I put out the idea of grounding the mast after remembering what hulls looked like after the charge jumped out through the fiberglass. Wouldn't straight to ground from the base of the mast be better. I'm not suggesting being anywhere near a stored, mast up, boat in a lighting storm.
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'82 Super Cat 15
Hull #315
Virginia
Previously owned: '70 H14, '79 H16, '68 Sailmaster 26, '85 H14T
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Lightning and Catamaran Sailing
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- Rank: Mate
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Posted: Jul 16, 2013 - 04:39 PM
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Posted: Jul 16, 2013 - 05:10 PM
one thing I know for sure is that it's some random stuff...this woman got struck in a supermarket in New Orleans today. sometimes it's your turn. hopefully you get a light dose, really light dose, like we had. being that close to huge bolts of lightning is friggin scarey...you can see why the greeks thought zeus controlled it...reach out and touch someone, with a tickle or blow them up! we prayed and drank...
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bill harris
hattiesburg, mississippi
prindle 16- "BLUE RIBBON"
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Posted: Jul 16, 2013 - 05:26 PM
i am not sure. it just seem when things are grounded ... some freaky thing happens and they are more prone to being hit...
my friends cat was struck right next to mine (we were both tied down with tree augers) and it left 1 small hole in the hull ... very easy repair (he got lucky, i have head of much worse results from lightning). -
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Posted: Jul 16, 2013 - 08:24 PM
My personal belief is that it is better NOT to ground an unpowered fibreglass boat . Electricity is a lazy being, it always takes the path of least resistance. Even with a mast sticking up, the hulls are very good insulators, & since there is no path to the ground, it will look for an easier way. I think that the fibreglass tillers would also be safe to hold, as they are a very good insulator.
My understanding of the physics is that it is not simply a bolt that comes from the sky, looks for your mast & travels down it.
There must be a differential, of thousands of volts, between the ground & the charge building in the clouds. When it gets big enough it jumps the gap, much like petting a cat & reaching for a doorknob. The doorknob must have an opposite charge.
If you have an engine, they are generally connected right to the underwater portions, in order to prevent galvanic corrosion. This provides an easy path for a strike, & would do damage if not protected with a heavy ground.
Houses are a different entity, there is a path via the electrical service & copper piping. To prevent a strike from following that route,& possibly frying a person who happened to be turning on a water tap, most modern houses have a thick copper cable attached that ends in a metal rod in the ground. That doesn't stop all transient voltages, unless you have surge protector built into your fuse panel, you can fry alot of TVs & other electrical items.
I have been hit 3 times in airplanes, twice with no discernible damage. The other was into the nose of a Twin Otter,(they have a 4" probe sticking out of the nose cone) with the charge exiting the tail of the aircraft. It blew a couple of rivets out, & the white tail navigation light departed the plane. We only discovered that back on the water,(we were on floats).
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Dart 15
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