you see the lightning bolt- it missed you!
 
#28 ·
You will find many opinions, contradictory "studies", and no one set of rules for how to protect against lightning or mitigate the damage from it. The bottom line is that when a jillion volts decides to come calling, there is NO way to be absolutely certain of what it will do on your boat, no matter how it is rigged. Because it can jump, or induce currents, or create plasma balls, your best bet is to do some serious work on creating a good direct ground path (down the mast and into the water) and then learn that when the gods are bowling, you need to be ashore and indoors. Or, curled in a ball as far away from all metal parts of the boat as you can.

Very few things scare me the way the brute force of lightning does, and that's after reading all the opinions and studies. If you've ever been on a boat and felt your hair standing on end and heard static crackling off your radio antenna...."lightning protection" becomes a very remote concept.<G>
 
#30 ·
I was on the ICW in NC when I was struck while at anchor. Blew the mastead light and VHF aerial off the masthead and burned out some random electronics below decks. However there was another effect which I did not find out about till I left the anchorage. My steel boat was now a strong magnet and my compass read due east regardless of heading.

Took a very kind naval compass adjustor a day to drive out the "Bad Spirits".
 
#31 ·
I enjoyed reading Depthwish's account of the fuses shooting out like bullets. I noticed the same phenomenon in the late seventies on a boat that had been struck. In this case bus fuses had shot accross the nav station leaving pock marks in the opposite bulkhead. I've seen a number of strikes, but only a nearby strike myself that had no effect other than showing 88 messages on my answering machine. It is difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of protection devices as there is such great variety in the instensity of strikes and the resulting damage. Unfortunately, and in common with so many other bad interpretations of scientific data, people give to much credit to annecdotal advice. 'reminds me of my contrary witted friends that won't wear a seatbelt because they heard of some guy that was thrown from the vehicle as the onlly survivor. 'take care and joy, Aythya crew
 
#32 ·
I raced on a Cal 40 in the 70's that was struck in its slip late at night. An observer on another boat saw a ball travel down the mast and light up the cabin before it disipated. He watched for a while and didn't notice any issues but the electricity melted the nylon bushing around the depth trasducer and the boat sunk in its slip. The boat bottom was polished graphite and the keel was solid lead.
 
#33 ·
Many years ago a friend and his new trophy wife flew to Florida to sail a newly purchased Freedom 40 back to the Hudson; a remarkable venture for their honeymoon since she had never been on a sailboat before. Some time later we found ourselves sharing a little anchorage by Bannerman's Island with the couple aboard their Freedom 40. Delighted to see them again, I asked how their journey had gone and was informed that en route they had been struck by lightning twice -- losing a mast with each strike. When I expressed my concern and asked the lovely bride what she thought after the second strike, she responded, "I didn't think much about it. After all, after the first strike I just thought it was part of sailing.'
 
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