Would a lightning strike be a deal-breaker?

[Captn_Black]

Originally Posted by Talos

Make sure you check out the Talos Lightning Detector .. It doesn't prevent lightning from hitting your boat .. but does provide Situational Awareness helping keep you and the crew safe. www.shoptalos.com

Probably not in my budget, but sounds kinda cool. I guess it detects increased levels of charged ions in the air?

[Talos]

Yes, detects the microvolt levels awareness up to 25 miles away with both audible and visual alerts. There is a Lightning Awareness Promotion going on save $20 either on Amazon or direct with shoptalos.com. It's portable and waterproof .. so you can have it on the mothership and then take it with you on the dink when out and about.

[Frankly]

Originally Posted by Captn_Black

Ofc, The Practical Junk Rig book recommends a lightning conductor. Was just wondering if anyone had any alternative solutions to those provided by the book. Suitable sized copper wire is pretty expensive. Perhaps using an old stay from another ship? Though SS isn't particularly conductive normally, so idk if it would be effective.

SS or even galvanized would be an improvement. While these materials are not considered good electrical conductors they are far better than wood. What you are trying to accomplish is to provide a preferred path to the sea from the masthead(s) if lightning was to pay you a visit. With a steel hull you are in great shape for the sea water end of things, the path to that hull is where you need to concentrate your efforts. Lightning is not going to care whether that conductor is inside or outside that wooden mast. That is a cosmetic choice.


Frankly

[Captn_Black]

Originally Posted by Talos

Yes, detects the microvolt levels awareness up to 25 miles away with both audible and visual alerts. There is a Lightning Awareness Promotion going on save $20 either on Amazon or direct with shoptalos.com. It's portable and waterproof .. so you can have it on the mothership and then take it with you on the dink when out and about.

Cool, though I grew up in the Highveld, SA, they have about 200 lightning storms a year there, I reckon I could "smell" lightning at the same distance. But still a good idea though. Gives people time to disconnect their electrical equipment etc.

[Captn_Black]

Originally Posted by Frankly

SS or even galvanized would be an improvement. While these materials are not considered good electrical conductors they are far better than wood. What you are trying to accomplish is to provide a preferred path to the sea from the masthead(s) if lightning was to pay you a visit. With a steel hull you are in great shape for the sea water end of things, the path to that hull is where you need to concentrate your efforts. Lightning is not going to care whether that conductor is inside or outside that wooden mast. That is a cosmetic choice.


Frankly

Cheers, yea, I suspected so, but I appreciate the confirmation.

[Talos]

You are 100% correct ..!! It was designed and is built in Florida .. the Lightning Capital in the USA. Let us know if we can be of further assistance ..!

[S/V Reveille]

I appreciate everyone's response. Thank you!

[AZUS]

We bought our boat used. It had a lightning strike and a shore power mishap - both required replacement of electronics and the shore power issue required much of the wiring to be replaced. We have sailed her 12,000 miles since, including one crossing, and never regretted it.

As others say, get a really good survey before you buy. In addition to the areas they mentioned, have the surveyor take a close look at the electrical for any burned or stressed wiring. Other than the due diligence required, I'd have no issues.

You have the benefit of a seller who told you about the issue. Ours did not - we heard it in the community - so we were trebly careful when we did our survey.

[Siberian Sea]

Always a small chance that though hulls and in some cases engine mounts could be damaged. The charge seeks a way to earth and that’s might be found through the vessels bonding system to below water through hulls. It’s been documented that in rare occasions vessels have even sank due to uncontrollable flooding when lightning stuck the boat and blowout a through hull. But honestly I doubt very much your going to find any more damage as you had said this event happened a few years ago.

[Wallaby]

My previous boat took a direct hit on the mast. The strike made three parallel cuts in the mast, near the top so relatively low stress. The boat was properly grounded with every thru-hull and major metal mass connected. There was no hull damage except for losing the hi-copper antifouling surrounding every thru bronze hull.



The 'electronics' component was enough to total the vessel. First, anything connected to electricity 12v and 110v can be affected, alternator/regulator, windlass, batteries, refrigeration, wiring generally, radios (VHF, SSB) chart-plotters, all instruments, tvs, laptops, stereo... even if not connected at the time of the strike. The only protection is putting electronics in a Faraday cage--aka microwave.


I was lucky. Having totaled the boat, BoatUS Insurance gave it back to me. The insurance more than covered making repairs and replacing everything affected--I did all the work except refrigeration. BoatUS is worth every penny of the premiums I've paid over the years. Other surprises: six new (one-day old) Lifeline batteries were tested and found dead by the local shop, and then Lifeline's head engineer used a different test (remotely), All batteries came back 100% after charging. Apparently, that is normal for Lifeline. The new windlass (2 days old) was saved by the fuse.

[NorthernMac]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4PRKBLrr8p0

[Cadence]

My only concern would be highpot shorts in the wiring. I would think they would have shown up as intermittent problems by now if the seller is honest.

[wagsea6b]

As a Tayana 48 owner who has been struck by lightening, we have had no additional problems after we replaced all the electronics.

If I were you I’d be more concerned about the SS water tanks. Make sure your surveyor gives those a good look.

[Tellie]

"single lightning bolt is about 50,000°F or 5 times hotter than the surface of the sun. A lightning bolt is anywhere from 1,000,000 to 1,000,000,000 volts and between 10,000 and 200,000 amps." .............Most of us who experience lightning strikes are really only near a lightning strike. It will certainly take out all your electronics to be sure and might cause some other damage in burns. But a direct hit would be a whole nother story and there are no precautions you can take to avoid the damage a direct strike would cause. In another life I was an electrician and we did a lot of commercial work and did a lot of lightning strike damage on switch gear transformers etc. You could run a dozen 0000wires down your mast and a direct hit would laugh at them.

[Captn_Black]

I have a metal boat, assuming I get my masthead grounded, would physically disconnecting the positive and/or negative busbars that feed the switchboard be worth it before lightning arrives? Or would simply switching off the battery bank selector do?