Hi all What is everyone doing about lightening,thuderstorms saftey. Do i just hope for the best and head for shore. Take it down ,ground it , or make a wooden mast.
Twinspirit
wooden boat,carbonfiber mast receptacle, aluminum mast?
(8 posts) (6 voices)-
JoeVanGeaux
MemberTwinSpirit,
To get you started, type in the Google search line, without quotes: lightning protection on boats
I found that selecting the images has produced good search results sometimes. Scroll through some pictures that look like they may tell the story you are looking to learn from, then clicking on the picture will often bring you to a site that is associated with the picture and topic.
Its a very broad topic with so many answers and approaches only someone with direct knowledge of lightning protection on boats should be your 'expert'. If that same person also survived a direct strike while on the water they will become my goto guy with anything that goes "zap"!.
My house(s) got struck a total of four times over the years and me indirectly once (my wife says twice but I don't recall the second one). Even though I got close to lightning, it still didn't bring me close to really knowing enough about it except you should read up on the topic to at least help you gain a healthy respect for the problem and solutions and your pursuit may also help rationalize fears and dispell myths.
I am researching the same topic, btw.
Regards
JoeVanGeaux
Posted 7 years ago # -
Meatloaf
MemberLightning is fickle ... on a boat you can get a full blown strike, or a small finger, or even St Elmo's fire. I have experienced all three occurences, the full strike was an old wooden sailboat with aluminum mast. The radio antennae blew up and the whip burned a curve in the deck where it landed, plus the radio was fried but no harm other than spilled beers, to any of us on the boat, there were three of us in the open cockpit. On a Hobie 16, I was racing for the beach to avoid a storm and got zapped by a tiny finger that went out my right elbow That HURT for a few days, but no other damage other than a warped sinse of humor, my friend beside me felt nothing. I've seen St Elmo's Fire several times, on wooden and fiberglass sailboats. No harm at all there, but spooky! There are recommendations for at least one square foot of copper on the hull bottom, connected with a large (12 or 10 gauge) wire to the mast and rigging in ABYC and NFPA rules and recommendations. That is good, but impractical in a kayak other small boat. Options could include a few feet of chain in the water, electrically connected to your rigging and/or mast. Aluminum and Carbon Fiber both conduct electricity. As far as protection goes there is a theory called the "Cone of Protection," basically what it means is if you have a 10' tall mast that is grounded to the sea (it must have electrical contact with the water) you will have a 10' radius of protection Anything under the cone is potentially protected, but don't lick your lips and raise your hand thinking you are protected. Due diligence should be excercised. Don't wave metal golfclubs over your head in a thunderstorm and don't wave a carbon fiber paddle either.
Good Luck, have Fun, Carpe' Diem
Meatloaf
Posted 7 years ago # -
JoeVanGeaux
MemberMeatloaf, you are the closet to the expert I described earlier.
I've toyed with the idea of connecting (bonding) a heavy gage wire on the backstay of my Lightning (the 19' dinghy) and trailing that with chain in the water behind me (grounding). My worry though is that a lightning strike could potentially disconnect my backstay. That would not be a good thing yet my mast wouldn't necessarily come down because it is stepped through partners on the deck and rests on the bottom just ahead of the centerboard trunk. This rig would mean the path would travel closer to me at the helm (albeit by a coouple of feet) than if it passed through the mast.then the centerboard.
I guess my reason for mentioning this is that I want to avoid (minimize - since we are talking about lightning) any short path that could take the surge to any hull fitting or point on the boat hull that could blow a hole in the hull - that would be discouraging(!) and changing undergarments on a pitching and rolling dinghy would be uncomfortable, yet not first on the list of priorities.
My boat has a stainless steel centerboard. Assuming the board is down at the time of a strike, do you think that by bonding the centerboard to a point a foot or two above the base of the mast that a strike would be sufficiently diverted from "bee-lining" at the base of the mast through the hull?
JoeVanGeaux
Posted 7 years ago # -
danceswithmullet
MemberThere is some "man made" lightning to look out for in checkpoint 2. This year I arrived on a high tide and while thankful to avoid the mud slog, the beach area was small and filled with boats. I shuffled to the north end of the landing because Finger Mullet behaves badly on anchor and luckily someone yelled from shore to look up. There are power lines there that extend over the water and my mast was getting close. Apparently you only need to get within 4 Ft. and the power can jump from the high tension wire. Look up in checkpoint two. DWM
Posted 7 years ago # -
Badger
MemberI've had two encounters with lighting, both at a remove, thank heavens.
Firstly, I was out on a Wesnesday night beer can race when a squall progressively knocked down the boats between us and 'Naptown. We were just dousing sails when it hit us and laid us over. Fifteen crazy minutes later the skies cleared, and two boats were dismasted, and one had suffered a lightning strike that exited through the chainplates and left a sizable hole in the hull. They made port, no injuries except fried electronics.
The second was when, as a medical resident, I researched and corresponded with Bob Madgic, author of "Shattered Air" a "True Account of Catastrophe and Courage on Yosemite's Half Dome." Apparently, a group of young & invincible men/boys danced during a violent storm atop that peak, with unfortunate results.
We discussed the four ways lighting kills and injures: direct strikes, striking an object a person is in contact with, using the body as a pathway, and by ground current (step voltage). Persons are injured both in primary (electrical) and secondary (blunt trauma) ways... you can be thrown or convulsive movement can cause falls and other mechanisms.
Indirect strikes, as mentioned above, are the most common cause of lightning associated electrical injuries. They occur when an object hit by lightning (say, a tree or the rock of a cave) is not as good a conductor as a fluid filled bag of electrolytes, ie, you and me, and so current preferentially courses through the path of least resistance. This side splash of current is sufficient to injure or kill.
When electrocuted, first systems devastatingly affected are nervous and cardiovascular. Our nerves and blood vessels are the best conduits for electrical current within the body, so they are most readily affected. Sudden cardiac arrest and seizures impair circulation, and so CPR and rapid advanced care are mainstays of treatment. If the heart keeps beating and the person keeps breathing, they likely will survive, but... the resulting injury from the electrical current resembles a burn on the inside of the body, which is hard to treat surgically, and can lead to rhabdomyolysis, renal failure, disabling pain and disorders of the senses (hearing, vision, balance, etc).
Interesting topic. Avoid personal experience!
Posted 7 years ago # -
Meatloaf
MemberJGV I was a Marine Surveyor for 12 years. Worked a few lightning claims, including a J-160 carbon fiber mast. Then I prostituted myself back into the oilpatch. ABYC and NFPA 302 have loads of good info regarding grounding and lightning protection.
I concur with Badger, avoid being experienced if at all possible.
Meatloaf
Posted 7 years ago #
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