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Davidhoy · 02-08-2016, 11:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by reed1v

Fuses, GFI, breakers, etc will do diddly squat if you get a direct hit from lightening. The massive charge will overwhelm just about anything you have aboard.

I've read some interesting stuff about devices called TVSSs (transient voltage surge suppressors) that you install in front of critical systems, and can provide a decent level of protection from induced voltage spikes. Since they handle both positive and negative leads they can also protect against current flowing the wrong way.

There is a recent, very interesting, article on the BoatUS website that talks about lightning protection. Turns out the author lives just down the street from me, and we've been talking about some options once the boat is all put back together again. The article is worth a read - Modern Lightning Protection On Recreational Watercraft - Seaworthy Magazine - BoatUS

Regards,
David

**tkeithlu** · 02-08-2016, 13:48

Lightening = not so dark
Lightning = KerPow!
Cutlass = type of broad bladed sword
Cutless = Registered trademark for type of shaft bearing common in boats.

Sorry. 38 years of grading termpapers.

reed1v · 02-08-2016, 16:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

Lightening = not so dark
Lightning = KerPow!
Cutlass = type of broad bladed sword
Cutless = Registered trademark for type of shaft bearing common in boats.

Sorry. 38 years of grading termpapers.

Thanks, getting too reliant on the stupid spell checker and should proof what i write. BTW: thought "cutlass" bearings was a generic term nowadays. The word "cutlass" has entered common parlance and is universally used. Much like "hey" for "hay"; which i am told on good authority is only for horses.

reed1v · 02-08-2016, 16:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davidhoy

I've read some interesting stuff about devices called TVSSs (transient voltage surge suppressors) that you install in front of critical systems, and can provide a decent level of protection from induced voltage spikes. Since they handle both positive and negative leads they can also protect against current flowing the wrong way.

There is a recent, very interesting, article on the BoatUS website that talks about lightning protection. Turns out the author lives just down the street from me, and we've been talking about some options once the boat is all put back together again. The article is worth a read - Modern Lightning Protection On Recreational Watercraft - Seaworthy Magazine - BoatUS

Regards,
David

Nice article, thanks. Good read. The TVSS approach seems like a neat idea but doubt if it would do much if a direct hit blasted through the boat. For stray currents and nearby strikes, they probably will work well.

A lot of stray currents get set up around the main leader, thus the advantage of a faraday cage approach. A direct hit however will ignore a lot of theory and may not take the shortest route, or at least perceived shortest route.

Again, the "cone of protection" is more myth than reality at the micro level of a single sailboat. Really is nothing to prevent a main strike from jumping from the mast direct to the engine, or even splitting across the shrouds, the steering pedestal, and even that big water bag we call crew. As they say in economics: all else being equal, which never is.

Finally, people have been killed in cars when the lightning decided to plow through the windshield rather than follow theory and go around the metal shell and jump to the ground(after melting the tires).

Big big bolts of lightning basically evaporate whatever is in their path, moving at about 200,000 miles per hour; so any electrical safeguard will have been blown apart and melted before it has a chance to do much good. Remember also the electrons are moving at close to the speed of light. All that ionization happens in an incredibly short time span. There is not much a human can do to stop or divert a big strike. Otoh, you can minimize the EM effects from nearby strikes or a weak strike to the boat.

Final thing: Its not what is coming down on you but what is plowing up from the earth to reach the sky. The boat is caught in a channel in which earth and sky want to meet. You are just in the way sometimes. Hopefully you are on the edge or just nearby the channel; but sometimes you are the channel.

MarkJ · 02-08-2016, 20:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

Sorry. 38 years of grading termpapers.

Termpapers...?

Hmmmmmmmm

reed1v · 03-08-2016, 04:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Termpapers...?

Hmmmmmmmm

Maybe he meant term papers?

MarkJ · 03-08-2016, 07:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by reed1v

Maybe he meant term papers?

Then Keith should get 5/10.

I am giving him 4/10 for making an error whilst being grammar Nazi

reed1v · 03-08-2016, 08:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Then Keith should get 5/10.

I am giving him 4/10 for making an error whilst being grammar Nazi

Hope he does not make soup.

Davidhoy · 03-08-2016, 08:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Then Keith should get 5/10.

I am giving him 4/10 for making an error whilst being grammar Nazi

So now the grammar police are hijacking my thread? Sheesh! ;-)

reed1v · 03-08-2016, 08:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davidhoy

So now the grammar police are hijacking my thread? Sheesh! ;-)

Yup, like a bolt out of the blue.

**tkeithlu** · 03-08-2016, 10:38

I apologize. Yes, I make errors too. It's off topic, but language is fluid, and only English teachers and jaded professors resist the changes. Even scientists are starting to use the word "data" in the singular, and "cohort" as an individual rather than your group of friends. My appreciation of the very valuable posts I see on CN is far deeper than any concern for grammer, spelling, or changing usage.

reed1v · 03-08-2016, 11:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

I apologize. Yes, I make errors too. It's off topic, but language is fluid, and only English teachers and jaded professors resist the changes. Even scientists are starting to use the word "data" in the singular, and "cohort" as an individual rather than your group of friends. My appreciation of the very valuable posts I see on CN is far deeper than any concern for grammer, spelling, or changing usage.

I see nothing wrong with trying to defend the King's English, windmills not withstanding. Conversations should be free to "tilt" back and forth around the OP's opening question. Onward Rocinante!

Davidhoy · 03-08-2016, 12:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

I apologize. Yes, I make errors too. It's off topic, but language is fluid, and only English teachers and jaded professors resist the changes. Even scientists are starting to use the word "data" in the singular, and "cohort" as an individual rather than your group of friends. My appreciation of the very valuable posts I see on CN is far deeper than any concern for grammar, spelling, or changing usage.

No apology needed, I'm not upset about my thread being hijacked, I was just joking. As long as we're all respectful and lighthearted, it's all fine. I prefer to use good grammar, spelling, and punctuation too, but none of us is perfect, me least of all. If you do ever see me taking myself too seriously on CF, please feel free to whack me upside the head with a virtual winch handle ;-)

Hmmm, that has me thinking, we need an emoji for being whacked with that winch handle...

-David

Cadence · 03-08-2016, 13:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by reed1v

I see nothing wrong with trying to defend the King's English, windmills not withstanding. Conversations should be free to "tilt" back and forth around the OP's opening question. Onward Rocinante!

Reed, who speaks the King's English? I will guess some of the people that have it as a second language probably do better at it. I enjoy reading some of the various terms used by Brits, South Africans and Aussies and alike that it is their first language but not used in the US.