Lightning Strike! Whats the likely damage and preventive measures.

[ErikFinn]

Originally Posted by 1000 islands

Man that was difficult to read.

If I may suggest to all who post big and wordy stuff to open it up.

Start each sentence at the left and paragraph as much as possible.

And try to keep sentences as short as you can.

Good info though.

...and do not quote half a page of someone's post to only write a few lines ah..?

but seriously, the more I read about lightning strikes the more convinced I become that just cutting those copper wires from the mast to the keel might actually help...

[Cottontop]

Originally Posted by ErikFinn

but seriously, the more I read about lightning strikes the more convinced I become that just cutting those copper wires from the mast to the keel might actually help...

This.

Cars almost never get struck. The tires are a good enough insulator that the lightning will just travel the few more feet through the air.

So on the boat, try to get the lightning to choose the air, not the boat. Plastic thru hulls, drive saver to isolate the prop shaft, etc.

Don't make the boat a pathway. Make the boat NOT a pathway.

[SDChristian]

Originally Posted by zeehag

now--cats, as in felines, have never been recorded as hit by lightning-- so it is most important to have that item on board whether stuffed or real.

This is key. Given the time a live-aboard has to prepare as the weather rolls in, the most certain solution involves strapping a mildly restrained lightning cat to the main halyard and then hoisting it to the top of the mast. I suggest only mildly restrained so that the permitted (elevated) wiggling serves as a more "active" countermeasure. Obviously, it's recommended to bring your lightening cat back down after the storm passes, since we certainly don't want to look weird. Care must be used when taking said cat down as they can get agitated due to the rain. Advise wearing pot-holders.

[SailingFan]

Back in about 1988 or '89 (about September or October, I think) I was assigned to an American aircraft super-carrier (the first made), the USS Forrestal (CV-59) conducting NATO war games in the North Sea, very close to Vestfjord, Andefjord, and surrounding environs. This vessel was amazing and massive, with a deployed crew of about 5,000 men. There are many towns and small cities with fewer people performing work, especially toward a common goal. It was a formative time in life.

As an Aerographer's Mate, part of my duties consisted of standing in foul weather in an environmental suit (worn over a float coat that won't help much there if I went over anyway due to the slush we were sailing through, but in case help was close enough when the MOB was discovered...), watching for changes in weather conditions (as it was raining and sleeting very hard at times while we jumped from one squall to the next as part of the exercise to make satellite detection, sonar fixes, and radar location more difficult for our "adversaries").

During a particularly unusual calm moment (and that trip there were excessively few of them) I was on Vulture's Row (slang name given by the crew to a part of the ship island located above the bridge, essentially a observation platform complete with a massive but cool binnacle at its center) standing weather watch and using a sound powered headset under a "Dark Helmet" (Rick Moranis' headgear from the "Spaceballs" film, for those who have never used a sound powered headset within the attached helmet gear) sort of headgear to call down to my shipmates in the Weather Office every time conditions changed, as well as to notify them of regularly scheduled observation measurements. It was a cold and thankless watch station, to be sure, exposed on 3 1/2 sides, and was probably 70 feet or more above the waterline, so the wind was a real bear.

On this particular night, however, I noticed an odd light, FAR out across the water to the starboard side, initially perhaps ten miles out. It darted left and right over the water, tacking and jibing back and forth as it rapidly approached us leaving a trail in it's wake that did not fade in luminous appearance as I watched it travel. The color was bluish white.

It was so strange, and I noticed it, realized it was coming our way, dove for the deck, and screamed almost all at once. What turned out to be a laterally moving lightning bolt (that my about 20 year old brain thought was maybe a missile of some sort, as I had never before witnessed a bolt behaving in this way at the surface) struck the surface-to-air radar plate that was mounted upon the island structure, roughly 15 feet above my head. The hair on my entire body was raised and the Weather Office crew heard me though the phone set that was laying off the hook, on the countertop (and not actually being worn by anyone at that end) at the time of what I can only describe as an impact.

The ship physically seemed to jar when stricken, there was a massive black burned spot melted into the surface radar array, and we lost all electrically connected communications radio equipment, the surface to air radar, and a host of other electrical systems on this 1,039 ft long 80,000 ton displacement city (with about four acres of flight deck and about 70 aircraft on board) for the remainder of the trip. After that, it was semaphore flags and lanterns to signal other fleet ships! Guess it pays to have those skills in these days after all!

Adding to this issue was the damage losses like sailor injuries from falls and pinched/broken fingers from falling or closing hatches (HEAVY ones), damage to 2 F-14 Tomcats (one F-14 was rolling lose on deck, changing direction three times, because nobody chained it down before the waves REALLY got big), an FA-18 Hornet, and a Sea King helicopter (caught along with the second Tomcat and the F-18 in the first Tomcat's travels).

We additional had to deal with the caving and folding of Sponson 6 up against the hull because of a port side aft rogue wave strike in otherwise 20+ foot seas; I have never or since personally been on a trip where a vessel suffered so much from weather events, in terms of dollars lost and damage done to a vessel at sea and her crew. To come in to home port with that much damage and so many mylar tarps covering aircraft was, to me, embarrassing. It is also part of why I harp on safety so much. The aircraft losses were entirely preventable.

The strangest thing relative to the electrical situation was that this lighting bolt was traveling parallel to the water surface and I actually had time to watch it approach before it struck us, and then there was the shudder the ship experienced. It was surreal. That was an eventful cruise, but that night was simply awesome (in the literal sense, not the pop culture "it was cool!" version of the term).

I have never before or since been that close to a lightning bolt, and I have to say, I really don't want to. This vessel was perfectly grounded (it was made of steel and severely grounded), and it was the only massive target for many tens of miles when the bolt struck us. For my remaining time on board, nobody could explain the shudder from the strike. Maybe it was the radar array suddenly halting its rotation, I don't know, but it was surreal. No holes, but LOTS of charred wiring and blown breakers, fuses, capacitors, etc...

And no way to predict or protect.

[SailingFan]

Originally Posted by SDChristian

This is key. Given the time a live-aboard has to prepare as the weather rolls in, the most certain solution involves strapping a mildly restrained lightning cat to the main halyard and then hoisting it to the top of the mast. I suggest only mildly restrained so that the permitted (elevated) wiggling serves as a more "active" countermeasure. Obviously, it's recommended to bring your lightening cat back down after the storm passes, since we certainly don't want to look weird. Care must be used when taking said cat down as they can get agitated due to the rain. Advise wearing pot-holders.

So is this where this logo came from?

I think this one is cool enough for a cat-lady boat! I sure hope the Admiral does not see this post, or she will have me attempting to make it into a pennant or courtesy flag....

[ErikFinn]

But but.. I heard one cans haul a kitty up only nine times.. Then ya needs a new cat...

Okay, how about these ones? I have not seen these referenced on this forum in the past, maybe they have been, maybe not, but anyone used these aboard a boat? Opinions? (I know it won't stop a lightning but maybe offer some protection to the el equipment?)


MidNite Solar Products

[SailingFan]

I have used arrestors like that on deep water wells (residential) in Florida, as these wells have galvanized steel pipe that goes down as much as 100 feet, and we hit water at about ten feet. A lightning strike will kill the well's capacitors, thus making it impossible for the well's submerged pump to run.

Once I installed an arrestor, this ceased (I had tired of replacing starting and run capacitors), and though I had to replace an arrestor now and then, I ceased having any issues with those capacitors!

I have no idea how they would work in the marine environment, however...