Commander227,
Unbelievable!!!!!!!!!!
Mind a few questions?
I can understand a wire 'bonded' thru-hull showing the EXIT of the electric shock
but do the other EXITS seen in your photos have any relation to metal or the bonding system?
Or do you think they are entirely random? Could a wired in bilgepump have taken a hit and the jolt hopped to the hull?
I have a paper here that reports surveyors have noticed lightning EXITS along the TOP of encapsulated ballast. Any indication of this phenomena on the Ensign?
Did the strike fry electronics like we have heard happens to others?
How about the battery?
The thought of being aboard and struck by lightning isn't one bit funny. It's obvious to me that bronze thru-hulls should not be wired together - which was originally done I guess by Pearson to reduce galvanic corrosion. Of course anything going thru to the water side (and COPPER side) of the hull is going to suffer...like the sonar transducer and knot meter. And any wire (including interior mast copper wiring) or metallic surface is going to attract the strike. 'Side-flashing' is the danger for anybody on deck. Side-flashing is the strike connecting across space between metal structures.
I'm convinced that maralon thru-hulls are better than bronze from both the electronic and galvanic viewpoints. Maralon melts better than bronze.
ABYC Standards require that ALL METAL MASSES inside the boat be connected to the lightning ground - which is that large area sintered or plain bronze plate bolted to the hull.
On deck by the same rule, stanchions, winches, fittings, pipe frames must also be connected and grounded. Seems extremely difficult to do! And if aluminum is in the chain, opens the door wider to galvanics.
I would be tempted to keep the inside and outside systems separate, wouldn't you? Separate grounding plates on either side of the hull?
There's no guarantee the strike is going to hit the lightning rod you've erected on the top of the mast. I worry about the connection - copper and aluminum and the straight unimpeded path is the problem.
No guarantee the bonded and grounded system is going to be tracked by the strike!
It is said the safest place during a lightning storm is down below and away from ANY metal.
Because of metal in and around the cockpit
the most dangerous place to be on the boat is in the cockpit!
SO:
What have you decided to do?
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