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Author Topic: Lightning and Grounding  (Read 7536 times)

rhpurcell

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  • Vessel Name: Wind and Spirit
  • City: Chicago Monroe Harbor
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Lightning and Grounding
« on: June 27, 2012, 02:00:01 PM »
Has anyone been hit with lightning on P323?  About a year ago AnaMeg asked but no one replied.  Does lightning have a straight path down the mast to the iron mass in the keel?  What happens if we get hit by lightning?
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Dolce_Vita

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  • Model: P323
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Re: Lightning and Grounding
« Reply #1 on: June 28, 2012, 01:54:04 PM »
If you have all your rigging and through hulls bonded together with correctly sized wire, AND you're lucky  ;) , the discharge will go out one of the through hulls or the propshaft without blowing out enough chunks of fiberglass from the hull to sink the boat. 

Disclaimer:  I've never had this happen, however, it happened to a dockmate's Tartan 27.  The boat survived but there were chunks missing around a through hull.
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@(^.^)@  Ed
1977 P-323 #42 "Dolce Vita"
with rebuilt Atomic-4

Salvation

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Re: Lightning and Grounding
« Reply #2 on: June 30, 2012, 07:26:51 AM »
I have an external grounding plate connected to the mast with 2/0 wire. I doubt it would save electronics but will likely spare the hull. Not yet tried by lightning! 
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