Through Hull: now grounding

Right now my thought is to try Strikeshield on my boat for lightning protection. I probably won't buy it until I'm ready to leave the PNW though. http://www.strikeshield.com/ I don't know how well this system works, and I don't have any ties with them. A proper lightning ground at minimum should be 1 sq ft. by ABYC or 2.5 sq ft by ISO (Europe mostly) standards. Recent research says that edges are important so long and skinny is best (Caldwell, Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual). Looks like The sintered bronze plate for radio grounds is supposed to explode from the water boiling in the holes, and if the conductor to the ground plate has too much bend in it the lightning might not follow the conductor anyway and go through the hull. Since I'm not likely to be able to put in a proper lightning ground, I'd at least have something better than chains or battery jumper cables attached to the shrouds thrown in the water (which aren't supposed to work). For all of us with internal ballast anyway. John Courter Cal 40 Strider From: walter <ca… [at] swbell.net> To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, December 24, 2006 9:34:05 AM Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats]Through Hull fittings As for grounding, the only valid reason I can see is for the purpose of dissipating a lightning strike. My Cal34 is at the facility where the Valiant Yachts are built. It was suggested to me the the bonding wires be removed as it creates more problems than it is worth. As an electrician in a former life, I have seen problems created by multiple grounds. It is a pain in the rear. So they have been removed. I figure that if it good enough for the Valiants, it is good enough for me. I continue to consider about the grounding issue. I am completely re-wiring Tejana. Not a piece of original wire will remain on board. Of course, this won't happen until the A-4 rebuild is completed and complete renewal of the mast is completed. But, if it becomes apparent the the thru-hulls should be grounded, it is easily changed. Walter MacArthur Recent Activity 5New Members 10New Photos Visit Your Group SPONSORED LINKS Sailing Boating Sailing boat Boating sailing Yahoo! News US News Get the latest national news now Y! Toolbar Get it Free! easy 1-click access to your groups. Yahoo! Groups Start a group in 3 easy steps. Connect with others.. Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

I went to the strikeshield site and couldn't figure out either how it was supposed to work or how it was supposed to be hooked up. Harleigh Ewell Cal 31 From: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com [mailto:Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of John Courter Sent: Sunday, December 24, 2006 9:55 PM To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Subject: [Cal_Boats] Through Hull: now grounding Right now my thought is to try Strikeshield on my boat for lightning protection. I probably won't buy it until I'm ready to leave the PNW though. http://www.strikesh <http://www.strikeshield.com/> ield.com/ I don't know how well this system works, and I don't have any ties with them. A proper lightning ground at minimum should be 1 sq ft. by ABYC or 2.5 sq ft by ISO (Europe mostly) standards. Recent research says that edges are important so long and skinny is best (Caldwell, Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual). Looks like The sintered bronze plate for radio grounds is supposed to explode from the water boiling in the holes, and if the conductor to the ground plate has too much bend in it the lightning might not follow the conductor anyway and go through the hull. Since I'm not likely to be able to put in a proper lightning ground, I'd at least have something better than chains or battery jumper cables attached to the shrouds thrown in the water (which aren't supposed to work). For all of us with internal ballast anyway. John Courter Cal 40 Strider From: walter <ca… [at] swbell.net> To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, December 24, 2006 9:34:05 AM Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats]Through Hull fittings As for grounding, the only valid reason I can see is for the purpose of dissipating a lightning strike. My Cal34 is at the facility where the Valiant Yachts are built. It was suggested to me the the bonding wires be removed as it creates more problems than it is worth. As an electrician in a former life, I have seen problems created by multiple grounds. It is a pain in the rear. So they have been removed. I figure that if it good enough for the Valiants, it is good enough for me. I continue to consider about the grounding issue. I am completely re-wiring Tejana. Not a piece of original wire will remain on board. Of course, this won't happen until the A-4 rebuild is completed and complete renewal of the mast is completed. But, if it becomes apparent the the thru-hulls should be grounded, it is easily changed. 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I, too, went to the website and it appears to be a basic lightning rod using the mast as the rod. The "magic" piece is the dissipater. They are correct about the energy dissipating from edges and they have created a device with lots of edges. The trick would be getting the energy from the mast head "air terminals" to the dissipater. Channeling all that energy to the water could be like channeling the Mississippi through a 24" pipe. A problem that could arise is the minute resistance between the "air terminals" and the mast and also the resistance between the mast and the cable/dissipater assembly. Depending upon the amount of energy needing to be dissipated, these connections could be blown apart. Monitoring of these connections would be extremely important in order to extract the maximum protection from the system. While this system is no panacea, it could help if the strike energy is small enough. If I had this on my boat, I would still try to stay away from electrical storms. :) My bedroom is a testament to the power that mother nature dishes out. It was before my time here, but a lightning strike hit nearby and the copper water pipes inside the concrete were rendered useless. I have been told the lighting hit and then immediately one could hear water running through the floor. The floor had to be jack hammered out and new water and sewer pipes installed. There is a 6-8' crack in the bedroom floor (concrete) starting from the bathroom and running through the bedroom. Walter MacArthur Tejana '70 Cal34 #301 Harleigh Ewell wrote: > > I went to the strikeshield site and couldn’t figure out either how it > was supposed to work or how it was supposed to be hooked up. > > Harleigh Ewell > > Cal 31 >