As aluminum boats and lightning 01 true of boatd sailors I suspect, I have subscribed to the philosophy that lightning lightnimg its effects are so random and poorly understood that you can get royally screwed no matter what you try aluminum boats and lightning 01 do about it.
Which is a great predicate, boas course, to going into denial and doing nothing at all. But the death in Florida last summer of Noah Cullena most promising young man who presumably was killed in a lightning strike while out singlehanding on his pocket cruiser, got me pondering this in a more deliberate manner.
On doing some research, I found there are some hard facts out there that are well worth knowing. Much of what we tend to learn about lightning is anecdotal, which mostly serves to make it seem more mysterious. I, for example, have never been struck by lightning, but I did once cut through some severe thunder squalls in the Gulf Stream in a grounded fiberglass boat and saw a bolt of lightning the size of a large tree trunk flash straight into the water just a few yards behind us.
I have met a number of sailors who have been struck by lightning, mostly in grounded boats, and in every case they told me they lost all their electronics. So I have also always assumed there is nothing you can really do to protect installed electronics from a lightning strike.
But you should forget all the anecdotes you ever heard, at least temporarily, and think aluminum boats and lightning 01 the following:. One source states that a sailboat with a foot mast will aluminum boats and lightning 01 average be struck once every According to insurance data, the general average for all boats is about 1.
Most strikes aluminum boats and lightning 01 on sailboats 4 strikes per 1, sailboats each year. And these are likely lowball numbers, as it seems many lightning-strike victims are not insured or do not report the strikes to their insurers. According to one independent survey, unreported strikes could be as high as 50 percent of the total.
Location is also a big factor. Some areas, including very popular cruising grounds like Florida or Chesapeake Bay, are much more lightning-prone than others, and you are obviously much more likely to get struck when sailing within. The overall boate for reported lightning strikes on boats in Florida, for example, is 3. Map showing lightning strike probabilities around the 0.
The higher the number, the higher the probability. Interestingly, catamarans overall apparently are struck twice as often as monohulls. Could this be because they are effectively twice as much boat??? There is no technology that can positively keep your boat from being hit.
Lots of other targets with masts around, so why did the bolt hit this one boat? Boatts damage: This is where the action is. An ungrounded boat is much more likely to suffer potentially disastrous damage when struck i. An ungrounded boat in fresh water is most vulnerable of all. Typical aluminum boats and lightning 01 damage around an anchor well drain on a fiberglass boat.
Hull damage just above the waterline is not at all unusual. But you can still suffer lighhning damage on a metal boat! Bonding: You and the gear on your boat are more likely to survive a strike without damage if the major bits of metal on your boat are bonded to the grounding.
This reduces the likelihood of dangerous side flashes. It does, however, create complications with respect to the potential ligntning galvanic corrosion on a boat. Saving electronics: First of all, stowing handheld electronics or any disconnected electronics in your oven will protect them during a strike.
Just remember aluminum boats and lightning 01 take them out again before using the oven! See the sources below for more details. Your personal safety: This should be most important, right? It would seem the most prudent aluminum boats and lightning 01 is severely reduce sail, or take it all down, pop the boat on autopilot, and get below well in advance of and after a thunderstorm. Lightning and Sailboats : Academic paper published by Ewen M.
Thomson, currently recognized as the most well-informed go-to guy on this subject. Marine Lightning Protection : Website for a business run by Ewen Thomson see abovewho is a pioneer in modern cage-style boat-grounding techniques. Lightning Survey Results : Discussion re results of a small independent online lightning-strike survey conducted by a cruiser who owns a power-cat named Domino. Very informative. Considerations for Lightning Protection : Conclusions alhminum post-survey by the owner of Dominoreferenced.
Lessons in Lightning : Ocean Navigator article by a cruiser in an aluminum Aluminum Boats And Lightning 028 boat who was struck by lightning in the Baltic. Of particular interest to those like myself who own aluminum boats. Boatz are lots of boars resources out there, but these four links are a very good place to start.
We were hit by lightning in a fast moving front off Newfoundland many years ago before gps. All the electronics were fried! The binnacle must have been demagnetized as it hopelessly spun in circles, giving us only a hand sighting compass to steer by. The smell of burned wire insulation in boat was overpowering. Luckily this is a rare occurrence and for the most part just bad luck!
Robert: Abd. In Bermuda once I met a tall ship, steel hull, that had been struck by lightning, and as a result the whole ship was magnetized. Aluminum boats and lightning 01 also kept their compasses from working properly.
They were on their way to Norfolk, Virginia, to get degaussed. If you consider that the sky has a positive electrical charge and the sea a negative charge, grounding the boat and the mast gives them a negative charge. Hence as far as the lightning is concerned, the bonded mast raised aluminum boats and lightning 01 local sea level to mast top height.
Lightning will tend to bridge the narrowest gap with the greatest electrical charge difference � so by grounding boat and mast, you have made them MORE vulnerable to lightning strikes, not.
Tying lightninh earth system into the keel bolts is not likely to result in loss of the keel, but it sure does constitute trying your best to do so. In a big strike, lightning will try to follow a straight path and the energy contained in such a strike is often too great for a simple system to be effective. And it needs to be understood that either method makes the strike a whole lot more likely to occur.
A grounded mast does offer a degree of protection to a non-bonded electrical system in the boat underneath. This is the standard system used in telecommunications. The best protection you can have Aluminum Boats And Lightning Website is to park your ungrounded wooden boat with a wooden mast and an electrical system isolated from the sea, right next to a grounded metal boat with a big aluminium mast.
Bryan Tuffnell while part of what you say is true that a grounded boat is more likely to be struck the catch is that it will do less damage if struck where as a boat not grounded is aluminum boats and lightning 01 likely to be aluminum boats and lightning 01 if it ever is you will have significantly more damage. Aluminum boats and lightning 01, but quite likely not. The only way to offer lightning protection is to place a grounded lightning target above the mast, but electrically isolated from the mast and every other part of the boat.
The grounding is completely independent of the mast, rigging, interior, electrical system, and above waterline areas of the hull. The idea is that this attracts the lightning and provides a low impedance path to ground, without drawing the charge into any part of the boat or its contents.
Using this strategy one does not ground aluminum boats and lightning 01 mast, hull, rigging. This is the only strategy to apply if one insists on lightning protection. Its the other way round. When aluminum boats and lightning 01 builds up the negative aluminum boats and lightning 01 is at the cloud base, and the positive at the aluminum boats and lightning 01 surface.
The only thing proper grounding does is trying to guide the current of a charge in a way that does the least harm. Not necessarily in the first case, and generally not true in the second� the polarity of lightning is variable, and there are countless examples of nearby strikes to ungrounded boats.
As far as doing the Aluminum Boats And Lightning 600mm least harm goes, grounding the mast is about the worst thing you can do, particularly if you have grounded electrical items aluminum boats and lightning 01. Is it foolish to think that the method where a set of jumper cables is attached to mast and other end dropped overboard, might be a good emergency strategy if caught in elec storm? Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
Please enable the javascript to submit this form. Related Posts. The Lunacy Report. Lightbing Doane August 20, Bryan Tuffnell while part of what you say is true that a grounded boat is more likely to be struck the catch is that it will do less damage if struck where as a boat not grounded is less likely to be struck if it ever is you will have zluminum more damage Maybe, but quite likely not.
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