Our current boat was hit by lightning about six years ago.

This was before we owned her and I only found out by reading some of the boats papers after purchasing her.

The reports I read was from both a ships rigger and an electrician. Both stated that while there was clear evidence of a lightning strike there appeared to be no damage to the electrical system other than several blown fuses and circuit breakers in the electrical system and the rigging report came back clear.

The circumstances of the strike are unknown to us so the only thing we have to go on is the reports.

After reading some horror stories about lightning strikes I sort of feel that you only hear the bad reports. I would imagine that many more boats are hit by lightning strikes without the owners being aware if they were not on board at the time of the strike.

I can add that over the years I can clearly remember a couple of occasions where I have been aboard during fierce electrical storms and being quite concerned.

I remember one of the recommended procedures was to place a piece of chain over the side of the boat to act as an earth or something and I had a bit of a laugh when we were anchored close to another boat in the Northern Territory years ago in quite a bad pre wet- season electrical storm. I noticed the owner go on deck with a small length of chain and wrap one end around the mast and lower the other end in the water. What I thought was funny was the fact that he already had some thirty or forty meters of anchor chain out which I thought would give him a pretty good earth.

So Chopes, it looks like you are actually in Sydney!

I believe there are two functions of lightning conductors. The first is to de-ionise the air around the vessel, so that the lightning chooses a different path, away from the vessel. The other is if it does hit the boat, the path to the water is through the least damaging components, and not the crew.

I did read of a vessel in the Cairns area which had been hit, and whilst apparently the rigging was intact, the strength of the wire and fittings was badly compromised and it needed re-rigging. Cant remember any comment re the mast.

I wonder if lightning hitting the mast on a steel hulled vessel would have a different effect to that of a fibreglass hull - any ideas?

Datawiz said..
All this talk about lightning reminds me of the two mates on the golf course when a lightning storm happened.
One of the guys pulled our his 1 iron and held it above his head.
His mate cried out "Are you crazy - you'll kill us!!", to which his mate replied "Don't worry, not even God can hit a 1 iron"

boom boom ,tish !!!

Direct hit on FG boat can be serious destruction, Some might remember....when I Sold Sweet Chariot /Swanson 32/ was moved to Sydney area,
new owner experience.
" lmighty flash and sound like you've never heard as a lightening bolt decided to use my mast to get to ground. The boat lit up in a bright blue flash and blacked out all the electrics. So far found 14 blown fuses, a number of lights not working. Found the remnants of the VHF antenna in the dinghy. That was the first point of contact being mounted at the mast top. Hopefully not too much terminal damage. Still a lot of components not tested yet. Thank goodness the new motor is ok. Starts and charges ok.rewired "Sweet Chariot" just after I bought her a few years back. I number all cable ends and have a comprehensive wirirng diagram for her so it makes fault tracing relatively simple. Two fuse boxes have been destroyed. The 27 mHz radio, VHF Radio and antenna, Audio CD head unit, TV, Autopilot, have all suffered internal damage as they will not work despite all efforts. A number of lights are also not working. More testing will be done."

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Sailing/General/Struck-by-lightning-this-afternoon-in-Botany-Bay/

And a pretty good explanation of lightening rods