Lightning Strike - Prevention or Coping methods

1. Is there a way to "lightning-proof" the boat?
2. Or is there a way to setup some sort of lightning rod that can direct the current straight to the water so damage to the boat and myself is minimized?
3. If the boat is struck, will I lose hearing or suffer bodily injury? I've thought about wearing earplugs and earmuffs in combo during a thunderstorm.

I live in the southern Florida Keys and really enjoy sailing and camping in the backcountry of the Keys. My adventures come to a halt as the summer arrives with its pop up thunderstorms driving my (overworried or smart?) concern of being struck by lightning.

By "camping", I literally will sleep on the trampoline, anchored about 200 yards from an island (to minimize bug pestering).

I would still like to sail/camp during the summer, but I am concerned about the lightning. If a popup storm takes place, I will not try to outrun it, but instead anchor up and endure.

I assume there's always a possibility of getting struck, so to find an answer to the question of "what's the likelihood of getting struck?" would be a waste of time.


Thanks!

http://www.boatus.com/seaworthy/swlightning.asp

The above link probably has stuff you probably know but maybe not.

I dunno about whether or not the comp tip helps - fiberglass does conduct but not as well as aluminum. I suspect if a comp tip is struck it might be damaged. You "could" help ground the mast each night or when taking cover from a storm, but you are only a few inches above the water so I dunno how much help that'd be.

Life's full of uncertainty, unfortunately.

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R/Thom
SeaRail 19
Triak
BMW C600
Formerly Getaway with Custom Spinnakers
Formerly raced F24 Mk II

You could lower the mast, I suppose, that'd help remove the tallest target. You probably would be safer, but lightning is unpredictable. It doesn't always hit the highest target.

You could install a flux capacitor to dissipate the 1.21 gigawatts.

You could carry a one iron golf club because not even God can hit a 1 iron.

Sorry, little levity.

_________________
R/Thom
SeaRail 19
Triak
BMW C600
Formerly Getaway with Custom Spinnakers
Formerly raced F24 Mk II

You need a good ground path for the current, since the mast is where the lightning would strike, taking a piece of chain, rapping it around the mast and then put the loose end in the water should do it. The current will always take the path of least resistance.

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06 getaway -- always remember, man with both feet in mouth have no leg to stand on.

Lightning seeks a path to ground, so grounding your mast would definitely increase the chances of a strike. If you are on the boat when lightning strikes, you probably wont feel a thing because the immense power of a lightning strike cant be damped with any type of isolation material - you need to be well away from the strike to survive.

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1985 Hobie 14T
2014 Hobie T2

You guys.....your all giving the guy bad advise.
You need to understand the physics of lightning, then come up with solutions.
Ben Franklin is the guy that invented lightning arrestors (look it up).
They are not designed to take the current from lightning at all, it's way too powerful. What a lightning arrestor does it it drains the static electricity from a certain area making it less likely for the lightning to strike in that immediate area, this is why you see the blue glow around lightning arrestors, it's doing it's job. Lightning typically strikes to the area with the highest static charge ( causing your hair to stand on end and your fingers to shoot sparkles (tesla style) just before the big jolt. However that area can be quite large (several hundred yards). Once an area is sufficiently charged and a strike is about to happen pretty much everything will have a blue glow with tiny sparks trailing up. This area can be several hundred yards. Once there is enough differential between the ground and the sky, the discharge occurs. The hollow tube of ionized air collapsing is what makes the big noise. Thru that tube the electrons flow back and forth a few times until the differential is equalized.
It's been pretty well proven that lightning will strike somewhere within that few hundred yard area, but where it actually hits is random, meaning the strike isn't more likely to hit your mast, than any other part of your boat or the ground or water near by. A properly configured lightning arrestor makes it even less likely the bolt will strike in the immediate area of the arrestor, because it was draining excess static, think of the arrestor as an umbrella over your boat kind of protecting it. Yes there is something to taller objects like trees and tall building being more likely to take the strike, (less distance) but we are talking a 50-60 ft tree, not a 20 ft un-arrested mast.
Most antennas are arrested with 1/8 aluminum wire attached to earth ground, not to redirect the lightning itself to ground (way too much electricity, it would just evaporate the wire. The aluminum wire and the arrestor does however drain some of the excess static, and coaxes the actual lightning to strike elseware within that few hundred yard area.

The reason most masts have an insulated part of the mast (comptip), is not for lightning, but more for overhead electrical wires.
At least thats my understanding of things. If there is lightning in the area, it's best to go ashore in my opinion.
FE

I've seen an F-16 get hit by lighting when I was a crew chief. When the planes are on the ground they are aways attached with a grounding wire. The aircraft was unharmed, the grounding wire however was completely vaporized. Airplanes however are designed with lightning strikes in mind.

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