lightning!

[dan]

hey folks...im just wondering how i should protect my cd25 (and me) from possible lightning strikes. the boat doesnt come with any copper hull plates or anything so what do most of you do if anything to protect against this?

thanks!
dan



dan_iss@yahoo.com

[David Brownlee]

When we owned a CD25, we carried a piece of chain that we shackled onto the backstay and dangled in the water when we heard thunder. It made us feel a little better.

David Brownlee
CD31 #1 "Windrush"
Havre de Grace, MD



dbrownle@sas.upenn.edu

[marv]

hey folks...im just wondering how i should protect my cd25 (and me) from possible lightning strikes. the boat doesnt come with any copper hull plates or anything so what do most of you do if anything to protect against this?

thanks!
dan

In SC we keep a carefull eye open for any thunder activity and make a bee line to shore if we are caught
I think prevention would be the best approach it only takes 10 mins for the storm to move into an area that we are in.
if I were caught in one I would try to head to shore trees and stay away from the shrouds etc
probably cower down below.



mibrinn@aol.com

[len]

dan

at one time i carried a couple of auto jumper cables with the clips on one end cut off and the wires on that end exposed and splayed out -
i would clip the other ends to a shroud and throw the exposed wire in the water - my anxiety would then decrease

len



md.frel@nwh.org

[M. R. Bober]

While the safety of vessel & crew is clearly the most important issue for the skipper--and I don't mean to downplay lightning--how frequently are boats struck? I know of only one. TIA MARI was berthed next to a much larger boat, which was struck while at the dock. He lost everyhing mounted on the masthead & all of the electronics were fried, there was no structural damage. We suffered no problems dispite our close proximity.

I have read diametrically opposed opinions from experts concerning the use of various devices and/or electrically grounding/bonding a vessel for protection from lightning strikes. They argue that it is better or worse to ground a boat and that the devices do or don't work. I know that being very close to a vessel with a much taller mast DOES provide protection. Beyond that, I'm out of my league.

I am curious;do you know of any boats that have been struck?
Mitchell Bober
RESPITE
CD330

[Peter]

hey folks...im just wondering how i should protect my cd25 (and me) from possible lightning strikes. the boat doesnt come with any copper hull plates or anything so what do most of you do if anything to protect against this?

thanks!
dan

Pick up a copy of the book "Lightning and boats" (ISBN 09639566-0-4)by Michael V. Huck, Jr. This might give you some ideas, but I really believe what has been said above, that there is probably little to be done, and that strikes are rare -- especially out on open water where it has been suggested that the movement on the boat, and therefore the masthead, means less chance for lightning to strike. I understand that that's the reason most lightning strikes occur in the marina where the boat is docked, and few occur out on the open sea where you would think the boat is most vulnerable. This doesn't help, but I think we're at the mercy of the elements or of God or whatever. Good luck, and may lightning always strike somewhere else.
Peter, S/V Katy Kaye



pkozup@juno.com

[bob loewenstein]

Many years ago I kept an M16 (16' racing scow) on a lift by a pier. Next to me was a C-Scow (20') also on a lift. Both boats were wooden. The C-Scow was hit by lightning at its wooden masthead. The current flowed down the shrouds and exploded the wooden sides at both chainplates (port and starboard). My boat was spared, perhaps because of the C-Scow's higher mast, perhaps by happenstance. After the lightning strike, I always stored tbe boat with one end of a large gauge cable attached to the shroud and the other end attached to the boat lift (which stood in the water). I figured if I did get struck, at least there was a lower resistance path to water than through the hull. I never did get struck, so my test was never completed (whew).

Bob

[Mario]

While the safety of vessel & crew is clearly the most important issue for the skipper--and I don't mean to downplay lightning--how frequently are boats struck? I know of only one. TIA MARI was berthed next to a much larger boat, which was struck while at the dock. He lost everyhing mounted on the masthead & all of the electronics were fried, there was no structural damage. We suffered no problems dispite our close proximity.

I have read diametrically opposed opinions from experts concerning the use of various devices and/or electrically grounding/bonding a vessel for protection from lightning strikes. They argue that it is better or worse to ground a boat and that the devices do or don't work. I know that being very close to a vessel with a much taller mast DOES provide protection. Beyond that, I'm out of my league.

I am curious;do you know of any boats that have been struck?
Mitchell Bober
RESPITE
CD330

Some friends of ours kept their Hunter 25 on Smith Mountain Lake in SW Virginia several years before moving it to the Chesapeake Bay. A couple of years ago it was hit by lightning while in the marina with no one aboard. I don't recall the dollar figure of the damage, but they lost all their electronics and electrical system and it blew a hole into the hull. They lost an entire season waiting for it to be fixed. I always wondered why, with taller masts nearby, they were the ones to get hit. I know that lightning actually travels up rather than down, but I've never understood why they were the unlucky ones.

Mario
S/V Rhapsody
CD 30 #252



capedory252@aol.com

[Bill Goldsmith]

I was never hit, but in June 1998, on my delivery trip home, anyone would think I should have been.

