What Preperation is there for Impending Lightning?

[Winderlust]

What is the proper grounding preparation against lightning for a new/used boat during commissioning/haul-out and also what is the proper lightning preparation for the boat and its gear heading into thunder storm conditions?

To add to the understanding, explain why such an approach. I saw somewhere in this "Sailnet Forum" from one cleaver captain that the Microwave, offshore, makes a good Faraday cage for handhelds: brilliant! Any other gems for the other pieces and say... the boat and crew?

[erps]

I think if you don't have a microwave, your oven might work too. I heard 2nd hand that one fellow clipped a quality set of jumper cables to his stays and let the other end trail in the water. I didn't hear that he experienced a strike to see if his theory worked though.

[MiVelero]

It would seem that if the MicroWave works why not the refrigerator/icebox ??

But in the end realize that anything you do in preparation for the situation the OP states, is nothing more than paliative care. Lighting will strike whenever if ever ....... no matter what you do. So for all practical purposes it is just a matter of chance. No?
I made out good because I had my electronics in the MW, and a jumper cable trailing behind me.... NO you was lucky and mother nature spared you.
Just a thought...

[Vasco]

When caught in an electrical storm I now resort to prayer. Having been hit once when 100 miles from my destination I've come to realize that there's nothing you can do. Note your position if within vhf distance to shore and pray. Put your handheld in the oven or on deck with you. As for bonding, not bonding, bottle washers on the masthead etc., etc., they don't do anything. My boat's through hulls were not bonded but when we hauled after the strike there was "treeing" (burn marks in the paint) at all the through hulls and at the gudgeon and pintle of the rudder. I think the good thing about my strike was that I have a wing keel (Hydrokeel) with a very large surface area which was good for dissipating the charge and the keel had a strap to the keel-stepped mast. As for jumper cables to the shrouds it might make you feel better but that's about all. There is a lot of literature on this subject and I read most of it after I was struck, that's why I pray now. Nothing else will do it!!

[erps]

Thanks for some first hand info Vasco. What other damage did you suffer?

[Vasco]

Headsail burnt, all masthead stuff vapourized, wiring shot, all instruments and lights shot, alternator shot, handheld in my foulies survived, no structural damage, no holes in hull. Biggest damage was to my psyche, never was scared of electrical storms before but now!!! Boat was hauled and inspected, mast removed. Took over six months to get everything right again. You know how some boatyard are. I chose the wrong one.

[sailingdog]

A better option for protecting small electronics is your pressure cooker. It forms a well-sealed faraday cage, thanks to the pressure gasket seal. A refrigerator, depending on what it is made of, may not be a good faraday cage. A microwave oven is probably less protective than a pressure cooker, since they're not solid metal all the way around.

[noelex77]

I always turn off my main battery switches. Any comments if this provides any slight protection for electronics, or am I wasting my time.

[Boasun]

Had a lightening strike on a boat I was working on.
It hit the SSB Antenna and blew out the coupler and the SSB before being grounded out into the steel hull of that boat. Needless to say that strike burned out all of the E. Boards in both the coupler and the SSB. And that antenna was nothing but splinters after the strike. Otherwise the steel hull & superstructure acted like a Faraday Cage and protected the crew.

[noelex77]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

A better option for protecting small electronics is your pressure cooker. It forms a well-sealed faraday cage, thanks to the pressure gasket seal. .

Doesn't the gasket seal prevent electrical conductivity between the lid and base? This would make it a poor Faraday cage.