Faraday Cage

[Al Fresco]

What happens to electronics on a steel hulled yacht during lightening strikes? Does the boat offer protection to unplugged inside gear?

[LittleWing77]

Hi Al,

By any chance did you search "lightning"?

About a month ago there was a loooong thread on just this topic.

It was called something like "turning off electrics (or electronics) during lightening" [sic] (I seem to remember the OP spelled "lightning" incorrectly in the thread title.)

Good luck,
LittleWing77

[Adelie]

I would expect electronics to be better protected but not perfectly and probably not as good as can be arranged.

My feeling is that you can’t get perfect protection on a boat.

Best protection includes a boat would be electronics wrapped in an insulator in turn places inside a metal box, preferably a steel box. The box needs very tight gaps to the lid or high frequency energy will leak thru.
Steel is preferred over aluminum because it will divert the magnetic as well as electrical fields.

I have my backup gear in an ammo box from Costco.

A steel boat does a better job of guiding currents around the interior but it has large openings (ports and companions) that provide an ingress path for high frequency energy.

[Nicholson58]

Be aware that most electronics are not off when turned off. The power and start circuit is still hot and the neutral is connected to the great big ball of neutrals. We have double pole switches at each device to make an air gap when the switch is off. All mast wiring is on a huge plug at the base of the mast step. Antenna cables are jointed where it is easy to disconnect.