I was out in LI sound off Huntington in fog conditions, and a thunderstorm rolled through. The water was like glass, and there was no one (that I could see) around me. Several lightning strikes were so close to the boat that I could see ripples in the water created by them. There was NO DELAY between the flash and the thunder clap--they were simultaneous. I am not too proud a skipper to admit I was more frightened than I have ever been, anywhere, anytime, period. However, the lightning did not seem to "see" us. The storm passed over, the sky cleared and the rest of the day was beautiful.

I would have thought that under those conditions, us being the only boat (or one of few boats) around, we were the highest point around, we should have attracted a strike. Especially considering how close the strikes were. I'm no expert, but I have to give some credit to the theory that the bonding system essentially "lowers" the masthead to equal the surrounding water surface, making you no more likely to be hit than any other spot on the water.

However, I have done some reading about lightning and also agree that there are differing views out there. The one theme I have noticed is that lightning is an overpowering unpredictable electrical force, and that luck (or lack of it) plays a big part in the ultimate outcome.

Bill Goldsmith
Cd27
Second Chance

While the safety of vessel & crew is clearly the most important issue for the skipper--and I don't mean to downplay lightning--how frequently are boats struck? I know of only one. TIA MARI was berthed next to a much larger boat, which was struck while at the dock. He lost everyhing mounted on the masthead & all of the electronics were fried, there was no structural damage. We suffered no problems dispite our close proximity.

I have read diametrically opposed opinions from experts concerning the use of various devices and/or electrically grounding/bonding a vessel for protection from lightning strikes. They argue that it is better or worse to ground a boat and that the devices do or don't work. I know that being very close to a vessel with a much taller mast DOES provide protection. Beyond that, I'm out of my league.

I am curious;do you know of any boats that have been struck?
Mitchell Bober
RESPITE
CD330

goldy@bestweb.net

[Anthony P. Jeske]

The 1983 CD-28 I used to own was hit by lightning in 1985. The boat was on a mooring, no one was aboard. The Windex on the masthead was vaporized. Some current traveled along the wire reinforcing in the bilge pump drain hose and partly vaporized the plastic thru hull at the stern. I had no electronics aboard at the time, so no inductive damage there. I believe the grounding system prevented other damage such as exploded wood or sinking due to damaged/ melted seacocks.
I remember hearing of a Hunter that was hit two times, and sunk both times, due to seacock damage.
Tony Jeske
Currently sailing in lightning free San Diego
CD25D #141



ajeske@ixpres.com

[Warren Kaplan]

I don't have much to add to what has already been said. Only that lightning is still poorly understood and very unpredictable. This past weekend we had some pretty rough weather in the Northeast around the NYC Metro area. Lots of T-storms. A story all over the local news reported; A fellow in New Jersey was throwing a football around with a friend on the beach. They were under absolutely blue skies. There was a T-Storm WAY offshore over the ocean. Not even near the beach (as the sky was the aforementioned blue). Literally, out of the blue, a lightning bolt struck this poor guy in the head and exited his hip. He was dead before he hit the ground. Scientists, asked about this bolt out of the blue said that somehow the bolt travelled from miles off shore and picked out this unlucky soul. Figure that one out.



Setsail728@aol.com

[Rich]

hey folks...im just wondering how i should protect my cd25 (and me) from possible lightning strikes. the boat doesnt come with any copper hull plates or anything so what do most of you do if anything to protect against this?

thanks!
dan

Here's a good web site that discusses protecting a boat and crew from lightning strikes: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/nasd/docs/as04800.html



rpassmore42@hotmail.com

[Ken Coit]

For those of you who want to see what the "experts" have to say about lightning and exotic devices to prevent it, take a gander at the various communiques related to the site below. There is a religious war going on over ESEs.

Ken

hey folks...im just wondering how i should protect my cd25 (and me) from possible lightning strikes. the boat doesnt come with any copper hull plates or anything so what do most of you do if anything to protect against this?

thanks!
dan

parfait@nc.rr.com

[Ed Roberts]

I would suggest that the reason more boats are hit in marinas than in open water is that boats spend 95% of their time in marinas.

[Peter]

Ed, I really don't know, but let me quote what the author of the book I mention above says on pg. 25 -- "In theory, a boat at sea would appear to be extremely vulnerable to a lightning strike. . . . Yet, I have rarely heard of, and I have never been aboard a boat that has been hit by lightning while at sea. My theory is that the risk for boats at sea may be reduced by the motion of the masthead, or other high points of a boat in motion. I believe that the movement of a boat through water allows a vessel to more easily shed electrical potential. Since the electric potential is constantly being shed, it rarely builds to the level necessary to generate a return streamer."
Is he correct? Hell, I don't know, but at least it might make one feel a bit better when on a boat moving through a thunderstorm. And, it might mean that it's a good idea to keep the boat moving during the storm. Whatever the case, as has been shown by the many posts that this thread has generated, lightning is totally unpredictable and it's best to stay away from it if possible.
May all your sails be in sunny weather.
Peter

I would suggest that the reason more boats are hit in marinas than in open water is that boats spend 95% of their time in marinas.

pkozup@juno.com