Lightning Protection

[Talulah]

I spent last Sunday wondering around the usual hards at Hamble Point looking for boats with lightning protection for possible suggestions for myself.
I didn't find any. Does anyone on this forum have lightning protection installed on their yacht? If so, what tactic have you employed? What is attached on your hull to ground the strike?

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[Roberto]

Limited sensible explanation, anyway here it goes: I have a short thick cable (sort of battery cable, or house thick common earth cable) bolted to the mast base on one extremity and to a keelbolt on the other

I have been hit once and apart from the burning vhf aerial falling from the sky and few minor damages, everything went rather well

again, there may be many other different methods and theories but hey, this worked and I am very happy..

rob



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[Talbot]

worth checking USA sites and forums as they have a lot more experience of this than we do.

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[Jools_of_Top_Cat]

Did you check the keel bolt after the strike, what condition was it in?

<hr width=100% size=1>Julian

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[Roberto]

yes, first reaction after having heard all people aboard were breathing! and recovered my nightview: the keelbolt was ok, as were the two crimped cable terminals; there was a little area of soot around the connections but that was all

the rest of damage was fried vhf (luck we had no electronics at the time), and the compass kept turning round for a few minutes



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[tsmyth]

The impression that I have gained from what I have read on the subject is that none of the commercial systems is guaranteed to work.

This was discussed some time agao, and I sem to recall that one Scandavian chap commented that he hangs a lenght of chain to one of his shrouds, with t'other end int the briny. Might work!

Ray

<hr width=100% size=1>Heat Wave